Windows 10: Enable or Disable Case Sensitive Attribute for Folders in Windows 10

How to: Enable or Disable Case Sensitive Attribute for Folders in Windows 10

How to Enable or Disable Case Sensitive Attribute for Folders in Windows 10


If you have used the Windows Subsystem for Linux, youre probably aware that it allows you to treat your Windows file systems (mounted under /mnt/c, /mnt/d, etc.) as case sensitive. This means, among other things, that you can create files whose names differ only by case (e.g. foo.txt and FOO.TXT).

However, using those files in Windows was not really possible. Since Windows applications treat the file system as case insensitive, they cannot distinguish between files whose names only differ in case. While File Explorer would show both files, only one would be opened regardless of which one you clicked.

Starting with Windows 10 build 17093, Microsoft introduced a new way to handle case sensitive files in Windows: per-directory case sensitivity. Microsoft uses this ability in the Windows Subsystem for Linux to give you better interoperability when using case sensitive files, and you can also use it yourself with regular Windows applications. As of Windows 10 build 17110, this behavior is the default.

Case sensitivity in Windows
The Windows NT family of operating systems (including Windows 10) has always had the ability to perform case sensitive file system operations. Applications can pass the FILE_FLAG_POSIX_SEMANTICS flag to the CreateFile API to indicate that they want the path to be treated as case sensitive. However, for compatibility reasons, there is a global registry key that overrides this behavior; when this key is set, all file operations are case insensitive, even when the FILE_FLAG_POSIX_SEMANTICS flag is specified. Since Windows XP, this has been the default.

The Windows Subsystem for Linux uses another mechanism, which itself bypasses that registry key, allowing us to perform case sensitive file system operations. This is what allows Linux applications running in WSL to use file names that differ only by case, just like they can on real Linux, even with that global registry key set.

Unfortunately, this leaves you with files that cant be accessed by Windows applications. While you could change the global registry key, that still would only work for those applications that use FILE_FLAG_POSIX_SEMANTICS, and this would change the behavior for all files on all drives, which may not be intended and may break some applications.

Per-directory case sensitivity
To solve this problem, Microsoft added a new case sensitive flag (attribute) that can be applied to NTFS directories (folders). For directories that have this flag set (enabled), all operations on files in that directory are case sensitive, regardless of whether FILE_FLAG_POSIX_SEMANTICS was specified. This means that if you have two files that differ only by case in a directory marked as case sensitive, all applications will be able to access them.

Starting with Windows 10 build 17107, Microsoft has added the ability to view and modify this flag to the fsutil.exe command.

Note that the per-directory case sensitivity flag is not permission to the directory.

This tutorial will show you how to enable or disable the case sensitive attribute on a per-folder basis which includes all files in the folder in Windows 10.


CONTENTS:

• Option One: To Query Case Sensitive Attribute of a Folder
• Option Two: To Enable Case Sensitive Attribute of a Folder
• Option Three: To Disable Case Sensitive Attribute of a Folder

EXAMPLE: Per-directory case sensitivity










OPTION ONE [/i] To Query Case Sensitive Attribute of a Folder
1. Open a permissions for the folder.

2. Type the command below into the command prompt and press Enter. (see screenshot below)
*Arrow fsutil.exe file queryCaseSensitiveInfo "full path of folder"

For example: fsutil.exe file queryCaseSensitiveInfo "C:\Users\Brink\Desktop\New folder"

*note If you wanted to query the case sensitive attribute of files only in the root directory of a drive , then you would enter only the drive letter (ex: "E:").

For example: fsutil.exe file queryCaseSensitiveInfo "E:"
3. You will now see if the case sensitive attribute for this directory is currently enabled or disabled. You can now close the command prompt if you like.









OPTION TWO [/i] To Enable Case Sensitive Attribute of a Folder
1. Open a permissions for the folder.

2. Type the command below into the command prompt and press Enter. (see screenshot below)
*Arrow fsutil.exe file setCaseSensitiveInfo "full path of folder" enable

For example: fsutil.exe file setCaseSensitiveInfo "C:\Users\Brink\Desktop\New folder" enable

*note If you wanted to enable the case sensitive attribute of files only in the root directory of a drive, then you would enter only the drive letter (ex: "E:").

For example: fsutil.exe file setCaseSensitiveInfo "E:" enable
3. The case sensitive attribute for this directory (and all files in it) is now enabled. You can now close the command prompt if you like.









