Forum Discussion
Completely get rid of "Group By" anywhere in File Explorer
To disable Group By globally in File Explorer on Windows 11, use this method:
- Press Win+R, type regedit, and hit Enter.
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced
- Right-click in the right pane, select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value, and name it UseAutoGrouping.
- Set the value of UseAutoGrouping to 0.
- Close the Registry Editor and restart File Explorer (or reboot your PC).
This will disable Group By globally for all folders.
To disable Group By globally in File Explorer on Windows 11, use this method:
- Press Win+R, type regedit, and hit Enter.
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced
- Right-click in the right pane, select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value, and name it UseAutoGrouping.
- Set the value of UseAutoGrouping to 0.
- Close the Registry Editor and restart File Explorer (or reboot your PC).
This will disable Group By globally for all folders.
LukaBaylor​ Where did you find this setting? Your post above from Jan 2025 seems to be its first appearance on the Internet.
I monitored this registry value using SysInternals Process Explorer and found no access whatsoever. It's not read when Explorer starts up, not read when a new folder is created, and not read when any view changes, including grouping, are made to a folder. Practical testing also indicates that it does nothing.
Unless you can provide some verification steps that show a difference between having this setting and not having it, I have to conclude that it is not a valid.
DOES NOT WORK for Winblows 11 24H2 - and NO IT DOESN'T.
I have applied this to my registry, rebooted, then selected a folder with NO groupings and Applied to All.
Reboot - yep - there you are - grouped by date.Your solution does NOT work, i restarted my File Explorer but the groups are still there.
This solution DOES in fact work. Creating the registry key does not turn off the group items feature completely. You still need to go to Sort >> Group By >> (choose your preferred setting, presumably {None}).
Having the registry key will prevent Windows from dictating this setting in the future. Meaning you won't log in one day and your folder(s) are all of a sudden sort-grouped in whatever way, when you never touched the setting to begin with.
unfortunately this is incorrect. the sort by option is stored PER FOLDER. that means every single folder will have the option setup unless you go to each one and start disabling this. this works even without the registry key.
the only true fix is to use WinSetView which unfortunately i can't use on my work computer. works just fine on my personal one. both have the same OS
What is the OS version?
