Ghost Window in Windows 11

Question

I upgraded to Windows 11 and now I have this constant Ghost Screen on my laptop display. If I hover over it, is shows a processing blue circle that never stops. I have no idea what it is and it never goes away. Any screen area under it can not be accessed. Very annoying.

Any ideas?
Thanks
Sue Darte

Answer 1

The problem seems to be that if you move the mouse over the search icon at exactly the right speed the search hover menu for the search icon crashes because you move off of the icon before it has finished it's animation and rendering.

The solution is:

• Right-click on the task bar
• Click on taskbar settings
• Turn off Search (it is redundant anyways - just click Start and start typing to open the search box)

If you have the problem at the time, restart Windows Explorer as described in other posts here (Ctrl+Shift+Esc , press w (to jump to the "W"s), right-click on Windows Explorer, click Restart)

BTW (for beginners): I am using "right-click" as shorthand for secondary click which may be 2-finger click, 2-finger tap, long touch (or left-click if using a left-handed mouse) depending on your device.

Answer 2

A correct and uncomplicated answer that worked for me

1. Ctrl+Shift+Esc
2. Patiently scroll further down to windows explorer
3. right-click
4. select Restart

Answer 3

1.open task manager
2.find windows explorer
3.right-click it
4.pick restart

Answer 4

Hi PankajPathak-9998,

Error 1168 indicates that the default 10 day go back period no longer exists (the previous version has been deleted).

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Answer 5

That is the search widget failing for some reason. The ghost screen you see is the search widget stuck in a loop. This widget comes up whenever you hover over the search icon on the task bar in windows 11.

A quick and easy way to fix this is to bring up task manager, search for windows explorer under processes and restart it. That should reset the taskbar and everything else that runs off it. Hope that fixes the issue.