Mozdzierz,
Setting cobconfig from within the program did not work because the file is read when the COBOL run-time system starts up. Once you are in the COBOL program it has already started so it is too late.
When you said you set it in WIndows, do you mean that you set it as an environment variable from Control Panel -> System -> Advanced -> Environment variables ? That should work so if it failed it could be for one of the following reasons
1. The file could not be found. A full path to the file should be specified as the value
2. The file contains a spelling mistake or does not contain a newline character after the tuneable.
3. The USB printer is not set as the default printer.
To check that the variable has been set correctly you could add the following check to your code
01 cobconfig-value pic x(255).
...
DISPLAY "COBCONFIG" UPON ENVIRONMENT-NAME
ACCEPT cobconfig-value FROM ENVIRONMENT-VALUE
IF cobconfig-value = SPACES
DISPLAY "COBCONFIG was not set"
END-IF
Gael