Editing AUTOEXEC.BAT (section)

== Windows NT==
On [[Windows NT]] and its derivatives, [[Windows 2000]], [[Windows Server 2003]] and [[Windows XP]], the equivalent file is called <code>AUTOEXEC.NT</code> and is located in the <code>[[%SystemRoot%]]\system32</code> directory. The file is not used during the operating system boot process; it is executed when the MS-DOS environment is started, which occurs when a DOS application is loaded.

The <code>AUTOEXEC.BAT</code> file may often be found on Windows NT in the root directory of the boot drive. Windows only considers the <code>[[SET (DOS command)|SET]]</code> and <code>[[PATH (DOS command)|PATH]]</code> statements which it contains, in order to define [[environment variable]]s global to all users. Setting environment variables through this file may be interesting if for example MS-DOS is also booted from this drive (this requires that the drive be [[File Allocation Table|FAT]]-formatted) or to keep the variables across a reinstall. This is an exotic usage today so the file usually remains empty. The [[Tweak UI]] applet from the [[Microsoft PowerToys]] collection allows to control this feature (''Parse AUTOEXEC.BAT at logon'').