| Text Configuration Format | |
| N/A | |
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File with an .INI extension contains information on a start-up Microsoft Windows software configuration, stored in a specific text format. The file comprises of different parts – parameters’ names and their values, stored in sections grouped with strings of signs representing a name in square brackets.
An example of a popular hidden INI file is Desktop.ini located in the system directories of Windows and storing its properties – icon, viewing settings and others. Equivalent of desktop.ini in the Mac OS are .DS_STORE files. The initial functionality of the INI files in Windows type systems was acquired by the registry entries and XML files.
Mac OS
Linux
INI file extension is used by Windows system configuration files. INI file stores information in plain text format.
INI configuration files
INI files define configuration data using ‘sections’, properties, and values. Section names are surrounded by square brackets, with each section containing properties and properties values separated by newline characters, i.e.:
[Section name]
property1 = value
property2 = value
INI files now and then
INI config files were extensively used by systems before introduction of Windows 95, when most configuration processess were replaced by Windows registry database. Earlier Windows versions to work properly required only two INI files, system.ini and win.ini, which contained settings for keyboard, mouse, external devices, etc. Modern Windows systems sometimes use desktop.ini files which store folder access data for (image thumbnails, file settings, etc.).
| .a2theme | Aston 2 Theme Format |
| .acb | Adobe Color Book Format |
| .acbl | Adobe Color Book Format |
| .aco | Adobe Photoshop Color Palette And Swatches Format |
| .acrobatsecuritysettings | Adobe Acrobat Security Settings Format |
| .acrodata | Adobe Acrobat Data Format |
| .acv | Adobe Photoshop Colour Curves Format |
| .acw | Microsoft Accessibility Wizard Format |