Windows 10 has a very interesting feature which allows you to the make the folder case sensitive. Any files inside it will be treated differently if they have the same name but with small or capital letters. Suppose, abc.txt and Abc.txt or aBc.txt inside a case-sensitive folder will be treated three different files.
Requirements
For this feature to work, you should have the following.
1. Drive where folder is located should be NTFS.
2. Windows subsystem for Linux should be installed.
Install Windows Subsystem for Linux
To enable the folder case sensitivity feature in Windows 10, you will have to install windows subsystem for Linux. Windows subsystem for Linux is a layer which gives you the flexibility to run Linux binary executable commands on Windows 10.
To install windows subsystem for Linux, follow this procedure:
1. Open PowerShell with administrative privileges
2. Execute the following command and wait for the installation to finish
Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux
Making Folder Case Sensitive in Windows 10
Below are few steps you need to follow to make folder case sensitive in Windows 10.
1. Open PowerShell with administrative privileges
2. Execute the following command to make a folder case sensitive
fsutil.exe file setCaseSensitiveInfo <location of folder such as "C:\folder"> enable
If a command is executed successfully, you will get the following message:
Case sensitive attribute on directory <path and name of directory or folder> is enabled.
Checking Folder Case Sensitivity in Windows 10
To check the case sensitivity of any folder, follow these steps:
1. Open PowerShell with administrative privileges
2. Execute the following command
fsutil.exe file queryCaseSensitiveInfo <location of folder such as "C:\folder">
The command will return the following message if a case sensitivity is enabled on the folder.
Case sensitive attribute on directory [path] is enabled.
If case sensitivity is disabled, the command will return the following message.
“Case sensitive attribute on directory [path] is disabled.”
Making Folder Case Insensitive in Windows 10
To make an already case sensitive folder insensitive, follow the procedure listed:
1. Open PowerShell with administrative privileges
2. Execute the following command
fsutil.exe file setCaseSensitiveInfo <location of folder such as "C:\folder"> disable
If a command is executed successfully, you will get the following message.
Case sensitive attribute on directory <path and name of directory> is disabled.
If the folder you are making case insensitive is not empty, you will get the following message.
Error: The directory is not empty
In that specific case, you will have to first empty the folder.