OPTION THREE [/i] To Disable Case Sensitive Attribute of a Folder
1. Open a permissions for the folder.

2. Type the command below into the command prompt and press Enter. (see screenshot below)
*Arrow fsutil.exe file setCaseSensitiveInfo "full path of folder" disaable

For example: fsutil.exe file setCaseSensitiveInfo "C:\Users\Brink\Desktop\New folder" disable

*note If you wanted to disable the case sensitive attribute of files only in the root directory of a drive, then you would enter only the drive letter (ex: "E:").

For example: fsutil.exe file setCaseSensitiveInfo "E:" disable
3. The case sensitive attribute for this directory (and all files in it) is now disabled. You can now close the command prompt if you like.





That's it,
Shawn


Related Tutorials

• How to Add or Remove Per-directory Case Sensitivity Attribute Context Menu in Windows 10

:)

 

Windows 10 Tweaks

Pressing “Windows+Pause Break” (it’s up there next to scroll lock) opens the “System” Window.

Windows 10: In the new version of Windows, Explorer has a section called Quick Access. This includes your frequent folders and recent files. Explorer defaults to opening this page when you open a new window. If you’d rather open the usual This PC, with links to your drives and library folders, follow these steps:

• Open a new Explorer window.
• Click View in the ribbon.
• Click Options.
• Under General, next to “Open File Explorer to:” choose “This PC.”
• Click OK

credit to Lifehacker.

 

Folder attributes/customization lost on copy or move in Windows 10 1607 (Anniversary Update)

This is a head-scratcher for sure!

Create a folder (say, TestFolder) and at the command-line use
attrib +r TestFolder or attrib +s TestFolder to set read-only or system attributes for the folder. Then in File Explorer:

Windows 10 1511
(10586.589)

• Make a copy of the folder with attributes +R/+S on the same partition - Copy has
  same attributes set as the original
  
• Make a copy of the folder with attributes +R/+S on a different partition - Copy has
  same attributes set as the original
• Move the folder with attributes +R/+S elsewhere on the same partition - Folder still has
  same attributes set as before
  
• Move the folder with attributes +R/+S to a different partition - Folder still has
  same attributes set as before

Windows 10 1607 (14393.222 & Preview Build
14936)

• Make a copy of the folder with attributes +R/+S on the same partition - Copy
  loses attributes of the original
  
• Make a copy of the folder with attributes +R/+S on a different partition - Copy
  loses attributes of the original
• Move the folder with attributes +R/+S elsewhere on same partition - Folder still has
  same attributes set as before
  
• Move the folder with attributes +R/+S to a different partition - Folder
  loses attributes it had before
  

Besides the purely puzzling nature of the change in behavior, this has direct repercussions because it means customized folders (with non-default icons for example) lose their customization on being copied/moved in Windows 10 1607. This is because for desktop.ini
to work folders needs to have either the +R or +S attribute set.

• What is the reason for this breaking change and has it been announced anywhere?
• How can we revert back to the behavior of Windows 10 1511 (and previous Windows versions going back to Windows 7 and probably earlier)?
• If it is indeed a bug in Windows 10 1607 then when will it be fixed?

Update (Feb. 10, 2017): The bug finally
seems to be fixed in Insider Preview build 15019 but the fix hasn't been pushed out to previous Windows 10 versions (1507/1511/1607) yet.

 

Folder Attribution

Hello Kaushik,

The tutorial below can give you specific details on how to remove the "Read-only" attribute of files and folders in Windows 10.

Set or Unset Read-only Attribute of Files and Folders in Windows 10

If you need to do this often, then the tutorial below can show you how to add an "Attributes" context menu to files and folders to make this easier to do as needed.

Add Attributes context menu in Windows 10

 

Change file attribute to 'unhide'

Hello Walt,

Thank you for posting your concern in Microsoft Community and welcome to the Windows 10 Family.

I suggest you to follow the below steps to change the attribute of any file/folder to unhide.

Step A: Show Hidden files

1. Open Windows Explorer(win logo key+E) or My computer.

2. Now click on View on top of the window.
3. Untick ‘Hidden items’ in the options.

Step B: Change file attribute

1. Once the hidden file is located, right click on the file/folder you want to change the attribute for.

2. Go to ‘properties’, untick the box facing hidden.

3. Now, Click on ‘apply’ and then ‘ok’.

Hope it helps.

Thank You.

 

Folder Attribution

You don't need to. Windows ignores the read-only attribute of folders. It has no effect.