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OscarMartinez's avatar
OscarMartinez
Brass Contributor
Jul 04, 2024

File Explorer windows pops up out of nowhere

Since a day or so, at seemingly random moments a File Explorer window pops up in front of everything. This started to happen shortly after I had installed ExplorerPatcher. I am 100% positive that it never happened before, I would have remembered.

 

This post You're Not Alone: Windows 11 Is Randomly Opening File Explorer says that this is a Windows 11 issue (which seems unlikely to me as I never saw it before installing EP), and that it does not create a new window but only brings an existing window to the foreground (which is pertinently untrue, it does create a new file explorer window). Some further investigation suggests that it happens when an application that was using full screen switches back to normal display (at least that is how I can reliably reproduce it).

 

It is not a big deal but it's annoying, and somewhat spoils my joy in having discovered ExplorerPatcher. Any ideas out there ?

  • Since you mentioned that the issue occurs when an application switches back to normal display, it's possible that a specific app is triggering the File Explorer window to pop up. Try closing all open apps and see if the issue persists.
  • Giovanni2230's avatar
    Giovanni2230
    Copper Contributor
    Since you mentioned that the issue occurs when an application switches back to normal display, it's possible that a specific app is triggering the File Explorer window to pop up. Try closing all open apps and see if the issue persists.
  • R_PaulT's avatar
    R_PaulT
    Copper Contributor

    OscarMartinez,

    So, something virtually the same started happening for me about a month ago. The difference is that it didn't matter if I had all file explorer windows closed, it would just launch a new instance. In fact, it would always launch a new instance, and I would have multiple instances of the same file windows open before I had a chance to close them. And like you, It would happen when I switched from full screen. It happens on youtube on chrome and firefox, also happens with twitter/X video player.

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