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Wilco van Esch

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    "RbReadline: HOME" environment variable issue on Windows

    Using Ruby on Windows, you may receive this error:

    C:/Ruby23-x64/lib/ruby/site_ruby/2.3.0/
rbreadline.rb:1097:in `<module:RbReadline>':
HOME environment variable (or HOMEDRIVE and HOMEPATH)
must be set and point to a directory (RuntimeError)

    To fix it, check your HOME, HOMEDRIVE, and HOMEPATH environment variables. To list them in a command prompt, type:

    set home

    An example result:

    HOME=C:\windows\system32\config\systemprofile
HOMEDRIVE=C:
HOMEPATH=\Users\firstname.lastname

    HOMEDRIVE + HOMEPATH (e.g. C:\Users\firstname.lastname) would have to be a valid path that you can access and which doesn't have special characters in firstname or lastname.

    The HOME path also needs to be a valid path that you can access. In my case, I found that accessing the path required administrator rights. I had to go to the config folder, gain access by entering admin details, go to the systemprofile folder, gain access by entering admin details. Then I tried irb and was able to start it without issue.