With 2+ Brave Browser windows open but minimized, if I hover over the Brave taskbar icon in Windows 11, and click on one Brave window, no windows open at all, ever. This recently started with a recent update to Brave.
How can this issue be reproduced?
Open 2 windows in the Desktop Brave Browser to 2 different sites. Make sure all Brave windows are minimized to the Windows taskbar.
Minimize both Brave windows.
Go to Windows 11 taskbar and hover over the Brave icon, which will be stacked. Make sure to turn on Windows app stacking.
Expected result:
When clicking on one window thumbnail that window should return to normal size. But nothing happens.
Brave Version( check About Brave):
March 14, 2025. Brave Browser v1.76.74 Desktop on Windows 11.
March 21, 2025. I now have Brave Browser 1.76.80 and I don’t recall updating it or it requiring a restart, with Chromium v134.0.6998.118 64-bit.
March 26, 2025. I now have Brave Browser 1.76.81 with Chromium v134.0.6998.166 and I never saw a message to restart it. The problem still exists.
March 27, 2025. I now have Brave Browser 1.76.82 with Chromium 134.0.6998.178. Problem still exists if all Brave browser windows are minimized to the task bar.
I do not have multiple monitors or multiple desktops.
Additional Information:
I don’t know if this is a Brave issue or Windows issue. I have all critical Windows updates and Brave is always updated as well. I also reboot my PC every day. It gets turned off at night and is turned on in the morning. This problem only happens on Brave not on any other window.
So rebooting the PC does not fix this.
I have never had this problem with any app before.
I can use alt-tab to change to the Brave browser window I want.
PC: HP Omen GT13-1xxx
OS: Windows 11 Home 64-bit
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600G with Radeon Graphics, 6 cores
Bios: Ami F.12 11/4/2021
Bios mode: UEFI
SMBios version: 3.3
Memory: 16GB
Display: Nvideo GeForce RTX 3060
Bootable C drive: NTFS SSD with 572GB free, there are several other drives I plugged in from an old PC including another SSD and normal hard drive.
I use corded USB Logitech headphones with a boom mic.
Soundcard: unknown
Some installed software: Steam and some Steam games, Brave Browser, Firefox browser, Malwarebytes, Nvidia settings, Lightshot screen shot taker.
@therium so far we haven’t been able to reproduce this particular error. And to confirm, if you do this with another browser specifically – like MS Edge or Chrome – you don’t see this same behavior?
I’m also wondering if you can test adding a fresh profile in Brave (Menu --> More tools --> Add profile), closing your original profile window, then trying to reproduce the issue using the fresh profile?
This just fixed itself and I think I got a windows update last evening. I still have Brave Desktop 1.76.74. No I don’t have this problem with Firefox browser. I don’t use any other browsers.
Well no, my last Windows update was on March 11, 2025. So that’s not it.
Well it’s fixed anyway.
Oh gosh, the problem is back again. Here’s what is happening now.
I can choose one Brave window and put it into restored mode. Then when I use the Taskbar to choose another Brave browser window, I click on the window but the window DOES restore.
If no Brave Browsers are restored, they are all minimized, then when I use the taskbar to restore a Brave window, nothing happens when I click on it.
Ok TBH this is pretty inconsistent. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.
Did your Win11 machine have Steam and Malware bytes installed as well? That might be a variable here.
I have updated step 1 in my first post to add “Make sure all Brave windows are minimized.” This might be the key to reproducing this step. If one window is normalized (open) this function works fine. If all Brave windows are minimized, clicking on a popup thumbnail does not go to that window.
I do not have have multiple monitors. I have a single monitor.
I have had this issue on and off for a long time. Win 11. For me, when I have one window open, I can’t select another window from the taskbar preview. It will let me click it, but nothing changes. I have to use alt+tab to get the other window to come up. I see how much awesome info therium provided but I don’t know what is needed or where the one page of info came from.
Crap, i was wrong again. If all Brave desktop windows are minimized to the task bar, when I click on a preview window when my mouse hovers over them noting happens. The Brave window I chose should open.
EDIT: I sometimes get this issue with the Windows File Explorer as well. I don’t have this issue on Windows 10.
I have the same issue. I’ not sure if all Brave’s windows are minimized, but I move the mouse to hover and when I click some of them, nothing happens.
When it happens, I have to use alt+tab twice to make them work again, so maybe the first alt+tab works but the windows doesn’t show up after the second one.
I had a windows 11 update on Apr 9, 2025 and I thought it fixed the issue, but it did not. The issue is still there. The problem is hard to duplicate in some cases. But if all windows of all apps are minimized, then using clicking on the tiny app preview window in the taskbar does nothing.