Windows sort folders differently now, and I would like the old behavior

Question

Windows used to always show the subdirectories (aka folders) first, regardless of sort order. It seems that several years ago, this was changed. I would like the original behavior where folders are always first.

I have found many questions of people asking for this new behavior (including here), which I find bizarre, but since a setting was clearly changed, that implies there should be a setting somewhere to change it.

I've been searching for a solution for many years, and have been unable to find one. I asked ChatGPT, and it said to add a registry key of "DontSort" to

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer

but then immediately said that wasn't correct.

Is there a setting or registry key available to change the sort behavior? I'm currently using Windows 10.

Answer 1

If Explorer is sorted on the Date (not Date Modified), then folders are always at top, whether sorted ascending or descending.

If you need to add the Date column, click on the column header, select More, and then check Date.