I have used ofnuts addon manager for abut 3 yrs now and I have never used the ini file. just the addon.py. I use Fedora-21. I don't know about Windows though. Maybe you do need the ini for that.
Mine works flawless.

Okay, I've been mucking around with it a bit and changing things and unchanging them to troubleshoot this. This time, I activated a folder in the scripts manager, it hung on the activating message but the cancel worked. Then I stopped and restarted GIMP, and now I have all my menus. Wish I knew what did it, but try activating one folder in the set you can see .

I spoke too soon. I can see all the menu items, but it still hangs on the activating message when I select a subfolder and doesn't remember the selection afterwards. Sigh.

OK, I finally got it for me!

I am currently using the collection manager only for brushes, so I left the directories gradients, pattern, scripts etc. untouched.

Then I created directory brushes_storage beside the brushes directory. Add subdirectories like Music, Misc etc. and moved the brushes from the original brushes directory into them.

WHAT DID THE TRICK is
that if you are using a "*_storage" directory, the original directory has to be EMPTY! In my case, I left the GPS brushes in the original directory. After moving them into the storage directory, it worked!

Finally, I tested the whole thing also without the .ini file, and it also works. But I will keep this together with the .py file for future reference

Have to go to sleep now, but this case didn't let me rest until solved

Dietmar

Dietmar, you write
"WHAT DID THE TRICK is
that if you are using a "*_storage" directory, the original directory has to be EMPTY! In my case, I left the GPS brushes in the original directory. After moving them into the storage directory, it worked!"
if you had read my résumé this indication was in there
" ....b) in your /.gimp-2.8 folder check you have:
b1)brushes (initially empty) and brushes_storage (with your groups of brushes)
b2)fonts (initially empty) and fonts_storage (with your groups of fonts)
b3)gradients (initially empty) and gradients_storage (with your groups of gradients)
b4)palettes (initially empty) and palettes_storage (with your groups of palettes)
b5)patterns (initially empty) and patterns_storage (with your groups of patterns)
b6)scripts (initially empty) and scripts_storage (with your groups of scripts)
..."
anyhow, happy for you
hope Margaret will succeed also
(BTW: Margaret, happy 8 march!)

Sorry, dinasset.
I read it, but it was most probably a "mental concentration" error :-)

Dietmar

Wonderful . I moved everything out as well and ran into some problems, specifically with script-fu and python-fu no longer having their full menus.

However, I solved the other problem. Result of poking and prodding all over the place. I'd set the active and storage directory to the same master directory when the basic Brush, etc. folders don't exist in my storage master directory. Oh, and there may have been some clashes with the folders settings in preferences, so I removed all the changes I'd done there as manual management.

Dietmar, everything OK, what ends up OK!
enjoy your collection manager!

Margaret, the collectionManager handles ONLY script-fu's (*.scm) NOT filters *.py
they are plug-ins and must be referred to as other plug-ins
enjoy you too !

Molly, the .ini file has been created to avoid editing the .py filter
remember what was said by the author, when created:
"...So, here is a somewhat improved version of the manager where:
there is one single Python file to handle all managers (brushes, dynamics, fonts, gradients, palettes, patterns, scripts)
there is no need to edit the Python source, all user changes are handled with a configuration file
the standard defaults are usable as is, you may not even need a configuration file..."
in other words:
- if you accept the standards, no .ini (= the configuration file) is really required, but if you like to be ready for any change, then it's better to have the .ini and edit that one and not the .py

I didn't catch the initially empty either, but frustration can be a part of the cause too.

I'm not actually in March 8th just yet, but you go ahead and get started on the happy day for me .