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Happy Fri-yay. I recently noticed an unusual behavior on (at least) one fairly new Windows 11 Pro workstation. Wondering if anyone else has observed the same?

When clicking on the desktop, any other open windows are hidden/disappear. This is similar to the “click to reveal desktop” behavior in MacOS.

I can confirm that it’s not a thing in 23H2.

Glitch? Feature? Just me?

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So you’re left clicking on a blank area of the desktop and it minimizes all the open windows?

That doesn’t do anything on my PC. I’ve had 24H2 since January.

My current vote is …just you?

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The only thing that happened to me with the last 24H2 updates is that I got the BSOD twice, so I had to format my laptop.

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That’s correct. And it doesn’t even minimize them so much as they simply disappear/hide. No animation to and from taskbar. I only noticed it this morning so I’ll have to do some more investigation.

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Wild. I have not had any reports of this issue from our users. If 24H2 didn’t have so many issues, I would say that someone was pranking you.

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Right? I intended to hold everyone at 23H2 but these new machines are coming preloaded with 24H2. Seems that after logging out and back in the situation has resolved itself for now.

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I’m not seeing with 24H2 either. It should only happen if typing WIN+D or clicking the bottom right corner of the task bar to show the desktop.

Try connecting a different keyboard, and disconnect existing keyboard or disable in device manager if laptop to see if it still happens or is an issue with the keyboard.

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Except the windows are not minimizing, something even more unusual is happening:

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In that case, I’d try a in-place upgrade to 23H2 or 24H2 to see if it resolves it.

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So it’s mimicking Windows peek, but you don’t see the animations?

Confirm animations are enabled (if they’re not you wont see the minimize action).

Settings, Accessibility, Visual effects, Animation effects.

Any 3rd party tools on the device that may be causing this, specifically display enhancers, DisplayFusion, PowerToys etc?

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Do you know the reason for this BSOD error?

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For those trying to work this out. I’m chalking it up to a fluke with Windows 11 24H2.

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It seems like the “Show Desktop” feature might be causing the issue, where clicking on the desktop hides open windows. This could be due to taskbar settings, virtual desktop settings, or third-party software. To fix it, try checking your taskbar settings, updating Windows, and disabling any window management tools.

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A logoff/logon fixed the unexpected behavior and it hasn’t reappeared since (as far as I know). I’m confident in placing blame on yet another goof with Win11 24H2.

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