Sometimes Alt + Tab switches to the wrong window (since KB4571744, 19042.487)

[adrianghc]

Environment

Item	Value
OS, Version / Build	Windows 10, 19042.487 and higher.
Processor Architecture	N/A
Processor Type & Model	N/A
Memory	N/A
Storage Type, free / capacity (e.g. C: SSD 128GB / 512GB)	N/A
Relevant apps installed	N/A

Description

Sometimes, when pressing Alt + Tab the wrong window is being switched to. Specifically, if one has three windows A, B and C (appearing in the Alt + Tab menu in that order) and is switching between A and B using Alt + Tab, sometimes window C switches to the foreground instead. When this happens, it can be observed that the selection on the Alt + Tab menu is not on the second entry, as it should be, but on the third. This problem has been appearing most likely since KB4571744 (19042.487). Also, it appears to only occur when one of the open Windows is Edge, though I cannot confirm this with absolute certainty as the problem cannot be reproduced entirely reliably and appears often, but irregularly.

I suspect this may be related to the Alt + Tab changes for Edge tabs, even though I have that feature disabled. Needless to say, it's very annoying to work with several windows and not switch to the one you expect.

Steps to reproduce

1. Open three windows, one of them being Edge.
2. Switch with Alt + Tab between Edge and one of the others several times.
3. Soon enough, the wrong window will be switched to. You may need to be trying 2. for over a minute, though.

Expected behavior

When switching between two windows using Alt + Tab, the active window should alternate between those two only.

Actual behavior

When Edge is one of the windows, this sometimes the wrong window switches to the foreground.

[asklar]

@adrianghc I think this might because of a new Alt+Tab setting. You can control it here: Settings > Multitasking > Alt+Tab > Pressing Alt+Tab shows

[adrianghc]

@adrianghc I think this might because of a new Alt+Tab setting. You can control it here: Settings > Multitasking > Alt+Tab > Pressing Alt+Tab shows

I already said in my first post that I have that feature disabled (i.e. my setting is to show only windows, no Edge tabs):

I suspect this may be related to the Alt + Tab changes for Edge tabs, even though I have that feature disabled.

And in any case, using Alt+Tab should always switch to the expected window, even with that setting, shouldn't it?

As I said, I do strongly suspect that the bug is a consequence of the new feature as it doesn't appear on 2004 but it does on 20H2 and happens with Edge windows. But it's a bug in any case.

[nmraz]

I've also been hitting this on 19042.541, with Edge tabs in Alt + Tab disabled. It looks like Edge windows occasionally like to move themselves back to the top of the Alt + Tab stack, messing up the existing order. In case it's relevant, I'm running Edge dev 87.0.637.0.

[adrianghc]

I've also been hitting this on 19042.541, with Edge tabs in Alt + Tab disabled. It looks like Edge windows occasionally like to move themselves back to the top of the Alt + Tab stack, messing up the existing order. In case it's relevant, I'm running Edge dev 87.0.637.0.

Yes, exactly! Thank you for chiming in. I'm running Edge beta 86 and I also had this issue when Edge beta was on version 85, so I suspect the Edge version may be irrelevant, and that it's purely a Windows bug.

[bitcrazed]

Thanks for the feedback. I've pinged the team. Please also submit via feedback hub, capturing a repro, and share a link to the FBHub item in this thread.

[adrianghc]

Thanks for pinging them team. I already did the Feedback Hub jazz a while ago, including several repros: https://aka.ms/AA9sxgk

[bitcrazed]

Quick update: The team have a fix which is working its way through the build system. Should arrive in a Win 10 Insider Dev (Fast) ring build within the next few weeks.

Will update this thread when it lands.

[adrianghc]

That sounds good, thank you for the quick follow-up and thank you to the team, of course. Though with that timeline, I do have to wonder whether this will arrive to 20H2, which will supposedly release in October. Any chance this may get backported there after its release?

