Microsoft has fixed a known issue that caused bright white flashes when launching File Explorer in dark mode on Windows 11 systems after installing the KB5070311 optional update.
The bug was also triggered when creating a new tab, selecting ‘More details’ while copying files, toggling the Details pane on or off, or navigating to or from Home or Gallery (including launching to Home).
Until this fix rolled out, affected users could’ve only avoided getting flash-banged while using the File Explorer by switching off dark mode.
“After installing KB5070311, you might experience issues when opening File Explorer in dark mode. The window might briefly display a blank white screen before loading files and folders,” Microsoft said when it confirmed the bug last week.
“This update addresses an issue where File Explorer briefly flashes white when you navigate between pages,” it noted in an advisory with details on what was addressed with this month’s KB5072033 Patch Tuesday cumulative update.
With the December KB5072033 cumulative update, Microsoft fixed another known issue that caused network connectivity to be lost on virtual machines after external virtual switches lose their physical network adapter (NIC) bindings following a host restart.
KB5072033 also patches Windows PowerShell to warn when scripts use the Invoke-WebRequest cmdlet to download web content, helping prevent the execution of harmful code.
In November, Microsoft confirmed another critical bug that causes File Explorer, the Start Menu, and other key system components to crash when provisioning Windows 11 24H2 and Windows 11 25H2 devices with cumulative updates released since July 2025.
Because of this now-fixed issue, shell components such as Explorer.exe, StartMenuExperienceHost, and ShellHost.exe would crash with visible errors or fail silently, leaving users with partially functional devices that couldn’t display various navigation tools.
Last month, Microsoft also announced that it had started testing an optional Windows 11 feature that preloads File Explorer in the background to speed up launch times and improve performance.
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