PROGMAN.INI [GROUPS] Section Requires Sequential Order

 Last reviewed: November 23, 1994
Article ID: Q70045
The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft Windows operating system versions 3.0, 3.0a

SUMMARY

If you have group files ordered incorrectly within the [Groups] section of the file PROGMAN.INI, only some or no groups may appear in Program Manager.

There are two possible causes why the contents of the [Groups] section in the PROGMAN.INI file can become invalid:

  1. The PROGMAN.INI file was manually modified incorrectly.

  2. The PROGMAN.INI file was corrupted.

In PROGMAN.INI, group files (that is, "Group(number)=" statements must be in sequential order within the [Groups] section; however, the associated files ("group path" statements) may appear in any order.

The PROGMAN.INI file is an ASCII text file and can be viewed using Windows Notepad, any standard text editor, or by using the MS-DOS TYPE command at the command line (that is, type "type progman.ini" [without the quotation marks], then press ENTER).

MORE INFORMATION

The [Groups] section contains the information necessary for Program Manager to locate the group files that are currently being used in Program Manager. Below is a list of the default [Groups] section that is created during installation without scanning the hard drive for existing applications: 

   [Groups]

   Group1=C:\WINDOWS\ACCESSOR.GRP
   Group2=C:\WINDOWS\GAMES.GRP
   Group3=C:\WINDOWS\MAIN.GRP
The following examples illustrate a valid [Groups] section, where <group path> represents the path to the group file: 

   Group1=<group path>
   Group2=<group path>
   Group3=<group path>
   Group4=<group path>

   -or-

   Group1=<group path>
   Group3=<group path>
   Group2=<group path>
   Group4=<group path>
The following example illustrates an invalid [Groups] section that causes the Main group not to appear. Note this example does NOT produce an error message when Windows starts. 

   [Groups]
   Group1=C:\WINDOWS\ACCESSOR.GRP
   Group2=C:\WINDOWS\GAMES.GRP
   Group4=C:\WINDOWS\MAIN.GRP

KBCategory: kbtool
KBSubcategory: win30
Additional reference words: 3.00 3.0 3.0a 3.00a

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Last reviewed: November 23, 1994
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