CC7Patcher is a winapp2ool module that installs winapp2.ini entries into CCleaner 7's configuration file (ccleaner.ini). CCleaner 7 dropped support for loading a separate winapp2.ini file; instead, cleaning definitions are stored inside ccleaner.ini alongside CCleaner's own cleaning definitions, and requiring a modified entry format. CC7Patcher bridges this gap by patching the CCleaner 7 flavor of winapp2.ini into ccleaner.ini using Transmute's Add mode.

What does CC7Patcher do?

CC7Patcher performs these steps in order:

1. Downloads the CCleaner 7 flavor from GitHub (or accepts a local copy)
2. Optionally trims winapp2.ini to keep only entries relevant to the current system
3. Prunes any winapp2 entries already in ccleaner.ini
4. Adds the current winapp2.ini entries to ccleaner.ini

The result is a ccleaner.ini that contains both CCleaner's own cleaning definitions and the winapp2.ini entries, which CCleaner 7 will then use when cleaning.

Why CC7Patcher?

• CCleaner 7 compatibility: winapp2.ini can no longer be dropped next to the CCleaner executable
• One-step install: download and install in a single run
• Trim integration: optionally trim the database down to just the software on your machine for performance reasons
• Automation: fully scriptable from the command line

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Table of Contents

1. Requirements
2. Quick Start
3. Menu Options
4. The CCleaner 7 Format
5. How Patching Works
6. Command-Line Arguments
   • Toggles
   • File Selection
   • Examples
7. Tips & Best Practices
8. Troubleshooting
9. Usage Examples
   • Example 1: Patching a ccleaner.ini
   • Example 2: Trimming before patching
   • Example 3: The default workflow (download and patch)
   • Example 4: Review before deploying
   • Example 5: Re-patching in place

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Requirements

• CCleaner 7 installed with a ccleaner.ini file (typically at %ProgramFiles%\Piriform\CCleaner 7)
• An internet connection if downloading winapp2.ini, or a local CCleaner 7 flavor winapp2.ini file if not

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Quick Start

It is suggested that you run winapp2ool from the same directory as the files on which you want to operate.

Default Workflow (download and patch)

1. Open CC7Patcher from the winapp2ool main menu
2. Use Change ccleaner.ini to point to your ccleaner.ini if necessary
3. Run. CC7Patcher downloads the latest CCleaner 7 flavor of winapp2.ini and appends it into ccleaner.ini

Local winapp2.ini Workflow

1. Open CC7Patcher
2. Toggle off Download. The Change winapp2.ini option will appear
3. Use Change winapp2.ini to select your local CCleaner 7 flavor winapp2.ini if necessary
4. Use Change ccleaner.ini to select your ccleaner.ini if necessary
5. Run, CC7Patcher appends your local CCleaner 7 flavor of winapp2.ini into ccleaner.ini

A successful run reports its progress with these lines (the trim lines appear only when Trim is enabled):

Trimming winapp2.ini...
Trimming complete: X entries remain
Patching ccleaner.ini with entries from winapp2.ini
Patched file saved to C:\Program Files\Piriform\CCleaner 7\ccleaner.ini
CCleaner 7 patching complete

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Menu Options

Option	Effect	Notes
Run (default)	Install winapp2.ini for CCleaner 7
Toggle Trim	Enable or disable trimming winapp2.ini before patching	Default: False
Toggle Download	Enable or disable downloading the latest CCleaner 7 flavor from GitHub	Default: True; unavailable in offline mode
Change winapp2.ini	Select the local winapp2.ini to use as input	Only shown when downloading is disabled
Change ccleaner.ini	Select the ccleaner.ini file to patch	Default: ccleaner.ini in the current directory
Change output file	Select where to save the patched ccleaner.ini	Default: ccleaner.ini in the current directory (overwrites the input when both are default)
Reset Settings	Restore all settings to their defaults	Only shown when settings have been changed

The menu also displays the currently selected winapp2.ini (shown as Online while downloading is enabled), ccleaner.ini, and output file paths.

