Section 4.2.3.3 of the 5.5 docs
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.5/en/option-files.html
says that MySQL looks first in
%PROGRAMDATA%\MySQL\MySQL Server 5.5\my.ini
But, this doesn't seem to be true. And, mysqld says the following:
C:\Program Files\MySQL\MySQL Server 5.5\bin>mysqld.exe --verbose --help
131217 17:18:49 [Note] Plugin 'FEDERATED' is disabled.
mysqld.exe Ver 5.5.33 for Win32 on x86 (MySQL Community Server (GPL))
Copyright (c) 2000, 2013, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its
affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective
owners.
Starts the MySQL database server.
Usage: mysqld.exe [OPTIONS]
NT and Win32 specific options:
--install Install the default service (NT).
--install-manual Install the default service started manually (NT).
--install service_name Install an optional service (NT).
--install-manual service_name Install an optional service started manually (NT).
--remove Remove the default service from the service list (NT).
--remove service_name Remove the service_name from the service list (NT).
--enable-named-pipe Only to be used for the default server (NT).
--standalone Dummy option to start as a standalone server (NT).
Default options are read from the following files in the given order:
C:\Windows\my.ini C:\Windows\my.cnf C:\my.ini C:\my.cnf C:\Program Files\MySQL\MySQL Server 5.5\my.ini C:\Program Files\MySQL\MySQL Server 5.5\my.cnf
So, are the docs in error?