Adding a directory to your Windows path

When you’re setting your BioFVM / PhysiCell g++ development environment, you’ll need to add the compiler, MSYS, and your text editor (like Notepad++) to your system path. For example, you may need to add folders like these to your system PATH variable:

  1. c:\Program Files\mingw-w64\x86_64-5.3.0-win32-seh-rt_v4_rev0\mingw64\bin\
  2. c:\Program Files (x86)\Notepad++\
  3. C:\MinGW\msys\1.0\bin\

Here’s how to do that in various versions of Windows.

Windows XP, 7, and 8

First, open up a text editor, and concatenate your three paths into a single block of text, separated by semicolons (;):

  1. Open notepad ([Windows]+R, notepad)
  2. Type a semicolon, paste in the first path, and append a semicolon. It should look like this:
    ;c:\Program Files\mingw-w64\x86_64-5.3.0-win32-seh-rt_v4_rev0\mingw64\bin\;
  3. Paste in the next path, and append a semicolon. It should look like this:
    ;c:\Program Files\mingw-w64\x86_64-5.3.0-win32-seh-rt_v4_rev0\mingw64\bin\;C:\Program Files (x86)\Notepad++\;
  4. Paste in the last path, and append a semicolon. It should look something like this:
    ;c:\Program Files\mingw-w64\x86_64-5.3.0-win32-seh-rt_v4_rev0\mingw64\bin\;C:\Program Files (x86)\Notepad++\;c:\MinGW\msys\1.0\bin\;

Lastly, add these paths to the system path:

  1. Go the Start Menu, the right-click “This PC” or “My Computer”, and choose “Properties.”
  2. Click on “Advanced system settings”
  3. Click on “Environment Variables…” in the “Advanced” tab
  4. Scroll through the “System Variables” below until you find Path.
  5. Select “Path”, then click “Edit…”
  6. At the very end of “Variable Value”, paste what you made in Notepad in the prior steps. Make sure to paste at the end of the existing value, rather than overwriting it!
  7. Hit OK, OK, and OK to completely exit the “Advanced system settings.”

Windows 10:

Windows 10 has made it harder to find these settings, but easier to edit them. First, let’s find the system path:

  1. At the “run / search / Cortana” box next to the start menu, type “view advanced”, and you should see “view advanced system settings” auto-complete:
  2. Click to enter the advanced system settings, then choose environment variables … at the bottom of this box, and scroll down the list of user variables to Path
  3. Click on edit, then click New to add a new path. In the new entry (a new line), paste in your first new path (the compiler):
  4. Repeat this for the other two paths, then click OK, OK, Apply, OK to apply the new paths and exit.
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