Thanks a lot for write this.
I followed through, the problem I am having is that the echo %PATH% output
is not the same in the cmd.exe vs. the emacs shell.

here is the modified code in my .emacs.

***********************************************************

(when (string-equal system-type "windows-nt")
 (progn
   (setenv "PATH" "/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin")
(setq exec-path
'(
"C:/Windows/system32/"
"C:/Windows/"
"C:/Windows/System32/Wbem/"
"C:/Windows/system32/WindowsPowerShell/v1.0/"
"C:/Program Files/Aspell/bin/"
)
 )
   )
 )

***********************************************************
I have a feeling there is something not write with my modification above.
Aspell is installed under "C:/Program Files/

cmd.exe > echo %PATH% puts out

C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem;C:\Program
Files\QuickTime\QTSystem\;C:\WINDOWS\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0;c:\Program
Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\Binn\;c:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL
Server\100\DTS\Binn\;c:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL
Server\100\Tools\Binn\VSShell\Common7\IDE\;C:\Program Files\Aspell\bin\

emacs shell echo %PATH% puts out

/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin:/


should I copy the output from the cmd and put it in the code inside my
.emacs?



On Tue, Aug 4, 2009 at 12:17 PM, Xah Lee <xahlee@gmail.com> wrote:

> ok, first make sure the PATH env var in your Windows is setup
> correctly.
>
> some tips here
>
> • Using PowerShell to Manage Environment Variables
>  http://xahlee.org/powershell/environment_variables.html
>
> then, restart your cmd.exe (by just closing it).
> After restart, type
>
> echo %PATH%
>
> e.g. on my machine shows:
>
> C:\Users\xah>echo %PATH%
> C:\Windows\system32;C:\Windows;C:\Windows\System32\Wbem;C:\hp\bin
> \Python;c:\Prog
> ram Files (x86)\ATI Technologies\ATI.ACE\Core-Static;C:\Program Files
> (x86)\Quic
> kTime\QTSystem\;C:\Windows\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\
>
> Once you got this, then type aspell from any dir and see it works.
> You need to get this step fixed.
>
> Once good, launch emacs, then in emacs, type Alt+x shell or Alt+x cmd-
> shell (the latter is in emacsW32, not sure if it is in other emacs on
> Windows)
>
> then type
> echo %PATH%
>
> the output should match the same as in your cmd.exe. If not, try the
> set paths elisp code:
>
> (when (string-equal system-type "windows-nt")
>  (progn
>    (setenv "PATH" "/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin:/
> cygdrive/c/Windows/system32:/cygdrive/c/Windows:/cygdrive/c/Windows/
> System32/Wbem")
>    (setq exec-path
>          '(
>            "C:/Program Files (x86)/Emacs/emacs/bin/"
>            "C:/Windows/system32/"
>            "C:/Windows/"
>            "C:/Windows/System32/Wbem/"
>            "C:/Windows/system32/WindowsPowerShell/v1.0/"
>            "C:/cygwin/bin/"
>            )
>          )
>    )
>  )
>
> mod the path for your machine and put it in your emacs init file.
> Select the code, then type Alt+x eval-region.
>
> Now, close your shell buffer. Start it again. Try
> echo %PATH%
>
> again.
> If good, type aspell while in emacs's cmd shell. It should run. If so,
> hten you should be have spell checking in emacs now.
>
> --------
>
> on my machine, i have the above in my init file, but often the env var
> PATH shown in emacs is still different from OS's PATH value. This
> causes running SOME of the unix commands to fail. I haven't
> investigated why yet, but i workaround by eval that code again in
> emacs whenever that happens ....
>
> nor do i know what exactly is the diff between exec-path and setenv
> with PATH...
>
> ... spent way too much time writing this. Good luck.
>
>  Xah
> ∑ http://xahlee.org/
>
> ☄
>