Solved Can't Reliably Switch Windows in Windows

I have a *lot* of trouble switching windows in Windows.

I am using Windows 11 Home 25H2 on a Lenovo Ideapad 1 with Intel.

If I am trying to switch between windows for different apps, e.g. Calibre, a couple docs in SumatraPDF, and a couple docs I'm writing, and each window is already open, it rarely works. If I click on the app icon in the Taskbar, I get a preview of each window; if I click again on the icon, or on the preview, *sometimes* it brings that window to the front, but usually it doesn't. If I use Windows+Tab, I get a list of open windows, and can arrow through the list, and *sometimes* it brings that window to the front, but usually it doesn't.

This can affect Windows apps, like Settings, so I don't think it's due to an incompatibility between Windows and Qt.

I can't handle 2 windows side-by-side, and I don't have the screen space for it either.

Ananiujitha said:

I can't handle 2 windows side-by-side

Click to expand...

Can't you just Alt-Tab between windows?
I just hold down the Alt key and tap the Tab key to cycle through the various windows...
Alt+ the 1st Tab, brings up the black box showing the open windows.
Each consecutive Tab, cycles through the windows.
When you get to the window you want, let go of the Alt and the Tab keys.




But, as you mentioned, I can also just click the various icons on the Taskbar to cycle through the windows as well.

I suggest you test to find out if the problem also affects
- another use account, and
- Safe mode.

I also suggest you run SFC.


Denis

I'll add that we've also seen "focus" issues caused by a conflicting app. You can prove if that's your problem by doing a clean boot. If it doesn't happen in a clean boot, you have some software conflicting with Windows. You have to use process of elimination to find which one. Perform a Clean Boot in Windows 11 to Troubleshoot Software Conflicts Tutorial

Open Powershell as an Administrator. Paste the following in there and press Enter:

Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers Microsoft.Windows.ShellExperienceHost | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}

Click to expand...

Restart the computer, and see if it works.

Okay, thanks.

I ran dism and sfc, and rebooted, and so far it's working better.

I don't use alt-tab because I don't have a right tab key, and I don't have much control when I try to combine left alt and left tab.

Ananiujitha said:

I don't use alt-tab because I don't have a right tab key

Click to expand...

He meant the tab key at the same time as the [left-hand] alt key.


Denis

Yeah? Like I said, I don't have much control if I try to press those 2 keys at the same time.

save this powershell (ps1) to C:\alt_tab (just extract the zip to C:\ and it will be in the correct directory)
pin the shortcut inside the extracted folder to your taskbar
when you click it, it will send ctrl+alt+tab so you can use your mouse and pick which window you want. saves you from having to constantly use your keyboard

whats in the .ps1:

Thanks. Now that the Taskbar and Windows+Tab are working for me, I don't think the extra script would be necessary.

You can also enable the Task View button on the taskbar (the icon looks like two overlapping squares) to click on it instead of pressing the WIN+TAB combination. I too have a similar bug, rarely Thanks God, when I open VirtualDub video editor or try to switch to that if open. It doesn't always comes in focus, but if I hover the mouse over the application icon on the taskbar to see the small preview and then click on the preview, I can switch to VirtualDub. This usually happens if the computer is busy doing stuff in the background and the free RAM is limited.