The latest version of Windows 11 includes an updated version of File Explorer, built using the Windows App SDK. Some parts of File Explorer haven’t actually changed – the main part of the UI containing the left pane and the file list is still using DirectUI (an undocumented technology). But do the new parts contain new bugs?
Yes, is the short answer (in some cases, glaringly obvious ones).
The address bar is randomly refocused
After clicking on the address bar and then clicking somewhere else, the address bar gets refocused when clicking on the toolbar and again when clicking elsewhere. Here’s a quick video demo:
The address bar gets stuck after interrupting a search
If you navigate to another folder in the middle of a search, the address bar gets stuck on ‘Search Results’:
Text is misaligned in the address bar
It’s only one pixel off – but I noticed that ‘This PC’ and ‘Windows (C:)’ are misaligned, just by eyeballing:
Other applications are redrawn when opening File Explorer
This one is bizarre, and was initially noticed on the foobar2000 forums. For some reason, opening a new File Explorer window or tab causes other applications to receive a WM_SYNCPAINT message, causing them to erase and redraw their windows. A lot of redundant work, and visually noticeable in some programs.
None of the old bugs have been fixed
Since the file list is essentially unchanged from previous version, all the old bugs relating to it are still present.
Here are a few of those:
- the ‘Extra large icons’ view has too much spacing at 225% DPI:
- thumbnail spacing randomly changes (in this example, I delete a file and then press F5 to restore the initial spacing):
- thumbnails sometimes become cropped after changing the view (in this case, using Ctrl+mouse wheel, and finally pressing F5 to correct the thumbnail size again):
Will any of these get fixed?
I’ve reported all of these via the Feedback Hub. Sadly, bugs don’t seem to get picked up unless there is a lot of noise around them, so I wouldn’t bet on fixes any time soon.