How to refresh Windows Cache

Installing our application will add a new system environmental variable. The version number will vary depending upon the kit installed. Say for example one kit has 10.0.0.1 means the other kit will have 10.0.0.2 and so on.

Consider I am installing the 2nd kit on top of 1st kit (which has the version 10.0.0.1), in the system environmental variable I could see the correct value of 10.0.0.2. Also if I navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment, I could see the environment variable is having correct version.

If I type echo %MYKITPATH% in command window also it is correctly giving as 'C:\Program Files(x86)\MYKIT\10.0.0.2'. However if I type %MYKITPATH% to navigate to the path, it is opening the path of older version 'C:\Program Files(x86)\MYKIT\10.0.0.1'.

I tried to do the following to refresh the ENV variable, still it didn't solve the problem.
Even if I try to get the enviroment variable, it points to the newer version. Only in the start window, if i try to navigate to the path using environmental variable, having the problem. If i open the run window (Windows+R), it is navigating correctly. From explorer, it is navigating correctly. It's just with the start window I am having the problem
This is not happening in all the machines. If it happens, the only way to work around is to reboot the machine.

So I guess refreshing environment variable is not the problem here, somehow windows is caching the old values somewhere. That's why explorer.exe works and problem is with only start window.

Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable("MYKITPATH", installedPath, EnvironmentVariableTarget.Process);
Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable("MYKITPATH", installedPath, EnvironmentVariableTarget.User);
Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable("MYKITPATH", installedPath, EnvironmentVariableTarget.Machine);


Variable name: MYKITPATH
Variable value: C:\Program Files(x86)\MYKIT.0.0.2

Broadcast WM_SETTINGCHANGE to all top-level windows with lParam of "Environment".

Reference: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/winmsg/wm-settingchange

Note that the "cache" is not Windows-wide, it is the process environment block in each independent running process, and each process must include logic to handle WM_SETTINGCHANGE (which is non-trivial, most applications won't do so, but the Windows shell which handles the start menu textbox, does)

Although since you say Windows Explorer sees the new value, I suspect this broadcast has already been done for you by .NET

It seems like the environment variable MYKITPATH is still pointing to the older version of MYKIT.
You can try updating the environment variable to point to the correct path by following these steps:

1. Open the Start menu and search for "Environment Variables"
2. Click on "Edit the system environment variables"
3. Click on the "Environment Variables" button
4. Under "System Variables", locate the variable "MYKITPATH"
5. Update the variable value to the correct path: "C:\Program Files(x86)\MYKIT\10.0.0.2"
6. Click "OK" to close all windows
7. Restart the command window and try again
   This should ensure that MYKITPATH points to the correct path and navigation to the correct
   directory should be possible.

Also;
Based on your description, it seems like the issue is with the Start Menu shortcut not picking up the
updated environment variable. In this case, you could try deleting the old shortcut and creating a
new one.
To delete the old shortcut:

1. Right-click on the Start Menu shortcut that is not working.
2. Select "Unpin from Start".
3. Press the Windows key to open the Start Menu.
4. Right-click on the application and select "More" -> "App settings".
5. Scroll down to the "Advanced Options" section and click on "Reset".
6. This will remove the app data and settings, including the old shortcut.
   To create a new shortcut with the updated environment variable:
7. Press the Windows key and type the name of the application.
8. Right-click on the application and select "Open file location".
9. Right-click on the application executable and select "Create shortcut".
10. Right-click on the new shortcut and select "Properties".
11. In the "Target" field, add the updated environment variable.
12. Click "Apply" and "OK".
    Now, try launching the application from the new shortcut and it should pick up the updated
    environment variable.
    Also,
    It sounds like the problem may be related to the start menu not loading properly. You could try
    resetting the start menu to its default state to see if that resolves the issue. Here's how:
13. Right-click on the Start menu icon and select "Windows PowerShell (Admin)"
14. Type the following command and press Enter: Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers | Foreach
{Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}
15. Wait for the command to complete (this may take a few minutes)
16. Close PowerShell and restart your computer
    This should reset the start menu and hopefully resolve any issues with it not loading properly.

"So I guess refreshing environment variable is not the problem here, somehow windows is caching the old values somewhere. That's why explorer.exe works and problem is with only start window."

Hmm, that's possible. It could also be a permissions issue with the Start menu, preventing it from
accessing and displaying the updated environment variables. We can try resetting the Start menu to
see if that resolves the issue.
To do this, we'll need to open PowerShell again and run the following command:

Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register
"$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}

This command will re-register all the default apps in Windows and reset the Start menu to its default
settings. Once the command has finished running, log out of your account and log back in to see if
the issue has been resolved.