Microsoft has confirmed that it’s still working to fully address a known issue that causes bright white flashes when opening the File Explorer on some Windows 11 systems.
“Removed white flash when launching new File Explorer windows or tabs when File Explorer was set to open to This PC. Also removed white flashes when resizing elements of File Explorer,” the Windows Insider Program Team said in a Friday blog post.
In December, when it first confirmed the issue and said it had been fixed, Microsoft linked the bug to the KB5070311 optional, non-security update.
“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 at the time.
The bug fix is rolling out to all Windows Insiders in the Beta and Dev channels who install the Windows 11 Build 26220.7961 (KB5079382) and Windows 11 Build 26300.7965 (KB 5079385) preview builds, respectively.
The latest Windows 11 preview builds also add support for voice typing (Windows key plus H) when renaming files in File Explorer and improve reliability when unblocking files downloaded from the internet in order to preview them in File Explorer.
Starting in November, Microsoft began testing an optional Windows 11 feature that preloads File Explorer in the background to improve performance and speed up launch times.
The same month, it confirmed a critical issue that caused the File Explorer, the Windows 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.
As Microsoft explained at the time, shell components such as Explorer.exe, StartMenuExperienceHost, and ShellHost.exe would either fail silently or crash with visible errors, leaving affected users with partially functional computers that couldn’t display various navigation tools.
Microsoft is still working on a permanent fix, but has also provided PowerShell commands to temporarily work around the File Explorer crashes, as well as a logon script for enterprise admins managing on-persistent OS installations.
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