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Firstly, I've been using my same PC for 3 years (minus a few upgrades, graphics card etc) on windows 10 and never ever had this issue.
Recently I had the pop up saying I'm eligible to upgrade to Windows 11 - Cool, why not.
So I've been using windows 11 for a couple of weeks now and I'm enjoying it... apart from one VERY annoying issue I'm having.
When playing a fullscreen application (or borderless window, it doesnt matter) It will randomly minimize itself to start bar, the same kind of action If I were to Alt-Tab out of it.
This isn't an issue with any one program, it can happen in any game I'm playing, or even just fullscreen applications I leave running, such as Heaven benchmark or other benchmarking programs.
Its not an accidental press of windows key or anything daft like that, It even happens when gaming with a PS5 controller, hands nowhere near the desk.
This can happen within a minute or 2 of playing a game, or sometimes go as long as 20 minutes without happening, but it WILL happen and will repeat itself periodically.
I figured somehow another window is taking focus out of my game and tabbing to it, but no other window or notification etc actually pops up, I'm just left staring at my desktop.
I managed to find a program online someone created which logs which windows are in focus in order, so using this program I was able to determine that when im gaming and this happens, the window taking focus is 'Explorer.exe'. which is suspiciously the same thing that is in focus if I just click on my background on my desktop from another program. Its essentially like my PC is just tabbing itself to desktop for no reason.
As mentioned above, ive not had this issue ever in 3 years with windows 10 and its only started happening when upgrading to windows 11 so clearly something new or different is causing this.
Things ive already tried... Disabling notifications, Turning on/off 'Game Mode'. Changing power plans. Disabling 'minimize when a second monitor is plugged in or removed.
None of these have solved this. At this point im thinking of just reverting back to windows 10 for now.
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
I am baffled as well, this has been an issue for so long...
I thought they fixed it not long ago when my OS decided to update itself to 22H2, the bug was gone but it came back a few days ago after a large batch of updates!!!
CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!? They ADDED the bug BACK!
This erros still persists after months - newest Windows 11 version is installed, and it's very annoying.
It happens if a file in an open Windows Explorer window is created or modified.
Here's some scenarios where it can occur, so it can be reproduced.
Starting a program using it's executable (or a batch file, does not really matter), if this program creates a log file in the same directory.
Opening a document by double clicking it in Windows Explorer where the assigned program creates a lock file in the same directory.
Just on a sidenode: The focus bug mentioned above happens also when the new API to create context menu entries was used, but the classic menu was displayed (show more options) and used to launch that command. Then the program will start in the background. Also most of the time GOG installers open in the background, not so on Windows 10.
I'm wondering if it will be fixed before the 23H2 release or until Windows 12. At this pace, I have some doubts they care about it.
This appears to have fixed it for me (Windows 11 Pro 22621.1778)
- Open an Explorer window
- Open Options
- Select the View tab
- Scroll down and check "Launch folder windows in a separate process"
- Click Apply, then OK
Not a fix for the bug but an effective workaround for this annoyance.
This was the only thing that fixed this for me.
I had done this months ago, I thought I even enabled it when I had Windows 10 and the issue still happens.
This appears to have fixed it for me (Windows 11 Pro 22621.1778)
- Open an Explorer window
- Open Options
- Select the View tab
- Scroll down and check "Launch folder windows in a separate process"
- Click Apply, then OK
Not a fix for the bug but an effective workaround for this annoyance.
This was the only thing that fixed this for me.
This did not solve the problem on my pc (Windows 11 ENT 22H2 22621.1702)
