This browser is no longer supported.
Upgrade to Microsoft Edge to take advantage of the latest features, security updates, and technical support.
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(128, 8%, 22%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EA%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
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.
Is this ever going to be fixed? I have this issue on my personal PC, on my workplace notebook and it also occurs on my colleague's notebooks. Once or twice a day for whatever unexplainable reason the file explorer pushes itself to the front and center.
So I DID Resolve this issue a few weeks after posting this, and I've now been running windows 11 since without the problem and no more taking itself to desktop.
However I'm not EXACTLY sure what specifically fixed it. But I'm sure it was one of the following.
I don't use the search box and no Razer. After reading your message, I disabled Widgets (a good idea even if it has no relevance to this issue) and it's been almost 24 hours without an open Explorer window popping to the front. It could be just coincidental but I am hopeful.
Someone else here said that did not work for them, but I remain hopeful.
Update: When only ONE explorer window was open (for over 30 hours) it stole focus zero times. As soon as I had TWO explorer windows open, the problem reappeared.
These folks seem to also be onto something since they can actually make this happen on cue, i.e., not randomly.: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/windows-11-most-recently-opened-explorer-window/26e097bd-1eba-4462-99bd-61597b5195a0?page=19
Thanks
I don't think it actually explorer. I killed explorer.exe (with taskmanager) then started a game of starcaft, after 5-10 minutes it suddenly focussed to to a black desktop - nothing there. Could alt-tab back to starcraft and continue though.
Hello,
I can confirm this is a known issue, we are developers of a game launcher, and the explorer is stealing the focus for many of our users, which is a huge issue when people are using their computer solely for gaming with a gamepad as only controlling device !
What also happens in windows 11 and not in windows 10, is that an application launched via command line does not always get the focus, and sometimes opens behind the explorer windows ==> which is a real pity.
Please fix this issue soon, as more and more of our users are reverting back to windows 10, and we recommend them to !
Yesterday I took delivery of a new Surface laptop running Win 11 (16GB, i7). I saw File Explorer grab focus in the first hour of using it. It happens on all three of my Win 11 PCs.
