Explorer.exe randomly taking focus - Windows 11

Question

Firstly, I've been using my same PC for 3 years (minus a few upgrades, graphics card etc) on windows 10 and never ever had this issue.

Recently I had the pop up saying I'm eligible to upgrade to Windows 11 - Cool, why not.

So I've been using windows 11 for a couple of weeks now and I'm enjoying it... apart from one VERY annoying issue I'm having.

When playing a fullscreen application (or borderless window, it doesnt matter) It will randomly minimize itself to start bar, the same kind of action If I were to Alt-Tab out of it.

This isn't an issue with any one program, it can happen in any game I'm playing, or even just fullscreen applications I leave running, such as Heaven benchmark or other benchmarking programs.

Its not an accidental press of windows key or anything daft like that, It even happens when gaming with a PS5 controller, hands nowhere near the desk.

This can happen within a minute or 2 of playing a game, or sometimes go as long as 20 minutes without happening, but it WILL happen and will repeat itself periodically.

I figured somehow another window is taking focus out of my game and tabbing to it, but no other window or notification etc actually pops up, I'm just left staring at my desktop.

I managed to find a program online someone created which logs which windows are in focus in order, so using this program I was able to determine that when im gaming and this happens, the window taking focus is 'Explorer.exe'. which is suspiciously the same thing that is in focus if I just click on my background on my desktop from another program. Its essentially like my PC is just tabbing itself to desktop for no reason.

As mentioned above, ive not had this issue ever in 3 years with windows 10 and its only started happening when upgrading to windows 11 so clearly something new or different is causing this.

Things ive already tried... Disabling notifications, Turning on/off 'Game Mode'. Changing power plans. Disabling 'minimize when a second monitor is plugged in or removed.

None of these have solved this. At this point im thinking of just reverting back to windows 10 for now.

Answer 1

This fix worked for me. It affects both Windows 10 and 11.

Turns out there's a registry entry that is the wrong type

What was causing this for me was HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\HungAppTimeout being set to a DWORD rather than a SZ.

You can just delete HungAppTimeout and reboot your computer.

Hope it helps

All credit to https://www.reddit.com/r/computers/comments/42pfn1/comment/hp790jh/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3

Answer 2

Hi, I’m Nicole, I’ll be happy to help you out today.

It sounds like you may be encountering a bug in Windows 11. Here are some additional steps you can try to resolve the issue:

1. Update Windows 11: Make sure that your Windows 11 is up to date. Microsoft releases regular updates to fix bugs and improve performance.
2. Check for malware: Run a full system scan to check if any malware is causing the issue.

Source link: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/sta...

3. If the issue will still persist, I suggest reverting back to Windows 10 for now and reporting the bug using the feedback hub app in Windows. You can access the feedback hub by pressing the Windows key + f. You can also post feedback on this link.

https://feedbackportal.microsoft.com/feedback

More information is on this link.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365...

Regards.

Answer 3

Hi Nicole and thanks for your reply.

Unfortunately all of the above have already been tried

I've checked for updates daily incase it was a known issue being fixed, ive run a malware scan with 2 different programs.

and now I've unfortunately just realized I can no longer revert back as I upgraded on 28th of Jan and its been over 10 days, I didn't realize I was restricted by a 10 day timescale. But in all honestly I like everything else about windows 11. But being primarily a gaming system, not being able to play games without constantly being minimized is ruining the experience.

I've been googling extensively and there does appear to be a good few people with the same issue, some being resolved by different means. I have a few things to try when im home shortly. Disabling widgets, Disabling touch screen (Even though I dont have one, but maybe its somehow thinking I do and making a click on desktop? dunno). Unplugging PS5 controller, one person mentioned his Xbox controller caused this once, so worth a shot. However I do plan to game with my controller still so would defeat the purpose, but would at least point me in right direction if this is the issue)

Answer 4

Hi again thank you for the response.

This might be a long shot, but can you try to do an in-place upgrade repair to reinstall and repair the Windows 11 operating system without deleting any apps or files?

You can follow these links for the guide.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6Kezya27wA

Here is the link for the software used in the video

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-downlo...

Yes, there is a 10-day grace period in which you can revert back to Windows 10 using the get back button in settings. However, you can still go back to Windows 10 using the reinstallation method. The only downside is you will need to wipe the system if you are doing that.

Update me on this issue.

Regards.

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