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
    2023-07-27T20:02:39+00:00

    ...I still find it odd in that Microsoft not only hasn't appeared to work out where the issue is, but also doesn't appear to have any representative or site providing comments or commentary that the issue has been acknowledged - and what they're actually doing at the moment to fix this significant/major issue. And a rough prediction time on just when it is going to be fixed. This is somewhat unacceptable - and unusual, right?

    It's disrespectful. I've been using Windows since version 3.1, and this is the first time I've truly regretted my choice.

    Regarding another Windows 11 issue, earlier this year I noticed that Explorer file searches no longer stored search histories, a feature I, and apparently many others, used regularly. After several weeks of suggested fixes from moderators here--none of which fixed the bug--moderators then announced that the issue was no longer a bug; Microsoft had rechristened it a "feature." Disrespectful indeed.

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-07-27T13:39:19+00:00

    Has anyone tried disabling Group Policy background refresh? It is not something I can do here as we rely on group policies but for people running Windows at home it might be an option.

    If you have a version of Windows 11 with gpedit.msc you can change the setting here:

    Computer Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\System\Group Policy\Turn off background refresh of Group Policy

    Set this to enable

    If you don't you can use regedit

    Location: HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System

    Key: DisableBkGndGroupPolicy

    Setting: DWORD set to 1

    Detailed instructions here: https://www.thewindowsclub.com/turn-offt-group-policy-refresh

    I have now done some testing with both solutions. I have had 2 separate machines running with an untouched explorer window behind another program and there has been not a single focus stealing thru the entire day, except for when I did setup the machines.

    With the group policy method I did run gpupdate /force in CMD to make sure it was applied and a reboot after changing the registry key.

    Keep in mind, this is not recommended to do in an work environment. These settings can be safely done on a computer which are not in an AD environment.

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-07-27T06:57:19+00:00

    I did set the group policy and did an gpupdate /force to make sure it got applied for like 40 min ago or something. While i did setup this, the explorer window did show up twice without me running update. So far it seems this setting is our current workaround.

    So, the GPO Computer Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\System\Group Policy\Turn off background refresh of Group Policy has been set to disabled.

    I have not tried the registry key approach yet.

    Location: HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System

    Key: DisableBkGndGroupPolicy

    Setting: DWORD set to 1

    Thanks JAMES OFARRELL

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-07-27T06:14:24+00:00

    Has anyone tried disabling Group Policy background refresh? It is not something I can do here as we rely on group policies but for people running Windows at home it might be an option.

    If you have a version of Windows 11 with gpedit.msc you can change the setting here:

    Computer Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\System\Group Policy\Turn off background refresh of Group Policy

    Set this to enable

    If you don't you can use regedit

    Location: HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System

    Key: DisableBkGndGroupPolicy

    Setting: DWORD set to 1

    Detailed instructions here: https://www.thewindowsclub.com/turn-offt-group-policy-refresh

    This seems interesting. I am definitely trying out this workaround on my personal rig and VMs to test, also recommended to not do this in a work environment since it could lead to security issues and other problems.

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  5. Anonymous
    2023-07-26T23:10:30+00:00

    Has anyone tried disabling Group Policy background refresh? It is not something I can do here as we rely on group policies but for people running Windows at home it might be an option.

    If you have a version of Windows 11 with gpedit.msc you can change the setting here:

    Computer Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\System\Group Policy\Turn off background refresh of Group Policy

    Set this to enable

    If you don't you can use regedit

    Location: HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System

    Key: DisableBkGndGroupPolicy

    Setting: DWORD set to 1

    Detailed instructions here: https://www.thewindowsclub.com/turn-offt-group-policy-refresh

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