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

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  1. Anonymous
    2023-09-25T14:00:58+00:00

    aww you must have missed my post that says 23H2 pretty much is expected to fix this issue back in June 15, 2023

    Was back on Page 21 I think, pretty buried now ;-)

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-09-25T13:51:04+00:00

    Yep. I'm a Windows Insider, and have been testing their fix. Instead of popping up a window that steals focus, the fix now pops up a window for 1 frame then disappears, without stealing focus. An improvement that no longer interferes with my gaming and shouldn't interfere with productivity, but ... still not perfect.

    I'd expect the release channel to get the fix when 23H2 releases later this year, even though I've tried to push for a quicker fix.

    Thank you for the post. Much appreciated. Yours is the most authoritative info this issue has seen here in 9 months.

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-09-25T13:16:15+00:00

    Yep. I'm a Windows Insider, and have been testing their fix. Instead of popping up a window that steals focus, the fix now pops up a window for 1 frame then disappears, without stealing focus. An improvement that no longer interferes with my gaming and shouldn't interfere with productivity, but ... still not perfect.

    I'd expect the release channel to get the fix when 23H2 releases later this year, even though I've tried to push for a quicker fix.

    I find it crazy how Microsoft can't get windows in Microsoft Windows to work properly. Perhaps we should start calling it Microsoft Panes. Or, perhaps more accurately, Microsoft Pains.

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-09-25T12:59:24+00:00

    Yep. I'm a Windows Insider, and have been testing their fix. Instead of popping up a window that steals focus, the fix now pops up a window for 1 frame then disappears, without stealing focus. An improvement that no longer interferes with my gaming and shouldn't interfere with productivity, but ... still not perfect.

    I'd expect the release channel to get the fix when 23H2 releases later this year, even though I've tried to push for a quicker fix.

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  5. Anonymous
    2023-09-25T08:01:39+00:00

    Update after update, yet this bug remains unfixed.

    I'm not sure Microsoft has even acknowledged this is a problem, in which case so far as they're concerned there's nothing to fix.

    According to the feedback item, they have:

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