Open .ini files

We explain what they are used for and recommend software that we know can open or otherwise handle your. INI files. These INI files are settings and options files that are normally found in Windows computers, and this file format was developed by Microsoft for the Windows OS. The data stored in these INI files may include certain parameters, specific file and directory locations that are used by associated programs.

Application-specific options that were saved by default upon the installation of the program, or chosen by the user during manual configuration of the application, may also be stored in these. Upon start-up, many Windows applications and third party programs primarily access the data stored in associated INI files. Since an INI file is a plain text file, these. These files are plain text files that contain settings that dictate how something else—usually a program—should operate.

Various programs use their own INI files but they all serve the same purpose. CCleaner , for example, uses an INI file to store the different options. This particular INI file is stored as the name ccleaner. A common INI file in Windows called desktop. It's not a common practice for people to open or edit INI files, but they can be opened and changed with any text editor. Just double-clicking on an INI file will automatically open it in the Notepad application in Windows. INI files contain keys also called properties and some use optional sections to group keys together.

A key should have a name and a value, separated by an equals sign, like this:. INI files work differently across programs. Some INI files are really tiny a few kilobytes with only one or two lines of information, and others can be extremely lengthy several megabytes with lots of customizable options.

In this example, CCleaner defines the English language with the value. So, when CCleaner opens, it reads the INI file to determine in which language to display the program text. Although it uses to indicate English, the program natively supports other languages, too, which means you can change it to to use Spanish instead. The same can be said for all the other languages the software supports, but you have to look through its documentation to understand which numbers mean other languages.

If this key existed under a section, it may look like this:. You can change this INI file yourself to add more options to the program because it refers to this INI file to determine what should be erased from the computer. This particular program is popular enough that there's a tool you can download called CCEnhancer that keeps the INI file updated with lots of different options that don't come built-in by default.

Some INI files may have a semicolon within the text. This will not change the file type. Only special conversion software can change a file from one file type to another.

Windows often associates a default program to each file extension, so that when you double-click the file, the program launches automatically. When that program is no longer on your PC, you can sometimes get an error when you try to open the associated file. Related Settings File. Are You Sure? Repair file extension issues on your PC. Start Download. All rights reserved. Terms Of Use Privacy Cookies.

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If you have tried all of the other solutions for opening INI files and nothing else works, it may be worthwhile to try a universal file viewer such as File Magic.

File Magic is so easy to use that you'll kick yourself for not trying it sooner. If you have tried all of the other solutions for opening INI files and nothing else works, it may be worthwhile to try a universal file viewer. Download File Magic today and enjoy the convenience of viewing all types of files the easy way.