Windows 11 Explorer Displays Wrong Paths After a While

Hey all!

Got a weird one for you. Running Windows 11...probably approaching a 2 year install. This seems to have started as of the update quite a while back where they reworked Windows Explorer (ugh) and added things like the "Start backup" button, etc. (How I would love to go back to the old one, but I'm hesitant to run mods that could break.)

Anyways, what happens is, when I'm working with files (I do some file management tasks daily and usually have a couple windows open), after a little while (even after a fresh reboot, usually within an hour), it starts displaying the wrong path (in the selectable/clickable part, not the title bar). Let's say I'm working in the a subdirectory of the Downloads folder. It'll work fine, but the eventually, it'll get "stuck" on the last folder I was in, and no matter where I go, that's where the path displays, which is obviously annoying.

Only fix I've found is to close all the explorer windows, and then when I open a fresh one, it seems to be correct for a while again. (If I just open a new window, this doesn't resolve it - I have to close all current windows out first.)

I also have random Explorer crashes every once in a while...every 2 days or so I'd say...I'll do some file operation...the machine will kind of freeze for a brief amount of time, and then Explorer exists (taskbar disappears, etc.) and reloads, and then things are okay again for a while.

Weirdly, while I've found crash reports elsewhere, I haven't been able to find any other reports of this strange stuck path behavior, but I'm sure I can't be the only one. It's not an emergency as I've been dealing with it for at least 6 months - I just assumed it was a bug and a future update (I've kept up to date) would fix it, but no joy so far. I'm tempted to do a fresh Win11 install, but that's a major pain and I don't really have time to get everything reconfigured right now - I'm planning to upgrade my storage eventually, so will likely wait until then to do it.

Mainly just an inconvenience, but I'd love to fix it. Any thoughts?

Thanks!
Shaun

guptasa1 said:

it'll get "stuck" on the last folder I was in, and no matter where I go, that's where the path displays, which is obviously annoying.

Click to expand...

I've never seen this behavior.

guptasa1 said:

I'm tempted to do a fresh Win11 install

Click to expand...

Prior to a fresh install try the repair install with the in-place upgrade. You won't lose anything.

Thanks for the reply, Scott. I'll definitely consider trying that if I can't find another solution.

Hi, guptasa1, welcome to the ElevenForums

guptasa1 said:

This seems to have started as of the update quite a while back where they reworked Windows Explorer

Click to expand...

I would try running this cleanup file first, below before attempting any reinstall/repair. Although a repair install is a good idea, it may clean up issues you never knew you had. If you choose to do a repair install as Scott suggested, “Option Two” is the option you will need Option One is for Insider builds.

However, you could “Download” the bat file at the bottom of this first post and save it to your desktop. Then double click to run it. Prepare to be patient depending on your system. It will run a series of scans on your system but be patient with it.

guptasa1 said:

I just assumed it was a bug

Click to expand...

Microsoft no longer refers to them as bugs. They're called features now. lol

All jokes aside... consider to apply this: (Option Three)
...in addition to this:

And I should mention, system image backups are recomended before running a repair or reinstall. You never know if you might have to revert back to your current OS if something was to go astray. I have always found a repair successful though.

I would try 3 things before doing a repair install, testing to see if you have the issue after each one..
1. Do a quick clean boot. If it doesn't happen in a clean boot, you have some software conflicting with Windows. Brink's procedure will help you weed out which one. Perform a Clean Boot in Windows 11 to Troubleshoot Software Conflicts Tutorial

2. Make sure you have no corrupt system files that is causing this problem. Open a command prompt as administrator and type sfc /scannow
Pay attention to the scan results to see if SFC found anything it could not repair. If it found corruption it could not fix followup with this command (note the spaces)
dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
Restart computer

(Note-you can follow up with another sfc /scannow command to make sure that dism repaired the files)

3. Make sure the issue is not caused by some kind of corruption in your user account by enabling the hidden administrator account.
1. Open command prompt as administrator and type net user administrator /active:yes
2. Sign out of your account and sign in with the new administrator account. If the problem does not exist in this account, then there is corruption in your user account. Note: if this proves to be your issue, report back and I will send you instructions on how to create a new account and get all your personal files into it correctly.
Sign out of administrator and back in to you account. Open command prompt as administrator and type net user administrator /active:no

If none of that points to the problem, then do a repair install. A repair install WILL NOT fix anything regarding your user account. It only fixes issues with Windows.

Good idea, SFC and DISM’s are included in the above bat file.

Thanks for the feedback! Bit of a crazy week ahead but I will definitely try some of these as I get time!

I've wondered if it might be some software I'm running, but can't seem to narrow it to anything - a clean boot to see if the problem recurs is a good thought I haven't tried yet, so I may do that first, then try some of the other things.