Summary

The sort order that is used by Windows XP/2003 Server/Windows Vista for files and folders whose names contain numerals is different from the sort order that is used by Windows 2000.

(Fig 1: Sorting method used in Windows XP/Vista)

(Fig 2: Sorting method used in Windows 2000)

This article describes how to configure Windows Vista to use the sort order as in Windows 2000.

Changing the sort type

• Click Start, type regedit.exe and press ENTER
• Navigate to the following branch:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Policies \ Explorer

Note: If the above branch does not exist (by default), you'll need to create the keys manually.

• Create a new DWORD (32-bit) Value named NoStrCmpLogical
• Double-click NoStrCmpLogical and set its value data to 1 (ie., 0x00000001)
• Exit the Registry Editor
• Logoff and login back for the change to take effect

For a Windows XP version of this article, click here.