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.

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  1. Anonymous
    2023-03-28T07:26:52+00:00

    As a person who is experiencing the same issue, here's a possible reason from what I have observed:

    When my wallpaper changes, the latest file explorer window pops up.

    In my case, I'm using the Steam Wallpaper Engine; but I'm not sure that it matters. I believe it's happening when the wallpaper changes (that switch).

    Can anyone else validate that observation?

    I have observed that the explorer window has popped up when i was watching YouTube videos, something on Netflix, Disney+ and programming some stuff. Even when playing games, actually got me killed a few times. But in my case, it happens once every few days, maybe it is because i never really shutdown my computer?

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-03-28T06:48:01+00:00

    Same here. My W11 installation was a clean installation, never did an OS upgrade. Yet a Windows Explorer window is moved ontop of all others multiple times a day! This is getting really annoying.

    When will Microsoft realease a fix for this?

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-03-27T20:49:04+00:00

    The explorer window actually popped up to the foreground when I was in a ZOOM session, and wasn't even touching the keyboard. This particular behaviour is definitely odd. It will be interesting to eventually find out what is/are the causes of this behaviour. It's as if the beta testers didn't put enough hard yards into the testing?

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-03-27T18:52:16+00:00

    I have a number of users who have complained about this same issue in Windows 11. It has messed up data entry for users who think they are entering data to find out the File Explorer window popped over what they were doing. Is Microsoft going to pay for lost productivity and scrapped product?

    This issue has been present ever since rolling out Windows 11 to hundreds of users this year. Latest Windows/Lenovo updates had no effect.

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  5. Anonymous
    2023-03-27T18:38:47+00:00

    Another user reported this correlation earlier in this thread. That may be the case on my system as well (my wallpaper is set to change every 15 minutes), however, Explorer pops to the fore far frequently than that, so something else internal to Windows 11 is likely going on.

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