Setting RUSTUP_HOME and CARGO_HOME before running rustup installation does not work in Windows

[temeipu-offical]

Defining RUSTUP_HOME and/or CARGO_HOME environment variables to override default installation directory for .cargo and .rustup does not work (in Windows at least).

Steps to reproduce:

Define RUSTUP_HOME as an environment variable
Define CARGO_HOME as an environment variable
Double click on rustup-init.exe to begin the installation

Result:

.rustup and .cargo will be installed at the default directory which is %USERPROFILE%.

[ChrisDenton]

How are you setting RUSTUP_HOME and CARGO_HOME? They need to be set globally to have the desired effect.

[dharmvr1]

hi all,
Is it actually possible to install rustup to a custom location on Windows if RUSTUP_HOME and CARGO_HOME are set globally?
Also, if the installer is started by double-clicking rustup-init.exe, does it always fall back to %USERPROFILE% and ignore those variables? Is that just a Windows limitation?

[ChrisDenton]

Is it actually possible to install rustup to a custom location on Windows if RUSTUP_HOME and CARGO_HOME are set globally?

Yes,

Also, if the installer is started by double-clicking rustup-init.exe, does it always fall back to %USERPROFILE% and ignore those variables? Is that just a Windows limitation?

No, it will use the global values and only fallback to USERPROFILE if those aren't set. This article shows how to use the GUI to set environment variables https://www.howtogeek.com/787217/how-to-edit-environment-variables-on-windows-10-or-11/#how-to-add-or-edit-environment-variables

You can also use powershell. For example:

[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("RUSTUP_HOME", "R:\rustup", "User")
[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("CARGO_HOME", "R:\cargo", "User")