Since 22H2, File Explorer windows sometimes spontaneously move to the front

fleapower · Mar 28, 2023

Ralph56 said:
Hey guys, it has been about a month now with no update on the status of this problem of the file explorer jumping to the front of all the opened windows, so I thought I would just share with you my simple Fix.

If you are like me, then you probably have your file explorer pinned to the taskbar and you use it from there. So, all I did was unpin it from the task bar. I then opened the file explorer using "My PC" or "This PC" from the desktop or from any other place other than the taskbar. I then opened other windows, browsers, etc., and waited to see if the explorer jumped to the front. It didn't!!!

I then just pinned to the taskbar that file explorer that I just opened previously using the "My PC" or "This PC" and I haven't had the problem ever since. It seems by unpinning the explorer from the taskbar and then replacing and pinning a new explorer, somehow resets the behavior of the explorer. Idk....Lol...

Anyway, let me know if this works for anyone.

I tried this and the problem persists. Thanks for the suggestion, though, and I'm glad it's working on your system.

Futurdreamz · Mar 28, 2023

I'm having the issue too, I swear it happens when the desktop picture changes but I might be mistaken,

KrazyLurt · Mar 28, 2023

I read that the latest developer build have a fix from Microsoft but it will probably take time before rolling out in the stable release.

barreleye · Mar 29, 2023

Futurdreamz said:
I'm having the issue too, I swear it happens when the desktop picture changes but I might be mistaken,

It happens at other times.

Suchti_On_Tour · Mar 31, 2023

Suchti_On_Tour said:
Hey, i can Confirm at the moment the trick was working on my System, i didnt get the Explorer Pop up since 2 Days now
I'll give you a Update if Something Happend or not in the next Days
Thank You

Temp Fix Applied at 25.03.2023
UPDATE:
After Almost 7 Days Still no Popup, so i can Confirm On My System it Really Fixed The Problem for now, But i will see in the Future if the bug comes back, thank you for sharing your Temp Fix with us
And i Hope we find another Solution for other Users they still have the Problem, or Windows roll out a Fix for that Bug :)

Ralph56 · Mar 31, 2023

Even for me, my suggestion only worked for a couple of days and then the problem came back. So, I did some more internet searching and I found a suggestion posted by someone that said that you should check and enable in the folder options "Launch folder windows in a separate process" which I did. So far, I haven't had any problems. But, who knows.

Ralph56 · Mar 31, 2023

fleapower said:
I tried this and the problem persists. Thanks for the suggestion, though, and I'm glad it's working on your system.

It's kind of hard to figure out the problem because many things could be affecting file explorer. As an example, I use "Classic Start Menu" on Windows 11 which comes with "Classic Explorer." I have used Classic Start Menu and Classic Explorer since Windows 8 and I never had this file explorer issue of it coming to the front of windows until I installed Windows 11. Then when I read that many other people have the same issue, I'm wondering if we have anything in common like these customizing softwares' that could be causing the problem, e.g., Explorer Patcher, Classic Start Menu, etc.

Alexeus10 · Apr 2, 2023

Hey Guys.
I´m having the same issue and just ran over this thread.

I just wondered if anyone has tried disabling the win11 explorer tabs feature?
I´ve heared multiple times now that the focus bug is related to the new tabs feature in explorer, so maybe with disabling the feature it may be gone?

There is a comand line software called ViVeTool (How to Disable File Explorer Tabs In Windows 11).
With that you can disable windows features.
I disabled the tabs feature yesterday and had no focus bugs since then. But even before it was happening only every few days - so I have no evidence that it worked.

Would be interesting if anyone has tried this.

Kaiji · Apr 30, 2023

I've been battling this issue since it began.

The problem can be fixed by using Vivetool to disable explorer tabs. The catch is that whenever there's a Windows update the tabs are reactivated, forcing you to disable them and reboot every time. This also annoyingly removes all pinned explorer shortcuts.

I've solved this secondary issue by disabling automatic updates. You still need to disable the explorer tabs after manually running a Windows update, but this way you get to decide when.

Hope this helps people who are trying to find a solution to this maddening issue that MS doesn't seem interested in doing anything about.

Kaiji · May 23, 2023

Update: Windows Update didn't stay disabled using the fix in my previous post. Explorer tabs returned after a reboot.................

valkryie999 · May 27, 2023

enable Launch folder windows in separate process stop explorer from stealing focus

Kaiji · May 27, 2023

valkryie999 said:
enable Launch folder windows in separate process stop explorer from stealing focus

I applied the suggested setting and the Explorer windows exploded all over my desktop an hour later.

Kaiji · Jun 2, 2023

OK, guys... I've figured out an actual solution to this issue!

I read on a Microsoft support thread that it's caused by Group Policy doing it's routine save (every 90 mins by default). It will focus any explorer windows that weren't open at the last Group Policy save. It can happen when your wallpaper changes because this forces a Group Policy save.

