Troubleshooting Environment Variables PROJSO and PROJ_LIB

Note that a previous LizardTech application incorrectly set the system environment variables PROJSO and PROJ_LIB. These environment variables are used by GDAL (Geospatial Data Abstraction Library) to work with coordinate reference systems (CRS). This issue has since been remedied by a LizardTech software upgrade, but the system environment variable issue remains until the end user manually corrects the problem.

When our software starts up it checks if these system environment variables are defined. If it finds that these have been defined, will report the issue in the following dialog box.

Clicking the [OK] button will shutdown our software since the software is able to correctly manage coordinate reference systems (CRS) with these environment variables defined.

This article describes how to correct this issue by deleting the system environment variables PROJSO and PROJ_LIB.

Environment Variables Description

Environment variables are a set of dynamic named values that can affect the way a program will behave on a computer. They are classified into two types:

1. System Variables: You must be an administrator to modify a system environment variable. The variables here are defined by Windows and apply to all computer users.
2. User Variables: Any user can add, change, or delete a user environment variable, which is primarily established by Windows Setup or by programs installed on the computer, and by users.

This video describes environment variables in depth.

Deleting PROJSO and PROJ_LIB Environment Variables

To delete the PROJSO and PROJ_LIB environment variables, follow these steps:

1. From Windows Start menu, right-click on Computer and select Properties.
2. The following screen will be displayed.
   
3. Click on the Advanced System Settings option.
4. If you have administrator rights, move to step 5. Otherwise, a User Account Control dialog box will appear asking for the administrator user name and password. Fill-in the administrator name and password and click the [OK] button.
   
5. The System Properties dialog box will appear. Select the Advanced tab. Next, click the
   [Environment Variables…] button.
   
6. The following dialog box will be appear. Locate and select PROJSO and PROJ_LIB in both the User Variables and System Variables sections.
   
7. Click the [Delete] button to remove the selected environment variables.

This should resolve the PROJSO and PROJ_LIB environment variable issue. If you are still having problems with this issue, contact our technical support. They will be glad to assist you further.