How to enable or Disable Numerical Sorting in Explorer in Windows 11/10

We will be covering two methods to Enable or Disable Numerical Sorting in File Explorer on Windows 11/10. They are:

1] Using the Registry Editor

Hit the WINKEY + R button combination to launch the Run utility, type in regedit and hit Enter. Once Registry Editor opens, navigate to the following key- Now, right-click on Explorer and select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value.

Name this newly created DWORD as NoStrCmpLogical. Make sure that the base is selected as Hexadecimal. Double-click on it and change its Value to 0 to enable it and, change its Value to 1 to disable numerical sorting. Finally, Reboot your computer for the changes to take effect. Read: How to add Group Policy Editor to Windows Home Edition

2] Using the Group Policy Editor

It is worth noting that this method will not work at all if you are using Windows 10 Home edition. This is so because the Group Policy Editor does not come with Windows 10 Home. Start by hitting the WINKEY + R button combination to start the Run box and type in gpedit.msc and then finally hit Enter. Now, navigate to the following path inside the Group Policy Editor- Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > File Explorer Double-click on the configuration listing named as Turn off numerical sorting in File Explorer to open the configuration page. The description of this entry reads,

You can either select Enabled to Disable Numerical Sorting in File Explorer or Disabled or Not Configured to Enable Numerical Sorting in File Explorer depending on your preferences. Click on OK and exit the Group Policy Editor. Reboot your computer for the changes to take effect. That’s it!

How do I turn off file grouping in Windows Explorer 11?

To turn off grouping or sorting in Explorer, you can disable the Turn off numerical sorting in File Explorer GEPDIT setting or change the value of the NoStrCmpLogical Registry key as described in this post. For that, open the Local Group Policy Editor and find the Turn off numerical sorting in File Explorer setting. Double-click on it and choose the Enabled option.

How do I turn off auto arrange in folders in Windows 11?

To turn off auto arrange in folders in Windows 11, you can open the Registry Editor and navigate to this path: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags. You need to delete the Bags key. For that, right-click on it and select the Delete option. Then, choose the Yes button to get the job done.