I installed Fences 3.09 on a new Windows 10 laptop last week. It worked fine for a few days, but now it fails to start. I see this message:
"Fences has detected that Explorer was not closed properly. As a precaution, Fences has been temporarily disabled. To re-enable Fences, right click your desktop and choose Enable Fences."
I tried uninstalling/reinstalling. I tried purging and re-installing, as per recommendations in other threads. I also tried a clean boot. No success.
I also tried a few older versions of Fences. 2.12 works (but for some reason I can't activate it), while 2.13 shows the same problem as 3.09.
Any suggestions? I can't think of anything that might be interfering with it. It's a work laptop, but I have more or less full control over it. No WebSense or anything like that installed, at least that I am aware of...
Hello,
Sorry to hear you are having issues.
Please try the following:
-For Win8/10 Users: Open the Start Screen, and type 'cmd'. Right-click on the search result and select 'Run as administrator' from below
-Type: sfc /scannow
-Wait for the scan to complete (this can take several minutes)
Some help on how this looks should you need it:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/929833/use-the-system-file-checker-tool-to-repair-missing-or-corrupted-system
If the SFC finds errors, but cannot fix them, please also run the following command in the same command prompt window:
dism.exe /online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
https://www.windowscentral.com/how-use-dism-command-line-utility-repair-windows-10-image
The above command should assist with replacing any damaged or problematic system files. Please note, however, since it may require restoring certain files, this process can take some time and you will need to be patient until it has completed.
Please let me know whether this resolves your problem or if you have any additional questions.
Thank you,
Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant.
I tried that. It did not find any problems:
"Verification 100% complete.
Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations"
I have forwarded your problem to Stardock Support team for their assistance. Please keep an eye on this thread for any updates. We appreciate your feedback and patience.
Basj
Thanks.
I also tried resetting/reinstalling Windows (using the "Keep My Files" option), but I still have the issue. I'm completely at a loss as to what is causing it.
I use Fences (v2) on my home PC without issues. I also used Fences on my previous Win7 work laptop, again with no issues. Very strange.
Have you see this one. Similar problem as yours. Maybe you can see if you too have what his having.
https://forums.stardock.com/486544/post-windows-update-fences-crashes-explorer
"It seems to be linked to update KB4054517. When I uninstall that update, everything works again."
Try that, and let us know if it solve your problem.
Stardock Community Assistant
Sorry to hear you are having trouble.
Also, if you are using WebSense / Forcepoint (corp AV products), it is notorious for causing this very issue.
----------------Sean DrohanStardock Customer Service Manager
Hi there,
I'm not using WebSense / Forcepoint. It's a fresh Windows 10 Pro install. I haven't installed a AV yet.
Also, I don't see the KB4054517 update on the Installed Windows Updates list. Any other suggestions?
Edit: I created a new Windows account and it worked. I then logged back into the old account, and now it works on the old account.
It makes no sense whatsoever, but it works now.
I just today started having this same issue. KB4054517 can't be it, this is a new problem.
A long history of diagnosing the issue - not the least of which is questioning if WebSense / Forcepoint is being used:
https://forums.stardock.com/485993/page/2/#3730123
As well as doing the clean boot:https://forums.stardock.com/486084/fences-support-faq#cleanboot
I am getting the same error. Nothing suggested here resolves it for me
As was the case with the others, there are a number of questions that need answering:
Sean DrohanStardock Support Manager
I am using Fences 3.09 (Most up to date version) and Windows 10. It is definitely windows file explorer that makes the program crash, possibly after an update.
Performed SFC scan, didn't help. Have fully purged and reinstalled the program. No websence/forcepoint. cleanboot does not help.
I even brought it to my IT. They said they cannot help, and Stardock would have to release a new version of fences to correct this issue. Unless you have another solution?
Honestly, I don't want a refund for the program. It is SUCH a good program, I just want it to work again
Could you check your windows 10 version please. A simple run on "Winver.exe" should do it.
My windows version is Windows 10 Enterprise, version 1709
I have the same problem, dating from a W10 update three days ago (now on Winows 10 Pro, Version1803, OS Build 17134.407). I believe the issue rests with Microsoft, since several of my other startup items (e.g. Google Drive Sync) don't now launch automatically either. There does appear to be a conflict now between Fences and Windows Explorer. I've tried uninstall/reinstall of Fences, relaunch of Explorer, sfc scan, don't have Websense etc.
The Support Team will be in a better position to sort out what is happening than the average user... I read that there were problems with the Windows update when MS started rolling it out in October, but it was said that they had sorted it when they resumed the rollout.
Steve
Any updates on this?
None so far.
In my case, the solution appears to have been to force the installation of a further W10 update (to 1809, which I believe is a fairly substantial upgrade on 1803). This stopped the misbehaviour with startup items failing to load, and the incompatibility of Fences with Windows Explorer. The guy who helped me with this suggested that maybe there was some file corruption in 1803, which had installed for me only a day or so before.
Whether this will work for others is difficult to say!
Good luck...
Hi Steve, thanks for this info. Do you have any more detailed information about the kind of update you installed? Like, where you downloaded it from etc.?
Sorry, no, I wasn't there when the guy did the work. We discussed it, and all he said was that the best thing to do was to hope that Build 1809 would overwrite what were probably corrupted files, and that he'd force it to try this out. I guess he either used Windows Update (in Settings) or downloaded an ISO and did it from there (at least, that's what I would have done). In a way, it's the usual PC situation - once it worked, I was so grateful I stopped worrying about it. There could have been a coincidence, but I do suspect that it was just a Windows problem which happened to show itself in flakey Windows Explorer and Startup problems. So, nothing as such to do with Stardock.
Hi,
Having the same issue: Fences is causing an explorer.exe to hang and crash.
No, I don't have KB4054517 installed.
Background: I have been using Fences on my work pc for over 7 years and never had to uninstall it until recently. Migrating everything from Fences back to folders was a very sad day. Repeated explorer crashes were just too much. Sometimes after restart, Fences fails to start at all and repeatedly crashes until providing the option to disable it. But this can be 5 minutes of repeated crashes and during that time an unusable system.
Registered this account to make this one post. Who knows how many Fences product keys I've helped sell after strangers, clients, friends and coworkers come up to me seeing my desktop and saying "what is that with your icons!?" Please take this issue seriously!
We take all issues seriously, hause, and from your 7 years with us, I hope that our prior attention was one of the reasons you stayed with us.
The single most glaring known issue with Fences and explorer crashing is with an app conflict - WebSense, now know as ForcePoint. If you are in a corp environment, and it is being used, there is no known fix for what the app conflicts with (does not like that Fences runs in the WinExplorer process).
Are you using that software?
Definitely.
We aren't using ForcePoint.
So far the only relevant information I can find in any logs is:
The program explorer.exe version 10.0.17134.165 stopped interacting with Windows and was closed.
If it still happens after a burn and reinstall:
https://forums.stardock.com/486084/fences-support-faq#reinstalling
I still want to see if it's a third party app / setting issue. The best way to do that is a clean boot:
https://forums.stardock.com/486084/fences-support-faq#cleanboot
I understand that is not easy in a corp environment but it's very effective at seeing that Fences can work on its own without interference with other apps / settings (especially security ones).
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