- Windows 11 has been having some weird interface issues lately
- They include freezing the taskbar, problems with File Explorer or Task View, or even the entire desktop being blank
- The fix for this interface flakiness is now rolling out to those who have installed the latest May Update for Windows 11
If you’ve been experiencing strange sluggishness with some parts of the Windows 11 desktop interface lately — or elements that seem MIA — the good news is that a fix is on the way.
Windows Latest reports that Microsoft is on the case when it comes to fixing the issues that can affect the taskbar, Task View, File Explorer and the desktop itself.
Apparently, some users find that the taskbar freezes or takes forever to appear (and the right-click menu can also take a long time to appear). Windows Latest also notes that the task view can also become unresponsive, and that freeing items from quick access in File Explorer doesn’t work in some cases.
In the worst-case scenario described, these interface issues could mean you’re faced with a completely blank desktop after booting into Windows 11 (which is always worrying).
All of these are known issues and Microsoft has labeled them as ‘general reliability issues’ with Windows 11.
The good news is that, according to Windows Latest, Microsoft has confirmed that the May Update for Windows 11 (which arrived last week) will fix these problems – but the cure isn’t going to appear right away.
That’s because it’s on a gradual rollout, so you might have to be a little patient here until these bugs are ironed out (well, hopefully).
Microsoft notes: “This [May] The update brings underlying changes to help improve explorer.exe reliability, including at login, when interacting with taskbar menus and task view, when freeing items from File Explorer’s Quick Access, and more.”
Analysis: Extermination of Inertia
It’s good to see this fix rolling out to Windows 11 25H2 PCs, and note that it’s also in testing – Release Preview channel, final stage of preview builds – for version 26H1 (for Arm-based Snapdragon machines).
What’s also worth noting is that Windows Latest observed “visibly better performance” overall with the May Update applied to Windows 11, and it’s not alone – I’ve seen quite a few comments to this effect on Reddit. (I haven’t taken the plunge with the May update on my Windows 11 laptop yet, but I’m about to.)
Of course, what Microsoft needs to work on with its initiative to fix all the bugs with Windows 11 is to make sure that this kind of bias doesn’t creep in to begin with. This is why some people may be nervous about installing a new monthly update for Windows 11 — just in case they find something weird happens afterward, like a blank desktop when they reboot. (And much worse than that can happen, like the dreaded startup error — we saw one of these errors pop up back at the start of the year.)
Microsoft needs to rebuild Windows 11’s reputation for reliability and overall stability, and that work has begun — but eliminating random and strange interface behavior like this will be a necessary step toward that goal.
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