title: How are Environment Variables set in Windows (Not as easy as it sounds)
body: <p><em><strong>See Update Below</strong></em></p>
  <p>Let me explain the situation:</p>
  <p>In the System Control Panel, I setup <code>JAVA_HOME</code> as <code>C:\Java\JDK1.6</code>. However, when I went into a terminal window to see what's going on, I got this:</p>
  <pre><code>echo %JAVA_HOME%
  D:\Program Files\Java\jre6
  </code></pre>
  <p>Where in the hell is this getting set, and why isn't it picking up the value I set it in the control panel? Other environment variables I put in are set, but it looks like something is overriding it.</p>
  <blockquote>
  <h3>Word of Warning:</h3>
  <p>Although I'm an Administrator on the system, they've put all sorts of goofy restrictive policies on it. For example, I can't set my Recycle Bin not to warn me when I delete something. The <code>Property</code> setting isn't there when you right click on the Recycling Bin. I also can't do <code>regedit</code>. To set the environmental properties, I setup a MCC Console, and pull up the System Control Panel thorough there.</p>
  </blockquote>
  <hr />
  <h3>Update</h3>
  <p>Yes, I know the environment variables don't get reset until I open a new command line prompt. However, this is something I set a couple weeks ago, and the machine had been booted a few times since.</p>
  <p>I have it set in the System Variables (the lower box). If I put it in the User Variables (the upper box), it does get set correctly, but my <code>PATH</code> is set incorrectly if I put %JAVA_HOME% in the path.</p>