Explorer.exe randomly taking focus - Windows 11

Anonymous
2023-02-08T00:52:23+00:00

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.

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Performance and system failures

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.

0 comments No comments

124 answers

Sort by: Newest
  1. Anonymous
    2024-09-26T17:28:36+00:00

    Tried this and the problem still is there... Please Microsoft DO SOMETHING about this issue or please guide us in what we can do.. Spend alot of money investing in a good PC to be tabbed out of games all the time.. It's not a good deal at all :/

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  2. Anonymous
    2024-09-26T17:20:53+00:00

    I have two computers both running on Windows 11 Pro, one on GeForce 4090 and one on AMD 6900XT both have the same issue, tried to switch screens, reinstall windows, new DP/HDMI cables, new GPU power cables.. Same result!

    So i think this is an Windows issue that is causing the game to tab out, it happens in CS2 and Fortnite.

    Does running win 10 really solve the issue?

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  3. Anonymous
    2024-09-24T08:24:30+00:00

    Seriously, I had this problem when this PC was a mewling infant with just windows 11 and all updates plus MS Office 365. Nothing else loaded. It is a MS bug, and needs MS to fix it.

    As far as I am concerned I would drop back to Windows 10 now except that I now have a lot of work stuff on here, and I need it future-proof.

    I have four other PCs in the house and I have left/upgraded them all to Win 10. I know support will end soonish, but it's still better for me than this rubbi9sh.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  4. Anonymous
    2024-09-24T08:19:00+00:00

    Nah. It's not fixed. I have the "Get updates as soon as they are available' switch on, and no updates waiting, and it has literally happened while I was typing this.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  5. Anonymous
    2024-09-23T16:22:09+00:00

    Hello,

    I can confirm that even with latest version and all steps above done, the issue still occurs frequently.

    So you are not the only one.

    Gpu on my side is rtx 4070 and cpu is i7-12700k

    But same issue on my asus laptop which is an i5 from 13rd generation (it has intel integrated graphics and discrete rtx 3050, issue happens whatever gpu i set).

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments