Windows 10 search box loses focus after a second or two

The search box in the Windows task bar loses focus after a couple seconds. This sucks because it's the main way I use for launching programs.

Is there a way to fix this?

Edition Windows 10 Pro
Version 2004
Installed on ‎12/‎21/‎2020
OS build 20279.1
Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 120.27512.10351.0

2 Answers

Is there a way to fix Windows 10 search box losing focus?

It depends:

First you should download and install Window Focus Logger (freeware):

^{(caveat: I've not tested this as I have no access to Windows10)}

In situations when it is not clear which application steals the window focus, this utility will tell you exactly which application is responsible for stealing the window focus. It also tells you if it’s an off screen window and if the window has keyboard focus. All window focus events are written in a logfile so you can see the time, order, the application name and the element name in the process. If you have found the responsible application name, you can take actions to prevent applications from stealing window focus.

Once you know which program is stealing focus you can:

• Uninstall the offending program,
• Reinstall the offending program to see if that fixes the issue,
• See if the offending program has a configuration option to fix the issue,
• Contact the developer of the offending program, report the issue, and ask them to fix it.

Sources: Prevent applications from stealing focus in Windows 10. and Window Focus Logger | prevent applications from stealing focus | Adminscope.com

The Windows Focus Logger worked, but didn't show my any third party apps stealing focus. I did some more searching and found some other users with similar problems. One thing they noted was that other user accounts on the same PC didn't have the error. I tried signing into a different user account and it didn't have the problem, so I followed these instructions to fix a corrupted user profile.