Windows File Explorer Going Back to "Desktop" folder after opening file

Question

This issue has been raised a number of times on this forum, in slightly different forms and apparently with multiple root causes.

When I opened an image from any subfolder using any of the below, would send the File Explorer window back to the Desktop folder:

• Double clicking the file
• Selecting the file and pressing Enter
• Right clicking the file and selecting Open

It happened without fail every damn time.
I many hours going through the troubleshooting found in other Microsoft Q&A's:

• Folder Options > View > disabling Show all folders
• Folder Options > View > Reset Folders
• Running:
  DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth
  DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth
  DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
  SFC /Scannow
• Using Sysinternals Autoruns and manually disabling different explorer Autoruns
• Using Process Explorer to inspect the threads that changed when I opened an image

Process explorer showed a DLL inside explorer.exe which was:
hide-home-gallery-explorer_0.3_331485.dll!Z10Wh_ModInitv+0xdb2

This is from a application used to customise the windows experience much more called WindHawk, using the mod "Hide Home, Gallery & OneDrive in Explorer"

I had installed and set it up ages ago and forgot it was there as it just made everything so much nicer and less cluttered and has been running for months with no issues.

I found this issue on their GitHub on 12 July 2026: https://github.com/ramensoftware/windhawk-mods/issues/4755

Disabling this mod and restarting windows explorer immediately fixed my issue. Saying that, the WindHawk mod itself hasn't been updated for over 8 months and I only noticed it after doing a windows update recently. Now I'm not on top of all of my windows updates so I'm guessing around build 26200.8737, but I cant confirm exactly.

The mod uses this line to move File Explorer’s navigation pane to the top:
"SendMessageW(hTree, TVM_SELECTITEM, TVGN_CARET, (LPARAM)root);"

From what I understand, "TVGN_CARET" does not just scroll the pane but selects the root nav item, which is Desktop.

The mod removes Home, Gallery and OneDrive if Explorer adds them again.
I'm pretty sure the newer Windows builds now refresh the nav tree when a file is opened. The mod then removes those items and selects the root, causing Explorer to go back to Desktop.

I believe this is an issue with the Windhawk mod and a recent Windows 11 update, rather than Windows issue.

Disabling Hide Home, Gallery & OneDrive in Explorer and restarting Windows Explorer through Task Manager resolved the issue for me. As all the other times this was raised was 2025 and before, everything is locked and I couldn't comment, so I'm adding a new one for other people if they also suddenly get this issue.

Answer 1

Thank you for sharing the detailed investigation and solution.

This matches the currently open Windhawk bug report: the “Hide Home, Gallery & OneDrive in Explorer” mod can redirect File Explorer to the Desktop folder, and disabling the mod restores normal navigation: https://github.com/ramensoftware/windhawk-mods/issues/4755

For anyone experiencing the same issue, open Windhawk, disable this mod, then open Task Manager, right-click “Windows Explorer” and select “Restart.”

DISM and SFC are unlikely to help because the behavior is caused by a third-party mod loaded into explorer.exe. Keep the mod disabled until its developer releases a compatible update.

The exact Windows build that triggered the incompatibility has not been confirmed, so this is best described as a Windhawk mod compatibility issue exposed by a recent Windows update, rather than a confirmed Windows File Explorer defect.