Windows 11--most recently opened Explorer window keeps popping up into the foreground

Anonymous
2023-01-01T17:15:47+00:00

About a month ago Windows Explorer started the annoying habit of routinely moving its most recently opened window into the foreground. Is there a way to stop it from doing this?

For example, I'll open an Explorer window to open a file into another application, and a few minutes later, for no apparent reason, Windows Explorer will interrupt the application by popping its Explorer window into the foreground. The same thing will happen when watching a video: a minute or two into watching the video and the most recently opened Explorer window will move into the foreground interrupting the video.

The only way to stop this behavior is to close all Explorer windows while watching a video or working in another application. Annoying as heck. Any suggestions? Thanks.

Microsoft Windows 11 Home Version 10.0.22621 Build 22621

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Files, folders, and storage

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

575 answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2023-04-24T07:54:05+00:00

    I seem to remember MS insisting on replacing/updating the Nvidia graphics card driver with their own - might there be a connection?

    I have an RTX 3060 Ti using Nvidia's latest drivers (v531.68). If Microsoft is messing with that then I'm unaware.

    I'm not convinced this is a useful line of enquiry - we've had people with AMD cards reporting the same issue (aromack was one, on page 12).

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2023-04-18T06:56:28+00:00

    I have this issue as well. For me this has been happening for a long time ever since upgrading from windows 10 to 11. My set-up is nothing like any of the others as my hardware appears to be older than most posted here.

    My best guess/conspiracy theory is that this issue is happening due to some sort of Microsoft data collection that Microsoft does not want people to know about. This would explain their lack of a fix and response to this issue.

    Edition: Windows 11 Pro, Version 22H2, OS build 22621.1555
    Installed on ‎10/‎16/‎2022
    Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.22640.1000.0

    AMD Ryzen 5 3600 6-Core Processor 3.95 GHz

    Kingston Hyper-X Fury 32.0GB Dual-Channel @ 1199MHz (15-15-15-35)

    MSI Radeon 5700XT

    Western Digital Black 2Terabyte 7200rpm SATA (OS Drive)

    It is still better than my work laptop though... got the explorer popup multiple times yesterday when i was troubleshooting some issues at work. Then a few times again at my home computer which is a lot more powerful. Was watching some YouTube videos and was playing on my switch thru an Elgato game capture card.

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2023-04-10T14:12:39+00:00

    Another week later and still no fix. Glad to hear Microsoft is at least paying lip-service to this serious issue, nevertheless it's off-putting to hear them tout their new Bing AI when they can't get their latest operating system--released 18 months ago--working correctly.

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2023-04-02T18:51:11+00:00

    Thanks for posting, Diplocaulus. Also, take a look at my post on 3/28,above, which is an official response from MS.

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  5. Anonymous
    2023-03-31T09:58:36+00:00

    tried a new (disk) windows 11 install - still no better.

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments