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
    2023-01-05T22:15:21+00:00

    Hi MuNull,

    Interesting that your hardware configuration is similar to mine:

    AMD Ryzen 9 5950X 16-core, 32-Thread Unlocked Desktop Processor

    MSI MAG X570 Tomahawk WIFI Motherboard

    Samsung 970 PRO SSD 1TB - M.2 NVMe Interface Internal Solid State Drive

    Samsung 980 PRO SSD 2TB PCIe NVMe Gen 4 Gaming M.2 Internal Solid State Drive

    G.Skill RipJaws V Series 64GB (2 x 32GB) 288-Pin SDRAM DDR4 3600 (PC4-28800)

    ZOTAC GeForce 8GB RTX 3060 Ti

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-01-06T08:34:25+00:00

    Just for the records, mine is:

    OS: Microsoft Windows 11 Enterprise 10.0.22621 Build 22621 (22H2 22621.963)

    System Model: Dell XPS 15 9500

    Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-10750H CPU @ 2.60GHz, 2592 Mhz, 6 Core(s), 12 Logical Processor(s)

    Storage: Micron 2200S NVMe 1024GB

    Render device: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Ti

    Memory: Micron MTA8ATF1G64HZ-3G2J1 8GB 3200Mhz SODIMM x2 (16GB total)

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-01-06T18:13:41+00:00

    The reasons I posted my config was to help provide more diagnostic info. If everyone who has this issue posted their computer's hardware info, it could (maybe) help toward finding a solution.

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-01-09T08:51:33+00:00

    So far, it looks like we're all using Windows 11 build 22621, an NVMe drive and a GeForce graphics card. I'd probably rank those factors in that order of relevance.

    We're all using different editions of Windows 11 - Home, Pro and Enterprise. If this was purely a 22621 issue, I'd expect there to be more people experiencing this annoying behaviour.

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  5. Anonymous
    2023-01-10T01:44:54+00:00

    Hi Diplocaulus,

    It looks like quite a few users are experiencing similar problems, but unfortunately I was unable to reproduce the problem on the test device.

    If it is convenient, could you please record a video of the current popover problem and provide it to me?

    Best regards,

    Mitchell - | Microsoft community support expert from MSFT

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