How Do I Get My Google Photos Onto a Windows PC With the Right Dates?
Windows sorts by file date, and Takeout gives every photo today's date. One run fixes the whole folder.
Download the export, unzip it, and File Explorer shows every photo dated today. Sort by date and the order is meaningless. This is the normal result, and nothing is broken.
Windows shows you the file's own timestamps, and those were created when the download hit your disk. It can also read the EXIF "Date taken" column, but Takeout photos often have no EXIF date to read, so that column sits empty. The real dates are in the .json files beside the photos, which Explorer treats as unopenable text.
The fix is to write those dates into the photos and onto the files, so both the "Date taken" column and the file date agree.
One run over the whole folder does it. Afterwards your photos sort correctly in Explorer, the Photos app shows the right years, and anything you copy to a NAS or a backup drive carries the dates with it. Get it from the Microsoft Store, or download it directly. It runs entirely on your PC, nothing is uploaded, and the first 500 photos are free.