- Microsoft is deploying the monthly patch for Windows 11 24H2 today
- It’ll arrive with useful fixes, including the cure for a weird File Explorer bug
- A couple of problems with wake-from-sleep functionality have also been resolved, but Microsoft has taken some time to implement these fixes
Microsoft pushes out its monthly round of updates later today (likely imminently), and the patch for Windows 11 version 24H2 is set to come with some important fixes.
As Windows Latest reports, the cumulative update for April delivers the resolution of an annoying File Explorer bug, and more besides.
As a quick reminder, File Explorer is the app in Windows that powers the very folders and files you work with on the desktop likely on a daily basis. The bug means that when users click the three-dot icon in the top menu bar (to access extra options), the flyout menu extends upwards rather than down.
What this means is that if the File Explorer window in question is near the top of the screen, the menu actually goes off the top of the desktop, so you can’t click on some of those extra options, as they’re not visible.
Windows Latest further outlines some other fixes Microsoft is providing with the April update, and that includes the cure for a problem where a Windows 11 24H2 device would wake from sleep and immediately crash with a Blue Screen of Death. (Perhaps soon to become a Black Screen of Death).
Another issue with coming out of sleep mode, where a 2-in-1 laptop would change its screen orientation to portrait mode randomly, has also been remedied – likely a driver-related issue with the orientation sensors.
Analysis: Fixing the holes
These are some useful fixes, then, and Microsoft will possibly deliver more with the April update for Windows 11 24H2, too. We shall have to see the full patch notes when the update actually lands.
The File Explorer issue may not have been a huge problem, as it was easy enough to work around. By this, I mean if a File Explorer window had a menu flying off the top of the screen, you could simply drag that window down lower on the desktop to see the full contents of the three-dot menu.
Still, that’s clunky, and not something you should have to do at all. What’s odd is the rather baffling nature of this bug – how did this go wrong in the first place? – and the time Microsoft took to fix it. This gremlin has been present in Windows 11 since November 2024, in fact.
On top of that, Windows Latest notes that Microsoft is currently deploying bug fixes (or at least some of them, including this one) as a controlled rollout. In other words, not every Windows 11 user will get this to begin with, and you may have to wait. Officially, this cure became available with the preview update of this imminent patch – released late in March – and the bug fix was only provided to a limited number of folks with that rollout.
Hopefully, from today, every Windows 11 user will see this problem – and the other aforementioned bugbears – ironed out in swift fashion.
Speaking of ironing, there’s still work to be done smoothing out further wrinkles with Windows 11 24H2 – some of which have been very weird affairs indeed – but hopefully Microsoft will start to get fully on top of all the issues for the latest incarnation of its desktop OS as we come towards the middle of 2025.
