diff --git a/src/OrcaSlicer.cpp b/src/OrcaSlicer.cpp
index f46297855d..7f9a2020df 100644
--- a/src/OrcaSlicer.cpp
+++ b/src/OrcaSlicer.cpp
@@ -1707,11 +1707,13 @@ int CLI::run(int argc, char **argv)
 
                     BOOST_LOG_TRIVIAL(info) << boost::format("current_printer_name %1%, current_process_name %2%")%current_printer_name %current_process_name;
                     ConfigOptionStrings* option_strings = config.option<ConfigOptionStrings>("inherits_group");
-                    // One entry for the process, one per filament and one for the printer.
+                    // One entry for the process, one per filament and one for the printer. A group of another
+                    // length still has the process first and the printer last; one too short for that is ignored.
                     if (option_strings && option_strings->values.size() != current_filaments_name.size() + 2) {
-                        boost::nowide::cerr << "Warning: ignoring inherits_group with " << option_strings->values.size() << " entries, expected "
+                        boost::nowide::cerr << "Warning: inherits_group has " << option_strings->values.size() << " entries, expected "
                                             << current_filaments_name.size() + 2 << " for " << current_filaments_name.size() << " filaments" << std::endl;
-                        option_strings = nullptr;
+                        if (option_strings->values.size() < 2)
+                            option_strings = nullptr;
                     }
                     if (option_strings) {
                         current_inherits_group = option_strings->values;
@@ -1734,14 +1736,11 @@ int CLI::run(int argc, char **argv)
                             BOOST_LOG_TRIVIAL(info) << boost::format("inherits of process valid, current_process_system_name is %1%") %current_process_system_name;
                         }
 
-                        current_filaments_system_name.resize(size - 2);
-                        for (int index = 1; index < (size - 1); index++) {
-                            if (current_inherits_group[index].empty()) {
-                                current_filaments_system_name[index-1] = current_filaments_name[index-1];
-                            }
-                            else {
+                        // A filament without an entry of its own counts as a system preset.
+                        current_filaments_system_name = current_filaments_name;
+                        for (size_t index = 1; index < size - 1 && index <= current_filaments_name.size(); index++) {
+                            if (!current_inherits_group[index].empty())
                                 current_filaments_system_name[index-1] = current_inherits_group[index];
-                            }
                         }
                     }
                     else {
diff --git a/tests/cli/test_cli_malformed_input.sh b/tests/cli/test_cli_malformed_input.sh
index ea96251dd6..b6899a301f 100644
--- a/tests/cli/test_cli_malformed_input.sh
+++ b/tests/cli/test_cli_malformed_input.sh
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 # orca-slicer binary. Each case lives inline in CLI::run(), so only the binary can reach it.
 #
 # - A project whose inherits_group does not have one entry per filament plus the process and
-#   printer entries is loaded as if it had none.
+#   printer entries still loads.
 # - --slice N --arrange 1 on a project without plate metadata slices plate N.
 # - An assemble list object with an empty filament list, or a negative filament id, is rejected
 #   as a config error.
@@ -155,7 +155,7 @@ run_presets export --slice 0 --export-3mf project.3mf "$WORK/cube.stl"
 expect_status export $CLI_SUCCESS
 [ -f "$WORK/export/project.3mf" ] || { echo "FAIL: project export failed"; tail -n 40 "$WORK/export/log"; exit 1; }
 
-echo "== an inherits_group of the wrong length is ignored"
+echo "== an inherits_group of the wrong length still loads"
 for group in '[]' '[""]' '["", "", "", "", ""]'; do
     tag="inherits_$("$PY" -c 'import json, sys; print(len(json.loads(sys.argv[1])))' "$group")"
     rewrite_3mf "$WORK/export/project.3mf" "$WORK/$tag.3mf" inherits "$group"