Forum Discussion
Windows 11 - File Explorer Bug
Hey everyone,
We have two brandnew Laptops running Windows 11 23H2 Enterprise and we are experiencing an issue, that there is a second overlapping Explorer window inside the one I originally opened (See screenshot below -> I marked the second window in red)
1.) There is no second Explorer process open during this issue
2.) It happens randomly, not everytime I open an explorer window
3.) It is not a graphics bug, as I can click and switch folders in both areas.
4.) You cannot move or drag the overlapping window.
5.) Only happening in W11
6.) Reinstall of OS didn´t change anything, still the same issue.
7.) Only workaround is to completely close Explorer and reopen it (Minimize, Maximize has no effect)
Any advice? Did anyone else experience this issue?
So I managed to find the root cause of this issue.
I randomly looked at the Windows Explorer on my personal computer and noticed, that it looks completely different.The explorer on our company computers still looked like the one from Windows 10. In Windows 11 it should have the tab function and has completely different menus and icons.
The problem was that we had a script running, whose purpose was to remove the bloatware from Windows 11 installation (Xbox crap, gaming apps etc....)
The script was designed to delete all apps except those I defined.
There is no App called "File Explorer" but there are a lot of libraries and other stuff and something seems to be related and needed by the new file explorer.I disabled the script and instead, I specifically removed the apps we don't need directly from the Windows image so that they aren't installed at all.
Now the explorer looks and works as intended.
Maybe this helps somebody else, because a lot of companies have scripts running to remove the Windows 11 bloatware.
Jarvis1335 what fixes it for me is to close the explorer windows, then open again, click options, reset to default, then re-open explorer. It did not happen since after this procedure and we do have this once only on many Windows 11 computers but only once and after this is fixed for good.
- Thank you for your input.
I will try that one out.
- Alright, I just had a remote session with a Microsoft support agent and he told me that this is a confirmed Windows bug and they are working on a fix.
- Did you manage to get a fix yet?
I have exactly the same issue. Clean install of Windows 11 onto a machine that was running Windows 10 fine. I've tried both the NVIDIA card and onboard graphics and it's the same, so not a GPU issue.howardp6
Until now, there is still no fix.I opened a ticket with Microsoft and they confirmed to me that this is a known bug.
No information from them, when they are going to fix this.
So I managed to find the root cause of this issue.
I randomly looked at the Windows Explorer on my personal computer and noticed, that it looks completely different.The explorer on our company computers still looked like the one from Windows 10. In Windows 11 it should have the tab function and has completely different menus and icons.
The problem was that we had a script running, whose purpose was to remove the bloatware from Windows 11 installation (Xbox crap, gaming apps etc....)
The script was designed to delete all apps except those I defined.
There is no App called "File Explorer" but there are a lot of libraries and other stuff and something seems to be related and needed by the new file explorer.I disabled the script and instead, I specifically removed the apps we don't need directly from the Windows image so that they aren't installed at all.
Now the explorer looks and works as intended.
Maybe this helps somebody else, because a lot of companies have scripts running to remove the Windows 11 bloatware.
