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
    2023-11-17T22:07:56+00:00

    We have been here before, more than once I think, but I'm choosing to be optimistic and hope that FINALLY Microsoft can actually get this issue solved.

    Thanks Sam. That does look promising. Fingers crossed!!!

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-11-17T20:56:45+00:00

    Just wanted to add my name to this watch list.
    Same random pop to front issue.
    Honestly I didn't expect to even find anyone else to have the same issue.

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-11-17T19:58:13+00:00

    As an IT person - I openly admit "Broken" IS a trigger word. I hate thinking that something I've built doesn't work correctly. It triggers me to Do My Job and fix the problem. And then, I Thank the person who pointed it out. Coding is a big messy world, things will break - people who report the errors are Helping you out! There's ZERO excuse for this bug being left uncorrected for so long. There are millions of people whose workflows involve having a window open in the background. It's not even a topic worth debating. Someone at MS is being lazy and/or living in denial about their own work/skills/abilities. Just get over it and fix it. Do your job.

    Microsoft: We'd fix it, but we're too busy adding freaky looking Teams avatars that no one asked for or wants.

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  5. Anonymous
    2023-11-17T15:36:57+00:00

    Release Preview is an Insider channel, for stuff that is very close to public release. It's very stable, and accessible in Settings > Windows Update > Windows Insider Program.

    However, I'd recommend just a bit more patience. If something is in the Release Preview channel, it will be released to the public in either a Patch Tuesday (2nd Tuesday of the month), or a Preview Update (4th Tuesday of the month). You can find the Preview Updates in Windows Update > Advanced Options > Optional Updates, and it might require the option "Get the latest updates as soon as they're available", not sure.

    All that being said, it sounds like:

    11/28 might be the day that the Preview Update is available.

    12/12 might be the day that the Release Update is available.

    I'm expecting the behavior to change from "File Explorer steals focus" to "File Explorer shows for 1 frame but does not steal focus", which is what the Dev channel has had for a long time now. Not perfect, but much much better.

    Feel free to hop into Release Preview channel right now, if you want. You generally pick up fixes a little bit earlier than the Release channel, while staying very stable.

    As always, thanks for the detailed information. I've taken a look at the Insider channel, and while it appears to be a low-friction way to explore updates I'm not ready to take the dive yet. On the other hand, I'm jaded; when the words "Microsoft," "fix," and "soon," are used in the same sentence, I think: "unicorn." :)

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