Solved Folders problem: Sort by > Name results in odd ordering

[Stormbow]

I'm having a problem (Windows 7 Home Premium, 64 bit) with files in the Details view that are sorted by name not appearing in the correct order. But this isn't just "Filename" comes after "Filename I" or "Filename 1".

What I know about Windows' "alphabetical/numerical order":

• Punctuation marks and such come before numbers in file names.
• Periods used in the filenames are fine, as long as the file extension remains intact.
  • Certain characters such as a question mark (?) can not be used.
• Numbers come before letters in file names.
  • File names beginning with 1, 2, 3, etc. come after those beginning with 01, 02, 03, etc.
  • The more zeroes there are at the beginning of the file name, the more "first" it is in the list.
• Letters are then sorted alphabetically.
  • An "a" is the same as "A"; letters are not case sensitive.

The Problem:
For years now, I have had files numbered when I wanted them to appear in a directory in a specific order. In this specific case, I am talking about the order that I installed specific mods for the game Minecraft. If a mod was saved on my computer for a certain version of the game, but not installed, it would not receive one of these "order numbers" that I would give the installed mods.

The general format used to look like this:

01 - game version mod one.zip
02 - game version mod two.zip
03 - game version mod three.zip
game version mod five.zip ------------ Note: fi comes before fo.
game version mod four.zip
​

In reality, it looked like this:

01 - 1.4.2 modloader.zip
02 - 1.4.2 Rei's Minimap
03 - 1.4.2 Zombe's Modpack.zip
1.4.2 Custom NPCs.zip
1.4.2 minecraftforge-universal-6.0.1.341.zip​

Lately, however, all of my folders have begun doing this sort of thing as the "correct" sort by > name:

01 - 1.4.2 modloader.zip
1.4.2 Custom NPCs.zip
1.4.2 minecraftforge-universal-6.0.1.341.zip
02 - 1.4.2 Rei's Minimap
03 - 1.4.2 Zombe's Modpack.zip
​

And when I click on "Name" to sort descending instead of ascending, I get the exact opposite:

03 - 1.4.2 Zombe's Modpack.zip
02 - 1.4.2 Rei's Minimap
1.4.2 minecraftforge-universal-6.0.1.341.zip
1.4.2 Custom NPCs.zip
01 - 1.4.2 modloader.zip
​

I've checked and double-checked to make sure my 01, 02, etc. are actually "zero one" and not "oh one".

The weirdest part about this problem is that it doesn't affect my previous game version mod folders. (The ordering system looks absolutely fine, ascending or descending, in my "1.3.2 mods" folder.)


The Question:
tldr: Can anyone tell me why "1.4.2 filename.zip" would suddenly come between "01 - filename.zip" and "02 - filename.zip" and/or how to get back to the previous type of sorting?


Attempted solutions: (works, doesn't work)
I removed the periods in the 1.4.2 and this works around the problem, but I really don't want to have to do this as the "fix".

I tried creating a completely new folder and downloading the files brand new into it, then renaming them as I always had before, but the sorting issue remains.

I attempted to access gpedit.msc as instructed in another thread, file does not exist so I found out how to get it back, the option to turn off/on numerical sorting was not present where I was instructed to look.

I attempted to manually disable numerical sorting in regedit (which I'm normally comfortable using), but did not find the registry key mentioned in the thread.

 

[Ztruker]

Have you seen this: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/88153-numerical-sorting-windows-explorer-enable-disable.html

 

[Stormbow]

Have you seen this: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/88153-numerical-sorting-windows-explorer-enable-disable.html

That worked! The downloadable .reg files were exactly what I needed. (And a reboot after using them, of course.)

As they say over on the Minecraft forums, five

diamonds for you!

 

[Stormbow]

Off Topic -

I love your sig quote. This is the one I often quote myself:

"Don't take life too seriously -- it's only temporary." - Rabbi Rami Shapiro​

 

[Ztruker]

Amen, I like that one too.