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.

0 comments

575 answers

Sort by: Oldest
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Deleted

    This answer has been deleted due to a violation of our Code of Conduct. The answer was manually reported or identified through automated detection before action was taken. Please refer to our Code of Conduct for more information.

    Comments have been turned off. Learn more

  2. Anonymous
    2023-11-03T01:44:09+00:00

    My PC at work just updated recently to 23H2 and this issue still remains. Hope MS could resolve soon.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2023-11-03T10:46:22+00:00

    I meant 23H2.

    If your Windows Settings System About, says version 23H2, then it might be fixed. If it doesn't say 23H2, then you might need to wait until you get that to get the fix.

    Note: Even though the Windows Insiders got a fix in the Dev Channel, I'm no longer sure if 23H2 got the fix or not. But it was released a few days ago.

    Make sure "Get the latest updates as soon as they're available" is turned on, and if there's no hardware blocks, I think you should get 23H2 to test it.

    Thanks again for the tip. I still don't know what 23H2 is or how to tell if it installed on my system.

    I have Windows 11 Home Version 10.0.22621 Build 22621; this version appears to stay the same regardless of which updates I have installed. The latest update I have is KB5031455 installed on October 27, 2023.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2023-11-03T11:00:02+00:00

    Click the Settings app. Click System. Click About. Scroll to see Version. It will say something like 22H2 or 23H2. If you're on 22H2 and want to possibly get 23H2 now, you will need to go to Windows Update to make sure "Get the latest updates as soon as they're available" is turned on, and it might become offered to you.

    I said this all before. Please put more effort into reading what people say. Thank you.

    It sounds like 23H2 has it still broken, though, which is unfortunate, and unexpected to me.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  5. Anonymous
    2023-11-03T13:20:43+00:00

    I was offered 23H2 this morning (by seeking) and I upgraded.

    Now, the issue sometimes happens and sometimes doesn't (each with brand new File Explorer window instances)... when it doesn't happen, you can still see the File Explorer window flickering/refreshing in the background when it would normally pop-over what I'm doing:

    When it "works" (notice the flash in the backgrounded File Explorer window at the 10 second mark): sometimes works (vimeo.com)

    When it doesn't work (same old nonsense, notice the background explorer window take over my screen at the 7 second mark): sometimes doesn't work (vimeo.com)

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments