Use of environment variable for username in a shortcut (Win 10-1909)

use: %USERPROFILE%\Desktop

Here's a nice little tool for you: SpecialFoldersView - Special Folders Viewer
Double click to access all special system folders. Right click to copy the environment variable then you can paste into your code.

Something interesting may be up. What output do you get when you type "set" at the command line. It should show all environment variables. When I type "echo %userprofile%" in cmd.exe I get the same value that shows for USERPROFILE in the general "set" output. Hence my assertion that something odd or interesting might be up.
HTH,
--Ed--

PS: This doesn't work in PowerShell. It only works in cmd. exe. In PowerShell you must use $env:userprofile to reference that value.

This is what I get using set at the prompt in a Command Prompt window:

ALLUSERSPROFILE=C:\ProgramData
APPDATA=C:\Users\Bert\AppData\Roaming
BURN_AUTOPLAY=C:\Program Files (x86)\Roxio Easy CD & DVD Burning\Roxio Burn\
CommonProgramFiles=C:\Program Files\Common Files
CommonProgramFiles(x86)=C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files
CommonProgramW6432=C:\Program Files\Common Files
COMPUTERNAME=DELL15R
ComSpec=C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe
DriverData=C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\DriverData
EMC_AUTOPLAY=C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Roxio Shared\
FPS_BROWSER_APP_PROFILE_STRING=Internet Explorer
FPS_BROWSER_USER_PROFILE_STRING=Default
FP_NO_HOST_CHECK=NO
HOMEDRIVE=C:
HOMEPATH=\Users\Bert
LOCALAPPDATA=C:\Users\Bert\AppData\Local
LOGONSERVER=\\DELL15R
NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS=4
OneDrive=C:\Users\Bert\OneDrive
OneDriveConsumer=C:\Users\Bert\OneDrive
OS=Windows_NT
Path=C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem;C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Roxio Shared\DLLShared\;C:\WINDOWS\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\;C:\WINDOWS\System32\OpenSSH\;C:\Progra m Files\Intel\WiFi\bin\;C:\Program Files\Common Files\Intel\WirelessCommon\;C:\Program Files\Intel\WiFi\bin\;C:\Program Files\Common Files\Intel\WirelessCommon\;%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps;
PATHEXT=.COM;.EXE;.BAT;.CMD;.VBS;.VBE;.JS;.JSE;.WSF;.WSH;.MSC
PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE=AMD64
PROCESSOR_IDENTIFIER=Intel64 Family 6 Model 69 Stepping 1, GenuineIntel
PROCESSOR_LEVEL=6
PROCESSOR_REVISION=4501
ProgramData=C:\ProgramData
ProgramFiles=C:\Program Files
ProgramFiles(x86)=C:\Program Files (x86)
ProgramW6432=C:\Program Files
PROMPT=$P$G
PSModulePath=C:\WINDOWS\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\Modules\
PUBLIC=C:\Users\Public
RCAUTOPLAY=C:\Program Files (x86)\Roxio Easy CD & DVD Burning\Roxio Central\
SESSIONNAME=Console
SynaProgDir=Synaptics\SynTP
SystemDrive=C:
SystemRoot=C:\WINDOWS
TEMP=C:\Users\Bert\AppData\Local\Temp
TMP=C:\Users\Bert\AppData\Local\Temp
USERDOMAIN=DELL15R
USERDOMAIN_ROAMINGPROFILE=DELL15R
USERNAME=Bert
USERPROFILE=C:\Users\Bert
windir=C:\WINDOWS

EdTittel said:

Something interesting may be up. What output do you get when you type "set" at the command line. It should show all environment variables. When I type "echo %userprofile%" in cmd.exe I get the same value that shows for USERPROFILE in the general "set" output. Hence my assertion that something odd or interesting might be up.
HTH,
--Ed--

PS: This doesn't work in PowerShell. It only works in cmd. exe. In PowerShell you must use $env:userprofile to reference that value.

Just for information [ I did some testing ].

When the command Set is run from within a Batch Script, the output includes ANY Variables set within that script.

The same also applies to a PS Script when Get-Childitem -Path Env: is run from within a PS1 Script.