Powershell: Permanently Modify Path, "Requested registry access is not allowed."

corneria picture corneria · Nov 20, 2013 · Viewed 11.3k times · Source

I need to permanently add a scripts folder to my PowerShell path (not just a particular session). I am running the following code:

[System.Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("PATH", $Env:Path + ";C:\scripts", "Machine")

The error is as follows:

Exception calling "SetEnvironmentVariable" with "3" argument(s): "Requested registry access is not allowed."

How do I get registry access/fix this?

EDIT: Not sure if it helps, but I'm using PowerCLI (VMware PowerShell API) on Windows Server 2012.

Answer

mikekol picture mikekol · Nov 20, 2013

It sounds like you might not be running as an elevated admin. By default, I believe there's a PowerShell shortcut on your taskbar in Server 2012. Right-click on it, and choose "Run as Administrator" (or something like that). Then try running the command in your original post.