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

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  1. Anonymous
    2023-02-08T04:50:17+00:00

    Hi Nicole and thanks for your reply.

    Unfortunately all of the above have already been tried

    I've checked for updates daily incase it was a known issue being fixed, ive run a malware scan with 2 different programs.

    and now I've unfortunately just realized I can no longer revert back as I upgraded on 28th of Jan and its been over 10 days, I didn't realize I was restricted by a 10 day timescale. But in all honestly I like everything else about windows 11. But being primarily a gaming system, not being able to play games without constantly being minimized is ruining the experience.

    I've been googling extensively and there does appear to be a good few people with the same issue, some being resolved by different means. I have a few things to try when im home shortly. Disabling widgets, Disabling touch screen (Even though I dont have one, but maybe its somehow thinking I do and making a click on desktop? dunno). Unplugging PS5 controller, one person mentioned his Xbox controller caused this once, so worth a shot. However I do plan to game with my controller still so would defeat the purpose, but would at least point me in right direction if this is the issue)

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-05-01T23:54:33+00:00

    same issue here on a pc that never had windows 10 installed either... and it started happening around the same time this person reported.

    I dont have a wallpaper at all, i have a plain black background.

    In that particular period in time the only updates windows 11 received were 2023-01 cumulative updates 22H2 for x64-basierte Systems (KB5022303) (KB 4023057) (KB5022360) as well as

    .NET 6.0.13 (KB 5022404) and

    .NET Security Update (KB 5022546)

    I speculate especially one of the cumulative updates could be the culprit.

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-07-14T16:31:41+00:00

    I have two computers that are nearly identical except one has a better RAM at 64gb instead of 32gb. The GPU and processors are identical. One of them is at home and one of them is at work. Both of them came with a fresh install of Windows 11, not an upgrade. They are on slightly different builds of windows as one is at the office and IT managed and one is at home managed by me.

    The office one runs no games and is purely production. It runs (mostly) AutoCAD, Teams, Chrome, and Visual Studio.
    The home one runs Steam, some games, AutoCAD, Chrome, Visual Studio, a host of graphics programs, etc.

    I can confirm that the issue existed with nothing more on the computers than a fresh install of Microsoft Windows.

    They are static wallpapers.
    They do not have a RAM issue.
    Both run 2 monitors at 1920x1080 @ 60.

    I have put up with this odd quirk of Windows 11 for 6mo.
    The issue only happens if an instance of the file explorer is already open.
    I have tried a few of the suggested fixes in this thread.

    This is VERY clearly a Microsoft Windows issue.

    I have also seen this behavior on my boss's laptop, and recently at a friend's house.
    My wife's laptop doesn't have this problem.

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  5. Anonymous
    2023-05-17T10:40:35+00:00

    Same happening here. Fresh Win11 install and no problems with changing focus unless Explorer is open, then it will happen within 30 mins. Wallpapers change every 30 mins in my setup, so, as already as suggested, it could be this. It only appears to do it once with the same instance of Explorer open.

    Switched to a static wallpaper and problem stopped.

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