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The CCleaner 7 Format

CCleaner 7 entries are not the same as base winapp2.ini entries. Compared to the base format, each entry:

• Carries three additional keys: ID= (the entry's name), Author=, and Tags=
• Replaces the LangSecRef= / Section= categorization keys with a comma-delimited Tags= value (e.g. Tags=Google,Chrome,Browser)

[Windows System Assessment Tool *]
DetectFile=%WinDir%\Performance\WinSAT
FileKey1=%WinDir%\Performance\WinSAT|*|REMOVESELF
ID=Windows System Assessment Tool *
Author=Winapp2.ini Project
Tags=ccwindows

The winapp2.ini project publishes a ready-made CCleaner 7 flavor built in this format. If you provide a local file, it must be in this format, or entries will not be functional in CCleaner 7

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How Patching Works

CC7Patcher first prunes the target ccleaner.ini by removing any entry with a Author=Winapp2.ini Project key. It then uses Transmute's Add mode to add the winapp2.ini entries into the pruned file. This makes patching idempotent: running it again, or running it to update to a newer winapp2.ini, produces the same result as patching a clean ccleaner.ini. See Example 5.

Notes

If you modify or create an entry for your system for use with CCleaner 7, remove the Author=Winapp2.ini Project key to prevent CC7Patcher from destroying it.

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Command-Line Arguments

CC7Patcher supports command-line automation for scripting environments. The module is invoked as winapp2ool -cc7patcher (cc7patcher, 12, and -12 also work).

Toggles

Arg	Effect
-nodownload	Use a local winapp2.ini instead of downloading
-trim	Trim winapp2.ini before patching

File Selection

Arg	Effect	Default
-1d path	Set winapp2.ini directory	Current directory
-1f name	Set winapp2.ini file name	winapp2.ini
-2d path	Set ccleaner.ini directory	Current directory
-2f name	Set ccleaner.ini file name	ccleaner.ini
-3d path	Set output file directory	Current directory
-3f name	Set output file name	ccleaner.ini (overwrites input)

Note: Winapp2ool does not expand environment variables in path arguments. %AppData% in the examples below works because the Command Prompt (cmd) expands it before winapp2ool sees it. From PowerShell, use $env:APPDATA instead.

Examples

Command	Effect
winapp2ool -cc7patcher	Download the latest CCleaner 7 flavor and patch ccleaner.ini in the current directory
winapp2ool -cc7patcher -trim	Download, trim for the current system, then patch
winapp2ool -cc7patcher -nodownload -3f ccleaner-patched.ini	Patch using a local CCleaner 7 format winapp2.ini, saving the result separately
winapp2ool -cc7patcher -trim -2d "%AppData%\CCleaner" -3d "%AppData%\CCleaner"	Download, trim, and patch ccleaner.ini in place in CCleaner's configuration directory

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Tips & Best Practices

Back Up ccleaner.ini First

The default output overwrites your input ccleaner.ini, and the overwrite also reorders the file and strips its comments. Back it up before running, or use Change output file (-3f) to write the patched result to a separate location for review first. See Example 4.

Re-patching After Updates

When winapp2.ini is updated, just run CC7Patcher again over your existing ccleaner.ini. There is no need to restore a clean copy first.

CCleaner 7 updates overwrite ccleaner.ini

When CCleaner 7 updates, it overwrites its cleaning definitions. This has the side effect of unpatching winapp2.ini from ccleaner.ini. You will need to reinstall winapp2.ini after every CCleaner 7 update.

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Troubleshooting

Message	Cause
"ccleaner.ini not found. Please select a valid file."	The target ccleaner.ini does not exist. The run aborts without writing anything
"Internet connection required to download winapp2.ini. Please check your connection."	Downloading is enabled but there is no connection. Toggle Download off and provide a local file, or restore your connection
"Failed to download winapp2.ini"	The download from GitHub failed. check your connection and try again
"winapp2.ini not found. Please select a valid file."	Downloading is disabled and the local winapp2.ini does not exist
"CCleaner.ini not found"	Shown by the menu when Run is selected while the target ccleaner.ini does not exist
Entries not appearing in CCleaner 7	The patched file was not saved to the correct ccleaner.ini, or a non-CCleaner 7 flavor winapp2.ini was patched

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Usage Examples

The outputs below are taken verbatim from real CC7Patcher runs. The winapp2.ini used in Examples 1, 2, and 5 is this four-entry excerpt of the real CCleaner 7 flavor:

Source file (winapp2.ini)

[Google Chrome Autoplay Preferences *]
DetectFile=%LocalAppData%\Google\Chrome*
FileKey1=%LocalAppData%\Google\Chrome*\User Data\MEIPreload|*|REMOVESELF
ID=Google Chrome Autoplay Preferences *
Author=Winapp2.ini Project
Tags=Google,Chrome,Browser

[Opera GX Autoplay Preferences *]
DetectFile=%AppData%\Opera Software\Opera GX*
FileKey1=%AppData%\Opera Software\Opera GX*\_side_profiles\*\MEIPreload|*|REMOVESELF
FileKey2=%AppData%\Opera Software\Opera GX*\MEIPreload|*|REMOVESELF
ID=Opera GX Autoplay Preferences *
Author=Winapp2.ini Project
Tags=OperaGX,Browser

[Windows System Assessment Tool *]
DetectFile=%WinDir%\Performance\WinSAT
FileKey1=%WinDir%\Performance\WinSAT|*|REMOVESELF
ID=Windows System Assessment Tool *
Author=Winapp2.ini Project
Tags=ccwindows

[Windows Task Scheduler *]
Detect=HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows
FileKey1=%WinDir%\System32\Tasks_Migrated|*|REMOVESELF
ID=Windows Task Scheduler *
Author=Winapp2.ini Project
Tags=ccwindows

The ccleaner.ini being patched is this minimal illustration:

Base file (ccleaner.ini)

; CCleaner - Cleaning rules

[CCleaner Entry 1]
ID=CCleaner.Entry1
Author=CCleaner
Tags=ccapps

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Example 1: Patching a ccleaner.ini

Context

We have a local CCleaner 7 format winapp2.ini and want to install its entries into ccleaner.ini. To keep the original file untouched for now, we direct the output to a separate file.

Intent

We want to append every entry from winapp2.ini into ccleaner.ini, saving the result as ccleaner-patched.ini.

Command

winapp2ool -cc7patcher -nodownload -3f ccleaner-patched.ini

Note: Without -3f, the output would overwrite ccleaner.ini in place

Output

Output file (ccleaner-patched.ini)

[CCleaner Entry 1]
ID=CCleaner.Entry1
Author=CCleaner
Tags=ccapps

[Google Chrome Autoplay Preferences *]
DetectFile=%LocalAppData%\Google\Chrome*
FileKey1=%LocalAppData%\Google\Chrome*\User Data\MEIPreload|*|REMOVESELF
ID=Google Chrome Autoplay Preferences *
Author=Winapp2.ini Project
Tags=Google,Chrome,Browser

[Opera GX Autoplay Preferences *]
DetectFile=%AppData%\Opera Software\Opera GX*
FileKey1=%AppData%\Opera Software\Opera GX*\_side_profiles\*\MEIPreload|*|REMOVESELF
FileKey2=%AppData%\Opera Software\Opera GX*\MEIPreload|*|REMOVESELF
ID=Opera GX Autoplay Preferences *
Author=Winapp2.ini Project
Tags=OperaGX,Browser

[Windows System Assessment Tool *]
DetectFile=%WinDir%\Performance\WinSAT
FileKey1=%WinDir%\Performance\WinSAT|*|REMOVESELF
ID=Windows System Assessment Tool *
Author=Winapp2.ini Project
Tags=ccwindows

[Windows Task Scheduler *]
Detect=HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows
FileKey1=%WinDir%\System32\Tasks_Migrated|*|REMOVESELF
ID=Windows Task Scheduler *
Author=Winapp2.ini Project
Tags=ccwindows

Explanation

• All four winapp2.ini entries are appended into the file, exactly as written in the source
• The [CCleaner Entry 1] section and every key in it are untouched
• The output is sorted alphabetically by section name
• The CCleaner 7 header comments are incidentally stripped from ccleaner.ini

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Example 2: Trimming before patching

Context

Most of the 3,700+ entries in winapp2.ini target software we don't have. There is no reason to make CCleaner 7 parse all of them at every startup.

Intent

We want to patch ccleaner.ini with only the entries relevant to this machine. The demo machine has neither Google Chrome nor Opera GX installed.

Command

winapp2ool -cc7patcher -nodownload -trim -3f ccleaner-trimmed.ini

Output

The run reports Trimming complete: 2 entries remain before patching.