In any case, let me say that this is a significantly better experience than the Feedback Hub. Issue reported, issue confirmed a week later and a fix is confirmed to be on the way. Compared to FH, where from my experience issues often languish for years without a fix in sight (looking at the completely broken Task View animations with tons of upvotes over the years), this is leaps and bounds beyond. I'd be very happy to see the scope for this kind of feedback be expanded over time. :)

[nmraz]

Quick update: The team have a fix which is working its way through the build system.

Great to hear! Thanks for the rapid response on this one. As Adrian asked, any chance this might be backported to 20H2 given its imminent release?

[zooba]

@adrianghc

In any case, let me say that this is a significantly better experience than the Feedback Hub. Issue reported, issue confirmed a week later and a fix is confirmed to be on the way. Compared to FH, where from my experience issues often languish for years without a fix in sight (looking at the completely broken Task View animations with tons of upvotes over the years), this is leaps and bounds beyond. I'd be very happy to see the scope for this kind of feedback be expanded over time. :)

It's better because the scale of feedback is tiny here compared to Feedback hub 😄 Rich can only do so much in a day though, so if this gets too popular then you'll likely see things drop off (or his colleagues will notice he's not getting enough sleep).

That said, this Alt+Tab bug has been driving me crazy, so I'm also happy that I found this issue about it and had a great experience 😊

[adrianghc]

Of course, I understand. I don't expect this kind of channel to be used for everything, but I do hope you can expand the scope of this kind of feedback as far as it is possible while still keeping it an effective and engaging experience.

By the way, since you chimed in, might I borrow - with all due respect and with the risk of sounding like a broken record - just a minute of your time and ask you if there is anything you can say about the broken Task View animations? It seems oddly difficult to get anyone to even acknowledge them in any form.

[bitcrazed]

Sleep? What's sleep? We have a 15 week old puppy so don't get sleep anyhow ;)

Many thanks for your kind words @adrianghc, and for your support @zooba, as always 😁

Hopefully our demands for quality issues, combined with a growing number of us in MS and helping out in the community will let us remain responsive and helping find and fix issues.

[bitcrazed]

@adrianghc - do you mean the animations you see when you minimize/restore apps to/from the taskbar, etc?

If so, please file an issue describing what you're seeing / would like to see. I work with a number of colleagues who're looking deeply into UI quality and consistency as I type, and would be happy to direct to your feedback.

Thanks in advance.

[bitcrazed]

@adrianghc @nmraz Checking with the team re. servicing this for 20H1 users. Will let you know when I hear back.

[adrianghc]

@adrianghc - do you mean the animations you see when you minimize/restore apps to/from the taskbar, etc?

If so, please file an issue describing what you're seeing / would like to see. I work with a number of colleagues who're looking deeply into UI quality and consistency as I type, and would be happy to direct to your feedback.

Thanks in advance.

I mean the animations that appear when you open Task View / Timeline. The window thumbnails jump around and this has been an issue since 1809. It has been reported and upvoted many, many times over the years., e.g. here. I also opened an (admittedly somewhat dramatically written) issue about it here at #38, though it was understandably closed for being out of scope.

Then there is the problem with window thumbnails in the taskbar, but someone already filed an issue about that in #12, but I suppose that's not what you meant. Do you mean the problem where windows minimize in a slightly different direction the first time after being opened than the times afterward?

[adrianghc]

@adrianghc @nmraz Checking with the team re. servicing this for 20H1 users. Will let you know when I hear back.

Thank you very much. :)

[Felix-Dev]

I work with a number of colleagues who're looking deeply into UI quality and consistency as I type

It would be cool if at least one of those colleagues of yours, @bitcrazed, could look into the issue reported in #38 :)

[bitcrazed]

@adrianghc Gotcha, thanks for raising. I've reopened #38 as we'll soon be expanding our scope somewhat anyhow. I'll also forward to our UX lead who's working with several groups and teams to improve UX.

Stay tuned!

[adrianghc]

I've noticed this in the changelog for the latest Insider build 20231:

We fixed an issue that could result in your ALT + Tab order changing unexpectedly and leading you to switch to the wrong window.

Is that the fix for this issue?