This had me wondering if there's an option to disable Group Policy saves while the computer is in use......... And indeed it is! Just follow this guide and you will never have explorer windows popping up while you're working/gaming ever again, even if MS does not fix this issue!

Guide on TheWindowsClub.com

Of course, you may still have explorer popups when your computer is idle (barely an inconvenience, in comparison), but you can reduce the frequency of Group Policy saves using the following guide. I've set mine to once every 24 hours.

Guide on TheWindowsClub.com

Enjoy!!!!!

Spunk · Jun 2, 2023

I have found if you adjust the Display Scaling, and then reset it back to the way it was, it solves the problem for a while

KrazyLurt · Jun 6, 2023

Kaiji said:
OK, guys... I've figured out an actual solution to this issue!

I read on a Microsoft support thread that it's caused by Group Policy doing it's routine save (every 90 mins by default). It will focus any explorer windows that weren't open at the last Group Policy save. It can happen when your wallpaper changes because this forces a Group Policy save.

This had me wondering if there's an option to disable Group Policy saves while the computer is in use......... And indeed it is! Just follow this guide and you will never have explorer windows popping up while you're working/gaming ever again, even if MS does not fix this issue!

Guide on TheWindowsClub.com

Of course, you may still have explorer popups when your computer is idle (barely an inconvenience, in comparison), but you can reduce the frequency of Group Policy saves using the following guide. I've set mine to once every 24 hours.

Guide on TheWindowsClub.com

Enjoy!!!!!

this didnt work for me, no difference.

Kaiji · Jun 6, 2023

KrazyLurt said:
this didnt work for me, no difference.

I haven't had an explorer popup since I did this fix. The problem is definitely caused by Group Policy saves. You can test it by opening an unelevated CMD and using "gpupdate /force" while you have some recently opened explorer windows minimized. Any explorer windows that weren't open during the last Group Policy save will gain focus.

If you disable these updates while the computer isn't idle, the popups can no longer occur. I recommend double checking the first guide in case you did something wrong. I also recommend making the save frequency much higher (at least 24 hours, using the second guide) to minimize explorer popups when idle.

EDIT: Also, note that you need to reboot after changing the setting as per the guide.

KrazyLurt · Jun 6, 2023

Kaiji said:
I haven't had an explorer popup since I did this fix. The problem is definitely caused by Group Policy saves. You can test it by opening an unelevated CMD and using "gpupdate /force" while you have some recently opened explorer windows minimized. Any explorer windows that weren't open during the last Group Policy save will gain focus.

If you disable these updates while the computer isn't idle, the popups can no longer occur. I recommend double checking the first guide in case you did something wrong. I also recommend making the save frequency much higher (at least 24 hours, using the second guide) to minimize explorer popups when idle.

EDIT: Also, note that you need to reboot after changing the setting as per the guide.

What is the definition of "idle" in this context? I was runnning a mpv video in fullscreen yesterday when file explrer popped-up. Mpv isnt idle in my world, but...

Kaiji · Jun 6, 2023

KrazyLurt said:
What is the definition of "idle" in this context? I was runnning a mpv video in fullscreen yesterday when file explrer popped-up. Mpv isnt idle in my world, but...

Good point. That's why I recommend drastically increasing the time between Group Policy Saves, in case your computer is considered "idle" while you're watching something without interacting.

I also use MPV and haven't had any interruptions so far with it set to 24 hours.

KrazyLurt · Jun 6, 2023

Kaiji said:
Good point. That's why I recommend drastically increasing the time between Group Policy Saves, in case your computer is considered "idle" while you're watching something without interacting.

I also use MPV and haven't had any interruptions so far with it set to 24 hours.

I've now gone over to enabled for " set group policy refresh interval for computers" and 1440 minutes (24h) in both columns. Let's see how this goes

The other policy as "not configured" ofc.

mlamiroy · Aug 17, 2023

So, I've got the same problem. I've got four machines, and only one is affected.
It has an Asus motherboard, and an Nvidia graphics card.
There does not seem to be a real discernable pattern.
There seems to be some confusion in the OS when iexplorer runs some background tasks that for who knows what reason trigger the file/windows explorer to get the focus.

On this system, I am using 2 monitors. If I have explorer positioned only in Monitor 2, the problem never occurs.
It only happens on Monitor 1. (Both are connected to the Nvidia graphics card).
So, by now, if I remember, I position any open explorer windows in Monitor 2 and I can avoid the problem.

On monitor 1 it always happens if explorer is open in combination with only some other programs. Any other open Microsoft program, e.g., will cause explorer to get the focus each time the wallpaper changes. I noticed there are other programs that may be open together with explorer and it won't happen.
I also noticed that even when you are working in explorer itself when the problems occur, and it already has the focus, it will position itself at the top of the folder, i.e., it seems to reload the folder you're working in. (It has happened that I was dragging and dropping a file to a subfolder and it ended up in the wrong one, because it reloaded the moment the wallpaper changed).

Anyway, my 2c.