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
    2023-03-22T16:19:44+00:00

    I installed a new Windows 11Pro with a Key. My original system was an upgraded Windows 11 Pro from an existing Windows 10 Pro

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-03-22T16:20:50+00:00

    We have the problem with a Windows 11 Pro 22H2 upgraded from Windows 11 Pro 21H2 - so no Windows 10 was installed on this machine

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-03-22T16:31:57+00:00

    We have the problem with a Windows 11 Pro 22H2 upgraded from Windows 11 Pro 21H2 - so no Windows 10 was installed on this machine

    Interesting... I think we all agreed this issue started late 2022. Perhaps the issue is not a Win10 to Win11 upgrade issue, but a 21H2 to 22H2 upgrade issue...

    In which case, I wonder if the "Reset this PC" option would solve the issue (same key, new installation)? Something to try without wasting $$$ (only time).

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-03-22T16:42:11+00:00

    I also have this on a preinstalled and licensed vanilla Win 11 machine, as well as one upgraded from Windows 10 Pro I would go along with the issue being related to the 22H2 update. Bizarre that this workaround fixed it. Useful to know as it might help the dev. team.

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  5. Anonymous
    2023-03-22T17:30:15+00:00

    To clarify: I installed Win11 Pro licensed ver. fresh, no upgrade install. I updated to Win 11 ver 22H2 on 9/22/2022 and had no issues, including the one this thread is about.

    Sometime several months ago, following an update (wish I'd tracked this better), the whole Explorer popup issue started to occur. Note that this thread was started 1/1/2023, so perhaps we can assume that this issue cropped up within a month of that date. Here are a list of possible updates that could be associated with this issue (the update dates are mine, not release dates):

    12/16/2022: KB5021233 Cumulative Update for 22H2

    12/14/2022: KB5021255

    12/4/2022: KB5020044

    Also, as has been suggested, running a repair reinstallation of Win11 (or 10) might help. There's a guild to this procedure here:

    https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/reinstall-windows-d8369486-3e33-7d9c-dccc-859e2b022fc7#bkmk_reinstall_windows_10_using_installation_media

    There's an option that will allow you to keep all your data, settings and apps. I've used this in the past and it worked well to clear up issues. Be sure to run a full clone/image backup of your boot drive before proceeding, just in case!

    At some point, I'll likely go this route, when time permits. If/when I do, I'll report results here.

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