R12, Environment Variables on Windows, and OBIEE

Question

Dear Experts,
I've managed to install R12 on Windows.
Now, in the global environment variable, Path, the user Oracle has a number of directories in its default PATH, starting with the Oracle apps middle tier.
C:\oapps\apps\tech_st\10.1.2\bin;     
C:\oapps\apps\tech_st\10.1.2\jdk\jre\bin\classic;     
C:\oapps\apps\tech_st\10.1.2\jdk\jre\bin;
C:\oapps\apps\tech_st\10.1.2\jlib;     
C:\oapps\apps\tech_st\10.1.3\bin;     
C:\oapps\db\tech_st\11.1.0\bin;     
C:\Windows\system32;     
C:\Windows;     
I notice that there are .cmd scripts that set the Path.
This script sets the path to look in: c:\oapps\db
cd C:\oapps\db\tech_st\11.1.0
VIS_black.cmd
echo %PATH%
C:\oapps\db\tech_st\11.1.0\perl\5.8.3\bin\MSWin32-x86-multithread\;
C:\oapps\db\tech_st\11.1.0\bin;
This script sets the path to look in: c:\oapps\apps
set PATH=""
cd c:\oapps\apps\apps_st\appl
VIS_black.cmd
echo %PATH%
C:\oapps\apps\apps_st\appl\au\12.0.0\bin;
I'd like to install OBIEE on the same server. Obviously, I don't want any path conflicts. And, OBIEE uses a different version of java.
1)
Do all these Apps directories need to remain in the global PATH environment variable? Or, can the directories be removed from the path, and the scripts can be relied on to set the appropriate variables?
Thanks a lot!

Answer 1

if you want global settings (always present, even after reboot), you have to edit the autoexec.bat file, e..g
SET CLASSPATH=c:\myclasses
you can set environment variables temporarility in a DOS shell using the same command.
if possible, you should avoid the CLASSPATH environment variable, and use the -cp or -classpath option for java and javac. This helps a lot to solve classpath confusions.