- Windows 11 has a new preview update
- It brings improvements for dark mode, but also introduced a bug.
- The issue causes a white flash every time a folder is opened and when other actions are performed with File Explorer.
The latest Windows 11 preview update has one unfortunate side effect: it causes an unpleasant visual issue with File Explorer when using dark mode.
The Verge noted that the optional November update (KB5070311, which actually arrived in early December, unusually) has a known issue with File Explorer — in other words, the folders on your desktop.
Microsoft informs us that: “After installing KB5070311, you may experience problems opening File Explorer in dark mode. The window may briefly display a blank white screen before loading files and folders.”
What this means is that when you open any folder, a brief white flash may appear on the screen. As Microsoft makes clear, this can also happen not only when File Explorer is invoked, but also when you open a new tab in Explorer, or navigate to (or away from) the Home or Gallery panes, turn the Details pane on or off, or select “More Details” when copying a file.
The last two are rarer actions, of course. But you’ll still get white flashes with every folder or tab you open, or when you go to or exit Start or Gallery in File Explorer, which can be reasonably frequent steps you take on your Windows 11 PC.
Microsoft says it is “working to resolve this issue” and will give us more details when they become available.
Analysis: argh, my eyes…
For now, affected users will have to put up with this; and remember, this happens when using dark mode, which people will probably have activated in low-light environments, perhaps late in the afternoon or at night, and a bright white flash from the screen will be quite jarring in such lighting conditions.
Well, this is a preview build and most people don’t download these optional updates for Windows 11, so luckily most won’t experience this issue.
However, the preview at the end of the month (well, beginning of the month in this case) becomes the next full update, so Microsoft better fix this issue as soon as possible, otherwise, willpower be a problem for many people. In fact, the full December cumulative update hits Windows 11 next week (Tuesday, December 9), so Microsoft doesn’t have much time.
The good thing here is that this preview update brought dark mode to more parts of the File Explorer interface (dialogs for moving, copying or deleting files and other similar operations (as already seen in testing), so it was supposed to be an improvement in the overall consistency of the application in this mode (in addition to many other recent works on dark mode). Previously, these dialogs were still white, not dark, which was jarring in itself, but not as irritating as the white flashes that They attack your eyeballs in a dimly lit room.
As is often the case today, Microsoft’s patches give with one hand and receive with the other.
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