Environment variable may not expand %APPDATA% to the Application folder

If you add %APPDATA% to any user or system environment variable by using the following method, %APPDATA% may not be resolved to the appropriate user application data folder:

• Right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.
• On the Advanced tab, click Environment Variables.
• Add a new user or system environment variable named PATH. Set the Variable value entry to %APPDATA%.
• Apply the settings.

If you then start a command session (Cmd.exe) and check the PATH environment variable by using the set path command, %APPDATA% may not be expanded to the appropriate user application folder. Instead, you see "%APPDATA%."

Problem example:

   C:\ >set PATH
   PATH=%APPDATA% 

Working example:

   C:\ >set PATH
   PATH="C:\Documents and Settings\<UserName>\Application" 

If %APPDATA% is not resolved correctly, and you try to start a program that is located in the user application folder, the program does not start because the program cannot be located in the path.