Forum Discussion
On version 20H2, the File Explorer on the taskbar often shows an active window with an Edge tab
On the Windows beta channel (version 20H2, build 19402.450), the File Explorer on the taskbar often shows an active window with an Edge tab. Clicking the explorer icon or the thumbnail that shows the Edge tab switches to that tab in Edge. Closing the tab makes the thumbnail disappear from the File Explorer icon and replaces it with another Edge tab. This can be repeated until all tabs have been closed, but at some point later this behavior will start again. This is surely related to the new feature where Alt + Tab works for Edge tabs, but I have that disabled and it's a bug in any case. Switching desktops seems to trigger this behavior very often, though not always. I'm running Edge Beta 85.0.564.30.
- Same problem around here since august 2020. Yesterday, I found the flag #edge-window-tab-manager. If you disable it, the problem goes away. There's is a nausty bug with the integration of edge chromium in windows.
62 Replies
adrianghc I don't like it, but there is an obvious temporary fix for this. Just switch browsers until they fix the problem.
I've put up with this now for about a week or two since our company pushed out the upgrade. I can't get newer upgrades until the company makes them available to me. So I don't know if this is resolved now or not, but I've reached the point where I've ignored it as much as I can, and now I need it to go away.
The funny thing is, I trust Microsoft more than Google, and I was moving towards Edge more and more -- until this. So, let's hope they fix it soon.
Helpfully, as of version 93 the ability to unexpire version 90 flags has been removed. There is now no way to get around the issue of Edge tabs piling up as File Explorer windows whenever I switch virtual desktops, which is unbelievably frustrating. What's more frustrating is it seems we're no closer to a fix than we were a year ago when this issue was first reported. Back to Chrome I suppose?
banjoboy96 "Search for Tab Hover cards in flags now, disabling fixed it for me."
Looks like I've already got tab hover cards disabled, I imagine I've attempted this fix before 😞 so no luck there I'm afraid!
adrianghc I just want to add my voice to those experiencing this issue. I actually noticed it on my laptop first, after I had attempted to update advanced power settings and my display went crazy (ghost windows, unable to open Task Manager, missing sections of open windows, no right-click menu visible but options still clickable, etc.!) until I restarted the computer, so I put it down to whatever gremlins got in at that point. But I just noticed it again on an until-now unaffected computer. It's nice to know I'm not imagining things.
- Just chiming in--I'm still having this and have been for a while now. I'm on 21H1.
Bug still present. Their programmers must be working on making the News and Interests popup permanent instead.
21H1
Version 91.0.864.64 (Official build) (64-bit)
There is also a bug report in the Microsoft Community: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftedge/forum/all/bug-edge-tab-icons-showing-as-folders-in-taskbar/c8358bdc-759d-4af3-bed8-804a091844aa
I posted an summed up answer there and linked to this thread.
Update for everyone! In the latest stable (91), the flag ''Browser tab experiences in Windows'' is not longer available. To activate it, first you have to activate the flag ''edge://flags/#temporary-unexpire-flags-m90'', restart, and then desactivate edge://flags/#edge-window-tab-manager.
Cheers,
jsgrrchg Thank you, thank you! After your solution, it appears to be fixed, at least for now. This issue was so annoying!
- Thanks for that. Worked for me.
- Thank you for providing another fix to an issue that Microsoft not only won't fix themselves but have actually broken the original workaround for.
- The solution does not work!
If there is more than one Edge window the bug comes back.
This flags just disables by default the creation of a new Edge window if there is already one.
- Same problem around here since august 2020. Yesterday, I found the flag #edge-window-tab-manager. If you disable it, the problem goes away. There's is a nausty bug with the integration of edge chromium in windows.
- Sounds like a great (theoretical) fix, if only that flag were actually available to me under edge://flags.
Same problem as everyone else here. On 20H2, heavy user of virtual desktops, running Edge Dev 91.0.845.2, yadda yadda yadda.
This has been going on for awhile, and it just eats up my taskbar real estate. Anyone know how I might gain access to that flag?- Hm, might it have been removed with version 91? I'm on version 90 and have it. What do you get when you search for "manager" in the flags?
- Unfortunately it didn't resolve the issue in my case. Somehow it became even worse but I'm not quite sure about it. I'm always using 2 desktops and often switching between them back and forth. I have opened pages in Edge browser on both desktops. After that change, I don't know if that is a coincidence or not, I didn't restart the system second time yet, but everything looks fine on the first desktop however this issue is twice worse on the second desktop. I already have 8 edge browser windows under the file explorer when normally I didn't have more than 3. It is with about 15 total opened pages.
- What version of edge are you using? Try to disable the mentioned flag and also try to disable alt tab functionality under windows setting.
jsgrrchg I too confirm that this removes the issue!
adrianghc I am having the issue too. But it started with the latest major update from Windows last month or so. Hope they can fix this. I too use Virtual Desktop.
- College student here. The same problem's happening to me as well. I have 5 virtual desktops each for an individual course. The problem has been annoying me for an entire semester. And the explorer icon even shows edge tabs on other desktops as well. Sometimes I'll have to close those tabs from the taskbar and re-open them on the corresponding desktop. Multiple desktops is one of the biggest features to play against MacOS and for me to choose Windows. This bug is promoting me to swap from a Windows laptop to an M1 Macbook. Go and see Wintel, lol.