[orcmid]

We fixed an issue that could result in your ALT + Tab order changing unexpectedly and leading you to switch to the wrong window.

Is that the fix for this issue?

Interjecting here, @adrianghc, I think the confirmation will be when you cannot recreate the issue after installing that insider build (or one closer to release). I know that's a pain, but it seems to be the ultimate test for UX problems.

At least we know that the MS WinDev folks here are grown-ups and no one has said "works for me :)." "Won't fix" maybe, though I don't see that so far.

[adrianghc]

Well, I'm on the Beta channel currently, so I won't know firsthand until 21H1 gets much closer to release.

[bitcrazed]

@Felix-Dev Please try and avoid cross-contaminating issues. See my recent response to 38: https://github.com/microsoft/WinDev/issues/38#issuecomment-702886723

[Felix-Dev]

@bitcrazed To be fair, at that point the issue in question had been closed so I used the context of your message "I work with a number of colleagues who're looking deeply into UI quality and consistency as I type" to raise awareness for that issue again. That issue had also been mentioned by the OP in this thread here which coupled with that quoted comment of yours led me to reference that issue.

That said, I generally avoid "cross-contaminating issues".

[KrapnixFootball]

Hello, I see the status fixed and status fix inbound, tags but I don't know which one It's supposed to be, I'm inclined as to think it isn't fixed because I just newly installed Windows, downloaded and installed all new updates and necessary drivers and yet Alt + Tab still jumps to the wrong window from time to time, it is incredibly frustrating as I am a quick Alt + Tabber and I work with it for the whole day very often it is so frustrating, please tell me if this is supposed to be fixed, because it isn't on my PC as a new install of windows with all new updates.

[adrianghc]

I think it was fixed in an Insiders dev channel build but hasn't made its way to 20H2 yet. No word yet on when, or if, that may happen.

[KrapnixFootball]

I think it was fixed in an Insiders dev channel build but hasn't made its way to 20H2 yet. No word yet on when, or if, that may happen.

Oh alright, no worries, I'll just wait for notifications on this opened issue, and see what happens.

[Poopooracoocoo]

https://github.com/microsoft/WinDev/issues/40#issuecomment-697262176

Settings > Multitasking > Alt+Tab > Pressing Alt+Tab shows

now that you mentioned it, I just wanna talk about how unstable that integration made Windows Explorer, EVEN BEING OFF. I have tons of tabs open in Edge. I have zero Edge windows open on this virtual desktop and guess what I see? A File Explorer window that is just an Edge tab! idk if i should bother opening a new issue for it, or for the bug with chromium/edge tooltips. yeah i'm cross-contaminating issues but chances are that it'll get closed for being out of scope. i submitted feedback using edge's tool and the feedback hub. no response there 🙃 no wonder i've uninstalled the fbh

[Fursan7]

Quick update: The team have a fix which is working its way through the build system. Should arrive in a Win 10 Insider Dev (Fast) ring build within the next few weeks.

Will update this thread when it lands.

Hopefully it's soon. I reset my windows and later clean flashed it even because of this one bug.

[chrisjsmith]

Can someone please push this out to 20H2. It's absolutely destroyed my workflow.

[DJSures]

I'm so glad to have found this conversation and bug report. After installing the latest windows from scratch on a few of my dev PC's, my days are becoming so stressful. ALT-TAB of switching between the last TWO applications now appears random. I didn't notice if it was the 3rd edge tab or what because all I noticed is my stress level rising while wondering how this could have been released... does anyone actually rapidly program or work quickly anymore using ALT-TAB? Until ALT-TAB was removed from my day, I didn't realize how absolutely dependent I was on something so simple.

Please for the love of THE BOB, fix ALT-TAB

[Fursan7]

There's a fix coming in Build 20231 according to Microsoft official response. Feedback link

[Poopooracoocoo]

I find that hard to believe. Microsoft engineers often say that they've fixed something and it'll never land, or they'll say something completely irrelevant to the feedback.

[Fursan7]

I find that hard to believe. Microsoft engineers often say that they've fixed something and it'll never land, or they'll say something completely irrelevant to the feedback.

