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

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

Hi Mitchell,

It's not an issue that really requires a video demonstration. I'm working in another app when randomly, without warning, an already-opened Explorer window will pop to the foreground, disrupting the work I'm doing in the app. If I happen to be mouse-clicking when this happens, then the mouse-click will suddenly be applied to the Explorer window. Very disruptive.

I've been using Microsoft Windows since version 2, and it's been my experience that 99% of the time these sorts of issues are a fault within the operating system. Pardon my cynicism, but on a related issue I've been having ongoing problems with Microsoft Outlook for over a year that Microsoft support has repeated told me will be fixed "soon."

Thought it might have been worth mentioning, I had this issue and noticed it could have been my external hard drive intermittently disconnecting and connecting. Through Control Panel > Autoplay > Untick "Use Autoplay for all media and devices" and see if that helps.

Hello! I too suffer from this annoying bug. I also use Win 22H2 on a NVMe with a Geforce 3090.

It would be quite hard to make a video of this random event.

I hope there will be a fix soon.

cheers

TR0N

I agree with Diplocaulus, a screen recording/vid wouldn't provide any useful info. The random Explorer window popping up from background into foreground over whatever the currant foreground window is open is just that, random. It can happen within a minute or take several minutes and doesn't seem to be related to any particular task--it pops up over Word, Excel, web browser, Outlook, etc., whatever the current active window is.

And, as has been pointed out, so far the common factors seem to be (for those who have posted their specs) the update version of Win11 and an NVIDIA graphics subsystem.

Hi Diplocaulus,

Thank you for your additional clarification on this issue. It's really hard to catch a random event and record a video message.

I will provide you with a more comprehensive system repair scheme.

Visit Download Windows 11 (microsoft.com) and click "Download Now" to download MCT (Media Creation Tool), then download and run the program, select "Create installation media (USB flash drive, DVD or ISO file) for another PC” , and then choose Language, Version, Architecture (if you are not sure about these, choose "Use the recommended options for this PC"), then select "ISO file" in the "Select Media to Use" interface, and then a windows ISO file will be downloaded to your disk (about 4-5GB in size, it is recommended that you choose a non-system disk).

After the download is complete, double-click the ISO file, double-click to run "setup.exe" in the open file explorer, and select "Change how Windows Installer downloads updates" > "Download updates, drivers and optional features", Select "Keep personal files and apps" after accepting the terms of the agreement, then click "Next" > "Install". Then the system will reboot a few times, and then enter the welcome screen.

Disclaimer: Please back up all your important data before performing it.

It is important to stress that this is not a reinstallation of the system. The principle is to download the intact system image file, and then overwrite the system to achieve the purpose of repair. Therefore, you can operate with confidence.

Best regards,

Mitchell - | Microsoft community support expert from MSFT