Alt + tab no longer switches to last window in Windows 11

Anonymous
2023-08-25T00:15:33+00:00

Hi all,

One of the most useful shortcuts I use all the time is not working for me on my new laptop with Windows 11. I used to use ALT + TAB to switch between the current window and the last window I used. Now if I use it it switches between the current window and the first open window (not the most recent). How can I get it so it switches between the two most recently used?

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Settings

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  1. Anonymous
    2025-05-17T17:30:14+00:00

    I've tried all these things and nothing has worked. I have nothing weird or strange going on. I'm on 1 monitor with a normal old keyboard. Please help. I use this feature nonstop and the fact I can't now is ridiculous. I'm pulling what little hair I got left out.

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  2. Anonymous
    2024-07-07T11:35:24+00:00

    Same issue. How to recover

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  3. Anonymous
    2024-04-16T05:17:04+00:00

    hello,

    I have purchase a new laptop of HP. software window 11.

    I face a problem of "alt tab" option. not coming last window.

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  4. Anonymous
    2024-04-11T13:29:14+00:00

    You beat me to it Tom!

    I plugged in a different keyboard and suddenly I can Alt-Tab on that keyboard, but still not the original.

    Remember the days when if the OS had trouble exactly identifying your keyboard layout, it might pop up a window asking you to press certain keys (like left-Alt and then right-Alt), to figure out which key mapping you had?

    Or it might have asked, does your keyboard look like this, or this? What's on this key, versus that key? etc

    I searched Win11 for a tool that would help me correctly configure my other keyboard and found nothing to do it.

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  5. Anonymous
    2024-03-29T05:53:58+00:00

    Wow, I can't believe they took this away. I didn't want to switch to a mac at work because it wouldn't have my familiar keystrokes but if I don't get them in Windows either, it might be time.

    Hi Paul.

    MacOS will indeed give you the good old MS Alt-Tab experience, with the Command-Tab key sequence.

    I started using MacOS OSX when the first full non-beta version was released in 2001. Mostly because I wanted to see what the experience would be like as a long term UNIX user. I never looked back and quickly switched to it full time for my personal use and eventually for work.

    Since so much of what we do nowadays is web based and since MS Office on the Mac is fully compatible with Office for Windows, now seems like a safe time to move over.

    Unless you rely on any Windows-only applications, that is. If you do, you can always run Windows 11 for ARM as a virtual machine on your nice new Mac.

    So much of what we do nowadays is desktop OS agnostic, that reliance on Windows is plummeting fast.

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