Windows 10 Update Breaks File Explorer For Some, Anger Ensues [Update: Partial Fixes, New Frustrations]

Windows 10 begins 2020 hoping to turn a page on a bug-ridden 2019. Problems ranged from frustrating to limiting, chaotic to simply bizarre and Microsoft was even hit by a whistle-blower exposing the reasons for the increase in instability. But now 2020 is off to a rocky start as well.  01/28 Update below

Picked up by the ever-reliable Windows Latest, Microsoft’s Windows 10 November update is causing significant problems by breaking core elements of File Explorer. These include file search, file transfers and being, as one user described, “generally all-around terrible”. Windows Latest notes these bugs are “widely reported”. 

For its part, Microsoft has committed to investigate the issue, though Microsoft senior program manager Brandon LeBlanc has riled some affected users after tweeting “We will look into this but since it’s not a pressing issue, we may not get traction until after the holidays.”

"It's a very pressing issue, affecting everyone," replied one disgruntled user.

01/28 it has taken time but Microsoft has now issued a Windows 10 1909 cumulative update which fixes a number of bugs which have may File Explorer usable. Bleeping Computer confirms the primary fix is for the search field and it also restores the ability to right-click and paste in it as well. Unfortunately, File Explorer bugs do still exist with some reports that it needs to be clicked twice before the text can be entered and more. So there's still work to be done here.

Windows Latest notes that a patch has been pushed to beta testers running Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 10 20H1 release in Windows Insider program but a fix for everyone else may not appear until late January or even early February. 

01/05 Update: BleepingComputer points out that release notes for Windows 10 Insider build 19536 released in December contain further File Explorer fixes. As the site explains: "It is not known when Microsoft will push the fixes out to Windows 10 1909, but hopefully, they will be properly tested in the Insider builds before being pushed out to release versions."

What did the Windows 10 November update deliver? Here are the highlights:

• Quickly creating an event directly from the Calendar flyout on the Taskbar.
• Better managing notifications, including a new button at the top of the Action Center and the ability to sort notifications by most recently shown.
• Integrating OneDrive content online with traditional indexed results in the File Explorer search box.
• The navigation pane on the Start menu now expands when you hover over it with your mouse to better inform where clicking goes.
• Using your voice to activate third-party digital assistants from the Lock screen.

Handy, for sure but there’s nothing here worth risking the functionality of File Explorer. So if you have put off the November update this long, you would be wise to keep stalling.

In the meantime, we can add these File Explorer issues to an inglorious list which - since September - includes BSOD crash reports, boot failures, broken printing, Search and Start Menu bugs, USB and audio problems, screen discolouration, spiked CPU usage and broken Internet connectivity. 

Microsoft has promised to make fundamental changes to Windows 10 updates but, for an operating system approaching one billion users worldwide, the fruits from this need to arrive sooner rather than later.