Description of the Matching Information (Grabmi.exe) Tool in Windows XP

This article describes the Matching Information (Grabmi.exe) tool in Windows XP.

The Grabmi.exe tool is used to "grab" matching file information of applications. Grabmi.exe is a part of the Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT). When you install, the ACT is located in Support\Tools\act20.exe in the Windows XP CD-ROM.

The Grabmi.exe tool can be run on one file or on an entire folder. Note that usually it is run on an entire folder to retrieve as much information as possible.

The matching file information is used to determine what programs and versions are located on your computer so that specific layering fixes, application help, and hard blocks can automatically be applied to the specific program that is found.

For example, the DemoApp included in the ACT needs to be Appfixed by using the Windows 95 version lie. The Grabmi.exe information is entered into an .xml file, and the Windows 95 version lie fix is then associated with the matching information.

When the matching files are found on your computer, the Windows 95 version lie is automatically applied to the program.

GrabMI can be used in one of the following ways:

• The -f, -a, -n, and -h flags can be used with other flags. Otherwise, the last flag specified will be the one used.
• By default, information will be stored in systemdrive\matchinginfo.txt.

The following list describes the options used by Grabmi.exe and their functions.

• grabmi [path] (where path is the path to start generating information, for example: C:\Progs): Grabs matching information from the path specified, limits the information gathered to 10 miscellaneous files for each folder, and includes all file with extensions .icd, .exe, .dll, .msi, ._mp.
• grabmi [-d]: Grabs matching information from Windows_folder\System32\Drivers. The format of the information is slightly different in this case and only information for *sys files is grabbed.
• grabmi [-f drive:\filename.txt]: The matching information is stored in a file specified by the user.
• grabmi [-h or -?]: Displays the Grabmi help.
• grabmi [-o]: Grabs information for the file specified. If a file is not specified the call fails. If the destination file exists, the information is concatenated to the end of the existing file.
• grabmi [-p]: Grabs only the information for files with .icd, .exe, .dll, .msi, ._mp extensions.
• grabmi [-q]: Grabs matching information and does not display the file when completed.
• grabmi [-s]: Grabs information for the following system files:
  • Advapi32.dll
  • Gdi32.dll
  • Ntdll.dll
  • Kernel32.dll
  • Winsock.dll
  • Ole32.dll
  • Oleaut32.dll
  • Shell32.dll
  • User32.dll
  • Wininet.dll
  
  
• grabmi [-v]: Grabs matching information for all files.
• grabmi [-a]: Appends new matching information to the existing matching information file.
• grabmi [-n]: Allows you to append more information to the file later (see [-a]).

In the QFixApp tool, GrabMi is called Add Matching File. In the Compatibility Administration tool, GrabMi is called Auto-Generate.

Example

In this example, Grabmi.exe is located in the C:\Program Files\Application Compatibility Toolkit\applications\grabmi.exe folder. The path and file name of the output file is C:\Appname_matching_info.txt. The path to the folder you want to grab the matching information from is C:\Program Files\Application Compatibility Toolkit\Demoapp.

1. Click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then press ENTER.
2. Type cd\Program Files\Application Compatibility Toolkit\applications.
3. Type grabmi.exe -f c:\ appname_matching_info.txt "c:\program files\application compatibility toolkit\demoapp".

For additional information about program compatibility with Windows XP, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: