[boost] Re: Customer Friendlier Boost Installation

From: Eric Niebler (eric_at_[hidden])
Date: 2005-05-31 23:06:14

David Abrahams wrote:
> 
>>Just out of curiosity: why weren't HOMEDRIVE and HOMEPATH set in your
>>environment?  Aren't they set up for you by Windows?
> 
> 
> Still curious, though.
> 

Not all the time, and Windows never ceases to amaze and frustrate me. It 
turns out that if you lauch a cmd.exe shell as another user, then you 
don't get these environment variables defined for some reason. Try it 
and see:

Start -> All Programs -> Accessories

Now, hold down Shift while right-clicking on "Command Prompt" and select 
"Run As...". Give the credentials of a different user to have the 
cmd.exe process lauch as that user. Now observe that the shell has no 
HOMEDRIVE and HOMEPATH environment variables!!!

Sigh.

-- 
Eric Niebler
Boost Consulting
www.boost-consulting.com