Turn off numerical sorting in File Explorer
- Policy ID
- NoStrCmpLogical
- Scope
- Computer Configuration, User Configuration
- Supported on
- At least Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows 7
- Source
- Administrative Templates (.admx) for Windows 11 2026 Update (26H2) (version 1.0)
- Category
- Windows Components › File Explorer
Description
This policy setting allows you to have file names sorted literally (as in Windows 2000 and earlier) rather than in numerical order.
If you enable this policy setting, File Explorer will sort file names by each digit in a file name (for example, 111 < 22 < 3).
If you disable or do not configure this policy setting, File Explorer will sort file names by increasing number value (for example, 3 < 22 < 111).
Registry
ComputerHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
- NoStrCmpLogicalREG_DWORD
UserHKEY_CURRENT_USER
- NoStrCmpLogicalREG_DWORD