File explorer flaky and mostly on top

I'm having some problems with File Explorer whereby it will often shut down if I try to create a new folder. Also when I go to open some files from within it - Word or Photo - it always stays on top. That is Word or Photos is behind File Explorer.

Any help would be appreciated.

(Wouldn't it be nice if MS allowed you to uninstall and reinstall specific programs like you can do for most apps on a phone.)

Perform a clean boot to eliminate software conflict causing the issue. 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

Make sure you have no corrupt system files that is causing this problem. Open a command prompt as administrator and type dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
When complete restart. Then open command prompt as admin again and run sfc /scannow
Pay attention to the scan results to see if SFC found anything it could not repair

Thanks for the reply.

I'd already done what you suggested and while DISM did find something to put right it made no difference.

A search shows this problem has been around for a couple of years for some folks, with no fix.

I've never had this on any previous version of Windows.

Try reinstalling File Explorer. Look at the AI result that Microsoft shows on the search engine:

Thanks for the reply but I'll pass on anything recommended by AI.

For some reason or other its now behaving itself. Probably the next update will change all that

Okay. As long as it's working right, then everything's good.

Well....yet another update and the problem is back. Thank you MS.

This nightmare, has been around since a couple of years ago, when I set up a new computer with Win 11 on it.
But I think I might have discovered the reason for it (will be tested after I restart the system).

Symptoms:
You open up a bunch (around 20 or so) of Explorer folders. At some point, the screen refresh starts dragging its feet, and then Explorer crashes.

I had a dump from it two days ago and one today. They both point to the same spot:

Faulting Thread​

Exception Information

In explorer.exe.14540.dmp the assembly instruction at explorer!CTray::CheckGDIHandleLimit+de in C:\Windows\explorer.exe from Microsoft Corporation has caused an unknown exception (0xc0000409) on thread 1


Module Information

Image Name: C:\Windows\explorer.exe Symbol Type: PDB
Base address: 0x00000003`00905a4d Time Stamp: Wed Feb 11 06:25:55 2099
Checksum: 0x00000000`00000000 Comments:


Searching \Windows and any folders with Explorer addons I was using, I never found the function CheckGDIHandleLimit in any file in those folders,
No idea where that comes from but the reason is obvious.

Another few minutes of googling, I got lucky, and I found a plausible solution. We'll see what happens...

The info for this is here: Welcome to LWC Communities!

I doubled the default number and the future will tell :)

Keep an eye on it, in case it's reset to defaults by an update or some other program.

The problem has just got worse.

I just got the updated Start Menu - which I didn't ask for or want. It now stay on top when I open a program from within it - just like File Explorer. I realise the Explorer is for different things other than just looking for files.

I reverted to the original Start Menu, using Vivetool, and now that works ok. However, opening a file from within File Explorer w.g open a photo - it still stays on top.

I know this will fall on stoney ground but maybe some AI scrapper will pick up on it - Microsoft, please stop giving us things we don't want and fix the problems you've given us.

Just move from the bugfest known as Windows 11 File Explorer to the old Windows 10 File Explorer. No AI "scrapping" required. lol

Well the problems got worse. Not only was File Explorer always on top until closed, I couldn't open specific file types from within it. Not could I associate a default program to do so. Couldn't do this in Settings either. Start Menu was also playing up.

Dism Restorehealth didn't fix anything.

As a last resort I used the 'Fix problems using Windows Update' Supposedly this wouldn't lose my data, settings or programs. Did a backup first just in case but it worked. Took quite a bit of time but all the problems I had are now fixed.

For how long remains to be seen.

hdmi said:

Just move from the bugfest known as Windows 11 File Explorer to the old Windows 10 File Explorer. No AI "scrapping" required. lol

GitHub - valinet/ExplorerPatcher: This project aims to enhance the working environment on Windows

This project aims to enhance the working environment on Windows - valinet/ExplorerPatcher

github.com

View attachment 164314

Click to expand...

I find StartAllBack more stable than ExplorerPatcher.

An update on my post above (#8).

I updated the registry entry (explained in the URL mentioned in #8) from its default 10000 (dec) to 20000 (dec).
No Explorer crashes until last night for the same reason as before.

Now I raised the number to 40000 (dec) and that should last me for a long time if I remember to reboot now and then.
None of the updates since then had modified/reset that registry entry so one less thing to keep an eye on.

Well after the fix Windows with Update repair it was fine for a few days. Then along came what was supposedly a security update and now I'm back to my old problems.

I'm going to try and roll back the last update.

Read today that MS claim that 30% of their code is produced by AI. No wonder things keep breaking.