Windows Explorer is rotating images at random

Hi Neil, I’m like you, thousands of images, especially as I work in publishing and design, but in my case, it’s not just photos, even screenshots get rotated. And yes, if a folder is untouched, all is well, but if I open it in Explorer, it might happen—not always, just sometimes. I can even go for days with it being OK, but then one day it’ll start doing it again.

Here was my earlier thread on it, and you can see some screenshots getting rotated (not just the thumbnail, sadly, but the entire file). There’s even a case of one image being rotated 90 degrees, I took a screenshot, then it rotated another 90 degrees later (i.e. upside-down), and I was able to take a second. If there were a flag, it would have done a single rotation and been “happy”, but File Explorer kept doing its “magic”! (It’s my last entry in that earlier thread.)

I looked into similar threads to the ones you posted when the problem first surfaced for me, but as I know screenshots and even JPEGs generated by InDesign wouldn’t have orientation flags, I don’t think they’re the cause of the problem.

It’s only happened for me since Windows 10 became 11.

Maybe I need to look into Event Viewer to see what is happening? Assuming I can find the event itself.

Hi Horace, there are a lot of screenshots in the previous thread I linked, and none of the images have anything in common—they could be photos, screenshots, bitmaps. Sometimes Windows decides to rotate them anticlockwise, sometimes clockwise, I’ve even seen one go upside-down because Explorer decided to modify it twice.

I wish I could use Steps Recorder and show you exactly, but the problem is sporadic and I can’t predict when it will happen or on what file. It just happens before my eyes when File Explorer is open.

As I use images for work, I really can’t afford to have them change, and I am also concerned that with each modification I am losing quality in the images as these are commonly lossy formats. Hence I have largely stopped using Explorer because of this very major risk.

It’s only when I accidentally open it, it might happen. And when it does, it’s mega-annoying. Fortunately this time it happened on an unimportant file but most of the files I have are important.

I have a custom JPEG as my background and it is not a slideshow.

PS.: It seems the link has been removed. Here it is.

Hi Neil, thank you for posting the most useful reply to this in nearly a year. And for being one of the very few who could confirm that this was even happening.

I always keep Windows up to date so all was well regarding your first suggestion.

As to Store, I have followed your very clear advice (thank you) but unfortunately I see no Microsoft Photos app in the library list, and, therefore, no update for it was made.

Under Programs and Features in Control Panel, I can’t see Photos or Microsoft Photos, either. I know I have it, since that is what the images preview in.

The version I have is 2002.31060.30005.0 which suggests it is recent (maybe it came with a Windows update?) but the copyright notice reads 2020.

I have avoided Explorer like the plague but made the mistake of opening it a few days ago, and the behaviour recurred, hence my starting a new thread on it.

Could it be the settings in Photos doing this?

AFAIK mine are default. Linked duplicates and delete confirmation are switched on, the people setting is off. The mouse wheel behaviour is set to zoom, it is on dark mode, and automatically generated albums, hardware acceleration, and new albums are switched on as well. Indexing is off.

Do you have File Explorer open when this happens? Are you able to capture an image of what is on your screen when you see this? You can also use Steps Recorder to copy what happens and provide the results here.

What do you have set in Settings>Personalization>Background? See example image below. Is it a Slide Show?

Hi Jack, my name is Neil and I'm a Windows 11 user like you.

I'll be happy to help you with your question.

I've read through your previous thread about this issue and I have also experienced the exact same problem myself. I also saw some of my photos magically rotate themselves before my eyes in the folder.

I actually fixed the issue and is was quite simple for me, so I am hoping it will be the same for you.

The first thing you need to do is to make sure your Windows is right up to date.

Click on Start > Settings > Windows Update

Click the "Check for updates" button. Let any updates download and install. After doing this, click the "Check for updates" button again, even if it says you're up to date. In fact, keep checking for updates and only stop, when, directly after checking, it reports back that you're up to date.

Once you have finished checking and installing updates, make sure you reboot your computer so that any updates can work properly. If you had to reboot your computer as part of installing an update, please go back and keep checking for more updates (there usually are more) as per the instructions above.

On the Windows update settings page, please also check Advanced Options > Optional updates for any more updates.

Once you are satisfied that you are fully up to date, you need to make sure Microsoft Photos is also up to date. Even if you don't use the Photo's app, just like One Commander uses File Explorer in its back end, well File Explorer uses Microsoft Photos in a similar way. Hence why your photos keep getting auto rotated.

Please open the Microsoft Store. The link should be on your taskbar, but if you've removed it then you can find it by clicking Start and typing STORE.

Once you are in the Store, click the "Library" link on the lower left hand side of the window. Wait for your library to populate with your apps.

Now click the "Get updates" button towards the upper right of the list of apps.

Whatever apps need updates will now update. Hopefully the Photo's app will be one of them.

After updating your apps, close the Store and then reboot your computer.

Now check your photos in folders and see if the auto rotating has stopped.

Since I last updated windows and the Photos app, mine hasn't done this behaviour anymore.

Please let me know how you get on.

Kindest regards,

Neil