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
    2023-11-18T16:08:53+00:00

    On my system, this problem has existed since initial load on the PC. The behavior is reported several time with varying descriptions of the same dangerous behavior.

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-11-17T14:54:11+00:00

    I presume much of the recent discussion is a joke.

    And if Microsoft is suggesting multi-key commands .. well ... forcing something like that might violate the law (ADA). They should try using it with only one hand. This product has been around for what .. over 30-years and causing File Explorer to now pop up at random is an enhancement?

    Maybe they are taking advice from Elon Musk who apparently has removed the turn-signal lever from recent versions of the Model 3 Tesla. https://www.autoblog.com/2023/09/05/its-a-dealbreaker-tesla-fans-react-to-new-model-3-terrible-turn-signal-buttons/#:~:text=Look%20inside%20the%20new%20Model,side%20of%20the%20steering%20wheel.

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-11-17T14:36:53+00:00

    Hello fellow suffers,

    I have a chink of good news for us all. Having spent the past few hours testing the Insider Release Preview build:

    Windows 11 Education - 22631.2787 It all looks good! :D

    My test computer sits in an Group Policy OU that I have control over.
    I re-tested the computer with build 22631.2715, which as I found out a few weeks ago would very reliably trigger if ANY Group Policy Preference was set OR if any Group Policy had been changed since the last refresh. The issue was still there in .2715

    However after moving to 22631**.2787** I have not had one File Explorer pop-up! Not ever a flicker (to my eyes anyway, yours may be better)

    Now, whilst this is indeed great news and am very pleased to see that Microsoft might be edging towards a fix, We all know they could pull the fix from the preview build before it enters the 'Stable' builds.

    But this is the best result I've seen since the release of tabbed File Explorer in 22H2.

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-11-16T15:10:14+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.

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  5. Anonymous
    2023-11-16T14:44:24+00:00

    To my knowledge, the problem happens only when the user leaves a File Explorer window open. So, I'd wager that it is possible that most people would not have a problem with this bug. But it's surely a bug, and I do hope we see the fix soon.

    The workaround is to make sure File Explorer is closed, when doing important work/gaming.

    Or you can pick up the proposed fix as an Insider in the Dev Channel, where "stealing focus" is fixed, but you still see 1 frame of File Explorer when the issue gets triggered.

    Indeed, the workaround is to make sure File Explorer is closed when doing important work, but that's impracticable, akin to managing a leaky faucet by turning off the water main to a house. Besides, my work involves having multiple File Explorer windows opened all the time.

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