iirc, dir lists the stuff in order of entry in the dir structure. With legacy dos, too. I remember no sorting. It was possible to have other software sort dirs for you. Then they display sorted. x-tree comes to mind

AFAIK dir by default sorts alphabetically, first dirs then files. That it how I always remembered it from PC-DOS5 and afterwards.... it behaves OK in my other configs, only in the EMS one it does that...

any entries in autoexec responsible?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dir_(command)

states: In DOS and Microsoft Windows, dir checks for switches in the %dircmd% environment variable.

That would explain it!

here are my config and autoexec :

1[MENU]
2MENUITEM=XMS
3MENUITEM=XMS_with_CD-ROM_support
4MENUITEM=EMS
5MENUDEFAULT=XMS,60
6
7[XMS]
8device=c:\dos\himem.sys
9BUFFERS=10
10DOS=NOAUTO,HIGH,UMB
11FILES=40
12STACKS=12,256
13
14[XMS_with_CD-ROM_support]
15device=c:\dos\himem.sys
16device=c:\utils\cdrom.sys /d:CD0
17BUFFERS=10
18DOS=NOAUTO,HIGH,UMB
19FILES=40
20STACKS=12,256
21
22[EMS]
23devicehigh=c:\dos\himem.sys
24devicehigh=c:\utils\cdrom.sys /d:CD0
25device=c:\dos\emm386.exe ram
26BUFFERS=10
27DOS=HIGH,NOAUTO,UMB
28FILES=40
29STACKS=12,256
30
31[COMMON]

1@Echo Off
2GOTO %CONFIG%
3:XMS
4SET PATH=c:\utils;C:\UTILS\UFO;c:\utils\dn;c:\DOS
5SET TEMP=C:\TEMP
6LH C:\utils\ctmouse.exe
7GOTO SOUND
8
9:XMS_with_CD-ROM_support
10SET PATH=c:\utils;C:\UTILS\UFO;c:\utils\dn;c:\DOS
11SET TEMP=C:\TEMP
12C:\utils\shcdx33c /d:CD0
13LH C:\utils\ctmouse.exe
14GOTO SOUND
15
16:EMS
17SET PATH=c:\utils;C:\UTILS\UFO;c:\utils\dn;C:\DOS
18SET TEMP=C:\TEMP
19C:\utils\shcdx33c /d:CD0
20LH C:\utils\ctmouse.exe
21GOTO SOUND
22
23:SOUND
24rem SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P300 T6
25rem C:\SB16\DIAGNOSE /S
26rem C:\SB16\MIXERSET /P /Q
27GOTO END
28:END

anyone spots anything unusual?

for which one?

There is nothing wrong in your boot files.

If you're using MS-DOS 6 or above, try this :

1defrag c: /se

Explanation : defrag and sort in the order of extensions. The defrag will automatically quit after it's function.

then type dir and see.

Defragmentation programs can cause messed up appearance. File navigators and dos shells can also cause this inconvenience. Apply the required sorts from within the shells or the programs.

Another method is to type the following in your Autoexec.bat file :

1set dir=dir /w /p /o(x)....

which will create the environment variable for the DIR command, defaulting to the parameters you specify in the set environment.

but what BOTHERS me, is that it only happens in the EMS configuration!!!

Try running memmaker to relocate the ems page frames, or try relocating manually. I'm not good at programming but maybe the ems memory is interfering with the dir pointer in the memory register with the ems? Try with adding/removing physical RAM?

I just realized I get the same behavior also by skipping startup file, I am going to set the variable in autoexec.bat and get over it 🤣

set dircmd=/o

maybe it is a win98se-DOS "feature" , because I completelly deleted win98se files and boot in a dos-only enviroment
thanks all for the time they spent answering here! 😊