The Chef installer for Windows adds ruby.exe and to PATH. If you have installed ruby environment, which ruby is used when you enter ruby to your MS-DOS prompt?

To avoid such problem, I created a Chef console with a simple bat file.

Chef adds two folders to PATH

When you install Chef client (http://www.getchef.com/chef/install/), many files are deployed to C:\opscode\chef and the following 2 folders are added to PATH:

• C:\opscode\chef\bin

  Chef related programs such as chef-solo, knife.

• C:\opscode\chef\embedded\bin

  UNIX related programs such as ruby.exe, perl.exe, ls.exe, cat.exe.

Conflicts with existing Ruby environment

I have ruby.exe in C:\Ruby200-x64\bin which is added to PATH.

Which ruby is used when I run ruby or gem install xxxx from my MS-DOS prompt?

If we first install Ruby and then install Chef, C:\Ruby200-x64\bin\gem is executed.

If we first install Chef and then install Ruby, C:\opscode\chef\embedded\bin\gem is executed.

It's very confusing.

Let's use Chef console

To solve this problem, I created a "Chef console".

1. Create a bat file

Save following file as C:\opscode\chefenv.bat.

@ECHO OFF

SET PATH=c:\opscode\chef\bin;c:\opscode\chef\embedded\bin
SET PATH=%PATH%;c:\windows\system32;c:\windows

title Chef Env
chef-solo -v

2. Create a shortcut file

Create a shortcut file to this bat.

• Target: C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /K C:\opscode\chefenv.bat
• Start in: Anywhere. (My document, path to chef repository and so on)

(/K means "Carries out the command specified by string and continues.")

How to use

When you double click the shortcut file, a command prompt appears with restricted PATH.

You can execute chef-solo and knife.

Now, you can safely remove c:\opscode\chef\bin and C:\opscode\chef\embedded\bin from PATH.

Let's enjoy!