Accessing and modifying system properties in Windows 11 can be crucial for troubleshooting, system optimisation, and customisation. While Windows 11 provides a graphical interface to view and change system properties, using the Command Prompt (CMD) can offer more precision and automation capabilities. This article will guide you through the process of accessing system properties via CMD, providing you with the tools to efficiently manage your system settings. Note that while CMD doesn't directly open the system properties window, it can be used to access and modify environment variables, which are a key component of system properties.

Examples: One of the most common tasks involving system properties is managing environment variables. Here's how you can view and set environment variables using CMD:

1. Viewing Environment Variables:

• Open CMD by typing cmd in the Windows search bar and pressing Enter.


• To view all environment variables, type set and press Enter. This command lists all the environment variables and their current values.


• To view a specific environment variable, type echo %VARIABLE_NAME%. For example, echo %PATH% will display the current PATH variable.

2. Setting Environment Variables:

• To set a new environment variable or modify an existing one, use the set command followed by the variable name and value. For example, set MY_VARIABLE=HelloWorld.


• Note that this change is temporary and only applies to the current CMD session. To make it permanent, use the setx command: setx MY_VARIABLE HelloWorld.


• Be cautious when modifying critical variables like PATH, as incorrect changes can affect system behaviour.

3. Accessing System Information:

• Use the systeminfo command to get a comprehensive overview of your system properties, including OS version, architecture, and network configuration.

Common challenges include ensuring the correct syntax is used and understanding that changes made with set are session-specific unless setx is used for permanence.

Use Cases: System administrators and developers often need to modify environment variables to configure software, set up development environments, or optimise system performance. For instance, adding a new directory to the PATH variable allows executable files in that directory to be run from any CMD window. This is particularly useful when installing new software or development tools.

Best Practices:

• Always back up your current environment variables before making changes. This can be done by redirecting the output of the set command to a file: set > env_backup.txt.


• Test changes in a temporary CMD session using set before applying them permanently with setx.


• Be cautious when modifying system-wide variables, as they affect all users and processes on the system.


• Use descriptive names for custom environment variables to avoid conflicts with existing system variables.