Output file (ccleaner-trimmed.ini)

[CCleaner Entry 1]
ID=CCleaner.Entry1
Author=CCleaner
Tags=ccapps

[Windows System Assessment Tool *]
DetectFile=%WinDir%\Performance\WinSAT
FileKey1=%WinDir%\Performance\WinSAT|*|REMOVESELF
ID=Windows System Assessment Tool *
Author=Winapp2.ini Project
Tags=ccwindows

[Windows Task Scheduler *]
Detect=HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows
FileKey1=%WinDir%\System32\Tasks_Migrated|*|REMOVESELF
ID=Windows Task Scheduler *
Author=Winapp2.ini Project
Tags=ccwindows

Explanation

• Trim evaluated each entry in winapp2.ini's detection criteria against the demo machine before patching
• [Google Chrome Autoplay Preferences *] and [Opera GX Autoplay Preferences *] were dropped because their DetectFile paths do not exist on the demo machine
• [Windows System Assessment Tool *] and [Windows Task Scheduler *] detection criteria was found on the dmeo machine. These entries are retained and then appended into ccleaner.ini

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Example 3: The default workflow (download and patch)

Context

Download the current CCleaner 7 flavor and install it directly into CCleaner's live configuration.

Intent

We want to patch the real ccleaner.ini in %ProgramFiles%\Piriform\CCleaner 7

Command

winapp2ool -cc7patcher -2d "%ProgramFiles%\Piriform\CCleaner 7" -3d "%ProgramFiles%\Piriform\CCleaner 7"

Output

The run appends all entries from the current CCleaner 7 flavor into ccleaner.ini.

Note: The full ccleaner.ini produced by this command is too large to display here. The console output has been provided instead.

Patching ccleaner.ini with entries from winapp2.ini
Patched file saved to C:\Program Files\Piriform\CCleaner 7\ccleaner.ini
CCleaner 7 patching complete

Explanation

• -2d/-3d point the input and output at CCleaner's configuration directory
• After the run, the winapp2.ini entries appear in CCleaner 7's cleaning options alongside its built-in definitions

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Example 4: Review before deploying

Context

We are cautious about a tool rewriting CCleaner's live configuration and want to inspect the result before committing to it.

Intent

We want to produce the patched file in the working directory so that we can review it.

Commands

copy "%ProgramFiles%\Piriform\CCleaner 7\ccleaner.ini" .
winapp2ool -cc7patcher -3f ccleaner-patched.ini

Then, after reviewing ccleaner-patched.ini in a text editor:

copy "%ProgramFiles%\Piriform\CCleaner 7\ccleaner.ini" "%ProgramFiles%\Piriform\CCleaner 7\ccleaner.ini.bak"
copy ccleaner-patched.ini "%ProgramFiles%\Piriform\CCleaner 7\ccleaner.ini"

Explanation

• ccleaner.ini is copied into the into the working directory from the CCleaner 7 directory
• -3f ccleaner-patched.ini writes the patched result to a separate file from the input for review
• CCleaner 7's current unpatched ccleaner.ini is renamed to ccleaner.ini.bak as a backup
• The newly patched ccleaner-patched.ini is copied into the CCleaner 7 directory and renamed to ccleaner.ini

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Example 5: Re-patching in place

Context

A new winapp2.ini version has been released, and we want to update our already-patched ccleaner.ini

Intent

Show that re-patching is idempotent: CC7Patcher prunes the winapp2 entries the previous patch added, then re-adds the current set, so nothing is duplicated.

Command

winapp2ool -cc7patcher -nodownload -2f ccleaner-patched.ini -3f ccleaner-repatched.ini

Output

Output file (ccleaner-repatched.ini)

[Google Chrome Autoplay Preferences *]
DetectFile=%LocalAppData%\Google\Chrome*
FileKey1=%LocalAppData%\Google\Chrome*\User Data\MEIPreload|*|REMOVESELF
ID=Google Chrome Autoplay Preferences *
Author=Winapp2.ini Project
Tags=Google,Chrome,Browser

Explanation

• This entry was already in ccleaner-patched.ini
• The prune pass removes it because it has an Author=Winapp2.ini Project key
• The Add pass put it back
• If this version of winapp2.ini had dropped an entry, the old copy would have been deleted without being readded
• Any entry not written by the Winapp2.ini Project is left unmodified