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I am trying to make a folder on Windows 10 case sensitive.

I found this link that shows what you should do: basically it should be very easy:

fsutil.exe file setCaseSensitiveInfo -destination here- enable

Unfortunately I keep getting this error:

Error: The request is not supported.

Does anybody know how to fix this?

Gilles-Antoine Nys
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eliav ozeri
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    Are you running it as admin? – pushkin Jun 13 '18 at 14:46
  • Interestingly I couldn't find `setCaseSensitiveInfo` [here](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/fsutil-file). If running as admin doesn't fix it, perhaps try running `fsutil file /?` to see a list of options that it supports – pushkin Jun 13 '18 at 14:49
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    Yes, running as admin. Funny thing though, if i do a typo and try to run the command, it gives me a list of supported commands and setCaseSensitiveInfo is in the list... – eliav ozeri Jun 13 '18 at 16:46
  • Just ran fsutil file /? and I see the command in the list: setCaseSensitiveInfo Set the case sensitive information for a directory – eliav ozeri Jun 13 '18 at 16:54
  • Alright - guess the docs are out of date – pushkin Jun 13 '18 at 17:12

5 Answers5

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The command you need to run is:

Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux

It will take several seconds to run, and will prompt you to restart your computer.

Daniel
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Keith Turkowski
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Firstly run the below command on Windows PowerShell opened in administrator mode:

Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux

It takes few seconds and will prompt you to restart your computer. After restarting, open the command prompt in administrator mode and run:

fsutil.exe file SetCaseSensitiveInfo YourDestinationFolder enable

Example:

fsutil.exe file SetCaseSensitiveInfo C:\Users\gmudepa\Documents\GitHub\linux enable
סטנלי גרונן
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Govindu M
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I had the same problem even with Windows 10’s April 2018 Update and NTFS Volume.

After installing of "Windows Subsystem for Linux", everythings works fine.

0

First of all - it works on NTFS.

Note that:

Case sensitivity was added in Windows 10’s April 2018 Update.

so if you don't have that famous update, then all you can do is described in next sentence:

Prior to this, it was possible to mount Windows folders as case sensitive within the Bash on Windows environment, also known as the Windows Subsystem for Linux.

If you have git, with git-bash - run bash, and create directory from there, since:

Linux Tools Create Case Sensitive Folders by Default

Other then that. There is Minimalist GNU for Windows - you get own bash, and everything is case sensitive. That can be good option - depends on your needs.

Michał Zaborowski
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  • git bash does _not_ create case sensitive folders by default. If it worked for you it's probably because you have the Windows Subsystem for Linux enabled. git bash isn't a way to do this without Windows Subsystem for Linux enabled, and if you do have it enabled you might as well use fsutil as described in other answers. – Ian Goldby Apr 20 '23 at 08:29
  • @IanGoldby good to know. I would say - 5 years ago I was not using WSL, so it can be it changed... – Michał Zaborowski Apr 21 '23 at 13:36
  • It's always possible of course there is some other factor at play here. – Ian Goldby Apr 21 '23 at 15:23
  • It was some time ago, however I remember that in some libraries that was the case. Maybe something was changed since windows 7? Or GCC was updated? Microsoft spends a lot of money on Linux this days... Not sure, but it is great to know that someone fixed that. It was really annoying - you've looked into explorer, and all was OK, while in code - not found... Thanks for update! – Michał Zaborowski Apr 23 '23 at 06:41
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OK, so basically I needed this in order to create a localhost using VMware. I couldn't find a solution to this, however, I found out that there is Ubuntu for windows in the Windows store, which basically is having an Ubuntu server on your windows machine.....yea mind blowing. So now I have my server using Ubuntu and still have my Windows...the good life for me :)

here is the link for downloading Ubuntu on Windows. Ubuntu For Windows

eliav ozeri
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