diff --git a/bin/cassandra.in.bat b/bin/cassandra.in.bat
index 1b4e38e0fe..83b7472f41 100644
--- a/bin/cassandra.in.bat
+++ b/bin/cassandra.in.bat
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ REM set JAVA_HOME="<directory>"
 REM ***** CLASSPATH library setting *****
 
 REM Ensure that any user defined CLASSPATH variables are not used on startup
-set CLASSPATH="%CASSANDRA_HOME%\conf"
+set CLASSPATH="%CASSANDRA_CONF%"
 
 REM For each jar in the CASSANDRA_HOME lib directory call append to build the CLASSPATH variable.
 for %%i in ("%CASSANDRA_HOME%\lib\*.jar") do call :append "%%i"
diff --git a/bin/sstableverify.bat b/bin/sstableverify.bat
index aa08826e04..eb2629fcaa 100644
--- a/bin/sstableverify.bat
+++ b/bin/sstableverify.bat
@@ -34,8 +34,15 @@ goto finally
 
 :err
 echo JAVA_HOME environment variable must be set!
+set ERRORLEVEL=1
 pause
 
 :finally
+ENDLOCAL & set RC=%ERRORLEVEL%
+goto :exit_with_code
 
-ENDLOCAL
+:returncode
+exit /B %RC%
+
+:exit_with_code
+call :returncode %RC%