INF ProfileItems directive
Caution
Starting in Windows 11 version 22H2, a driver package using this directive is no longer eligible for a signature from Hardware Developer Center.
Universal driver packages and Windows Drivers cannot use this directive.
A ProfileItems directive is used in an INF DDInstall section to list one or more profile-items-sections that contain items or groups to be added to, or removed from, the Start menu.
[DDInstall]
ProfileItems=profile-items-section[,profile-items-section]...
...
Each named section referenced by a ProfileItems directive has the following form:
[profile-items-section]
Name=link-name[,name-attributes]
CmdLine=dirid,[subdir],filename
[SubDir=path]
[WorkingDir=wd-dirid,wd-subdir]
[IconPath=icon-dirid,[icon-subdir],icon-filename]
[IconIndex=index-value]
[HotKey=hotkey-value]
[Infotip=info-tip]
[DisplayResource="ResDllPath\ResDll",ResID]
This directive is supported in Windows XP and later versions of Windows.
Entries
Name=link-name[,name-attributes]
The link-name specifies the name of the link for the menu item or group, without the .lnk extension. This value can be a string or a %strkey% token that is defined in a Strings section of the INF file. If a DisplayResource entry is not specified, link-name is also the display string.
The optional name-attributes value specifies one or more flags that affect the operation on the menu item. This value is expressed as an ORed bitmask of system-defined flag values. Possible flags include the following:
0x00000001 (FLG_PROFITEM_CURRENTUSER)
Directs Windows to create or delete a Start menu item in the current user's profile. If this flag is not specified, Windows processes the item for all users.
0x00000002 (FLG_PROFITEM_DELETE)
Directs Windows to delete the menu item. If this flag is not specified, the item is created.
0x00000004 (FLG_PROFITEM_GROUP)
Directs Windows to create or delete a Start menu group under Start\Programs. If this flag is not specified, Windows creates or deletes a menu item, not a menu group.
If no flag is specified, Windows creates a menu item for all users.
CmdLine=dirid,[subdir],filename
The dirid specifies a value that identifies the directory in which the command program resides. For example, a dirid of 11 indicates the system directory. The possible dirid values are listed in the description of the dirid value in the DestinationDirs section.
If a subdir string is present, the command program is in a subdirectory of the directory referenced by dirid. The subdir specifies the subdirectory. If no subdir is specified, the program is in the directory referenced by dirid.
The filename specifies the name of the program associated with the menu item.
SubDir=path
This optional entry specifies a subdirectory (submenu) under Start\Programs in which the menu item resides. If this entry is omitted, the path defaults to Start\Programs.
For example, if the profile-items-section has the entry "Subdir=Accessories\Games", then the menu item is being created or deleted in the Start\Programs\Accessories\Games submenu.
Note
If FLG_PROFITEM_GROUP is specified for name-attributes, the SubDir entry is ignored.
WorkingDir=wd-dirid[,wd-subdir]
This optional entry specifies a working directory for the command program. If this entry is omitted, the working directory defaults to the directory in which the command program resides.
The wd-dirid value identifies the working directory. For lists of possible dirid values, see Using Dirids.
The wd-subdir string, if present, specifies a subdirectory of wd-dirid to be the working directory. Use this parameter to specify a directory that does not have a system-defined dirid. If this parameter is omitted, the wd-dirid value alone specifies the working directory.
IconPath=icon-dirid,[icon-subdir],icon-filename
This optional entry specifies the location of a file that contains an icon for the menu item.
The icon-dirid string identifies the directory for the DLL that contains the icon. For lists of possible dirid values, see Using Dirids.
The icon-subdir value, if present, indicates that the DLL is in a subdirectory of icon-dirid. The icon-subdir value specifies the subdirectory.
The icon-filename value specifies the DLL that contains the icon.
If this entry is omitted, Windows looks for an icon in the file specified in the CmdLine entry.
IconIndex=index-value
This optional entry specifies which icon in a DLL to use for the menu item. For information about how to index the icons in a DLL, see the Microsoft Windows SDK documentation.
If an IconPath entry is specified, the index-value indexes into that DLL. Otherwise, this value indexes into the file specified in the CmdLine entry.
HotKey=hotkey-value
This optional entry specifies a keyboard accelerator for the menu item.
For more information about hot keys, see the Windows SDK documentation.
Infotip=info-tip
This optional entry specifies an informational tip for the menu item.
This value can be a string or a %strkey% token that is defined in a Strings section of the INF file.
The info-tip value can also be specified as "@ResDllPath\ResDll,-ResID", where ResDllPath and ResDll specify the path and file name of a resource DLL, and -resID is a negative value that represents a resource ID.
Use this format to support Windows Multilingual User Interface (MUI). An example is as follows:
InfoTip = "@%11%\shell32.dll,-22531"
DisplayResource="ResDllPath\ResDll",ResID
This optional entry specifies a string resource that identifies a localizable string, to be used in the Start menu as the display name for shortcut or group.
ResDllPath and ResDll specify the path and file name of a resource DLL, and resID is a positive value that represents a resource ID. An example is as follows:
DisplayResource="%11%\shell32.dll",22019
Use this entry to support Windows Multilingual User Interface (MUI). If this entry is not used, the string specified by the Name entry is displayed.
Remarks
A given profile-items-section name must be unique within the INF file and must follow the general rules for defining section names. For more information about these rules, see General Syntax Rules for INF Files.
Each profile-items-section contains detailed information for creating or removing one Start menu item or group. To manipulate more than one menu item or group from an INF, create more than one profile-items-section and list the sections in the ProfileItems directive.
Any of the string parameters specified in the profile-items-section entries can be specified by using a %strkey% token, as described in General Syntax Rules for INF Files.
Examples
The following INF file excerpt shows how to use the profile-items-section to add Calculator to the Start Menu.
[CalcInstallItems]
Name = %Calc_DESC%
CmdLine = 11,, calc.exe
SubDir = %Access_GROUP%
WorkingDir = 11
InfoTip = %Calc_TIP%
:
:
[Strings]
AccessGroup = "Accessories"
Calc_DESC = "Calculator"
Calc_TIP = "Performs basic arithmetic tasks with an on-screen calculator"
The following INF file excerpt shows how to install the same software by using the DisplayResource entry to create localized menu items.
[CalcInstallItems]
Name = %Calc_DESC%
CmdLine = 11,, calc.exe
SubDir = %Access_GROUP%
WorkingDir = 11
InfoTip = "@%11%\shell32.dll,-22531"
DisplayResource="%11%\shell32.dll",22019
:
:
[Strings]
Access_GROUP = "Accessories"
Calc_DESC = "Calculator"
See also
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