Windows-10-insider-preview-build-20231 <- Mentioned in the changelog too.

[bitcrazed]

Hey all.

Closing this issue since

1. Improvements addressing this issue have shipped in Win10 Insiders builds >= 20231
2. These improvements will be serviced back into Win10 2009 in and up-coming servicing release
3. One can work-around this issue in the meantime, by
   1. Ensuring you're running Edge >= v86 (may need to restart Edge after upgrading to a newer build)
   2. Opening Settings
   3. Navigating to System | Multitasking page and changing ALT+TAB settings' to "Windows only":

[adrianghc]

I'd like to add that the workaround does NOT work (the option does what it says but the issue persists), which is a big reason for why this bug is so frustrating.

[Fursan7]

Hey all.

Closing this issue since

1. Improvements addressing this issue have shipped in Win10 Insiders builds >= 20231
2. These improvements will be serviced back into Win10 2009 in and up-coming servicing release

3. One can work-around this issue in the meantime, by

   1. Ensuring you're running Edge >= v86 (may need to restart Edge after upgrading to a newer build)
   2. Opening Settings
   3. Navigating to System | Multitasking page and changing ALT+TAB settings' to "Windows only":

Setting alt + tab to "windows only" doesn't fix the random skipping to 3rd windows therefore currently there is no workaround.

[sylveon]

Can confirm I am still seeing this issue with the "workaround" (I have enabled this setting as soon as it was available, since I do not like seeing browser tabs in alt-tab).

And, having to wait until 21H1 for a fix to this is EXTREMELY disappointing since this bug is infuriating me to no end and disrupting my workflow (I often use alt-tab to switch to the last used window).

If the bug was introduced with a cumulative update, why can't it also be fixed by a cumulative update?

[adrianghc]

Can confirm I am still seeing this issue with the "workaround" (I have enabled this setting as soon as it was available, since I do not like seeing browser tabs in alt-tab).

And, having to wait until 21H1 for a fix to this is EXTREMELY disappointing since this bug is infuriating me to no end and disrupting my workflow (I often use alt-tab to switch to the last used window).

If the bug was introduced with a cumulative update, why can't it also be fixed by a cumulative update?

I think you overlooked this part:

These improvements will be serviced back into Win10 2009 in and up-coming servicing release

This means it IS coming as a cumulative update sooner or later. Hopefully sooner.

[sylveon]

Woops, read a bit too fast. My bad then :)

[Poopooracoocoo]

lol if that setting worked and actually completely turned off that stupid integration (which google tried and ultimately backtracked on in Android) we wouldn't be here

[chrisjsmith]

Do we have an ETA for this being pushed out via WU. I mean it only worked for 25 years reliably before this "improvement"...

[bitcrazed]

@chrisjsmith - No ETA right now - we're working through the release schedule as I type. Will update when I hear more.

[chrisjsmith]

Thanks for the feedback - much appreciated 👍

[bitcrazed]

@Poopooracoocoo Are you saying that the work around doesn't work for you? That you're unable to disable the new behavior and return to the traditional task switching behavior?

[adrianghc]

@Poopooracoocoo Are you saying that the work around doesn't work for you? That you're unable to disable the new behavior and return to the traditional task switching behavior?

I think they are saying that disabling the new task switching behavior does not prevent this bug, which is my own experience.

[bitcrazed]

@adrianghc & @Poopooracoocoo Was looking for that confirmation as I cannot repro on my local machines.

What Win10 builds are you running? And what Edge versions?

[adrianghc]

19042.630 and 87.0.664.30 currently, though the problem has been appearing roughly since I opened this issue or earlier, which was on 19042.487 and Edge 86 or even 85.

[DJSures]

FYI for anyone attempting the "work around", is that it doesn't work - behavior is still broken.

[bitcrazed]

Reopening the issue as it appears to still be alive.

[Poopooracoocoo]

also running 20H2 but running version 86 of Edge which is the stable channel. Edit: I'm now on Edge 87.