The__Goo

Join Date 01/2002

+21

Windowblinds not skinning after startup

When the system reboots, the classic theme is what loads up. I have to re apply the skin each time. I saw some other posts and I have tried the fixes but nothing has helped. I have uninstalled and reinstalled both Impulse and Windowblinds... I used revo to do this so that it could remove leftovers. I have tried inputting "vistasrv -install" using the command prompt. Can anyone thinkn of something else... there has been no major system changes regarding software.... i added some memory and a case fan, but thats about it.

Your computer has a Windows Experience Index base score of 5.9
Your Windows Graphics Experience score is 5.9

WindowBlinds version : WindowBlinds 6.4 (build 129 x86 - Vista Edition) - 64 bit OS

WindowBlinds is installed correctly on this PC
WindowBlinds appears to be activated on this PC
(Generic PnP Monitor) 1 is attached to NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260
() 2 is attached to NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260
(Generic PnP Monitor) 3 is attached to NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT

Wblind.dll         2009/03/24 13:59:20
Wblind64.dll         2009/03/24 17:03:54
Wbsrv.dll         2009/03/24 17:03:31
Wbconfig.exe         2009/02/10 17:52:20
Wbload.exe         2009/03/24 17:04:14
Wbhelp.dll         2009/03/24 17:04:07
Tray.dll              2009/03/24 17:04:21
Wbload.dll              2008/04/28 12:34:28
Screen.exe         2009/03/24 17:04:09

windowblinds

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Same problem.

Your computer has a Windows Experience Index base score of 5.9
Your Windows Graphics Experience score is 5.9

WindowBlinds version : WindowBlinds 6.4 (build 129 x86 - Vista Edition)

WindowBlinds is installed correctly on this PC
WindowBlinds appears to be activated on this PC
(BenQ T2200HD (Digital)) 1 is attached to NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT

Wblind.dll     2009/03/25 03:59:20
Wbsrv.dll     2009/03/25 07:03:02
Wbconfig.exe     2009/03/25 07:04:20
Wbload.exe     2009/03/25 07:04:14
Wbhelp.dll     2009/03/25 07:04:07
Tray.dll          2009/03/25 07:04:21
Wbload.dll          2009/03/25 01:40:25
Screen.exe     2009/03/25 07:04:09

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Ok, fixed it. Hey Goo, try this:

1. Do what you have to do to apply a skin.

2. Open System Configuration in Administrative Tools.

3. Select the Services tab.

4. Tick the box that says 'Hide all Microsoft services.'

5. Untick all remaining services except Stardock Windowblinds

6. Reboot. If the skin has not been applied, you have some other problem. If it has - proceed.

7. One by one tick the remaining services, rebooting each time until you find the problem.

8. When you identify the problem, enable it, reboot (yeah you just lost the skin again) then open Services in Administrative Tools and set the startup of the offender to either Manual or maybe Automatic (Delayed Start) if it lets you.

9.Reboot and all should be good.

For me the problem was NVIDIA Display Driver Service. (which I assume is the Control Panel, not the driver). This is a new system and the 185.85 driver is the only one I've installed. After setting the service startup type to manual, the control panel still works but before (using autologon) the machine would linger on the logon screen for about five seconds. Now I hardly have time to see it.

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ok giving it a shot

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Mystifeid, thanks for helping discover the issue. I found that the the issue lies with the "Nvidia Display Driver Service". Did you have the same issue with it as well. I wish I remebered when this started so i could figure out what i did to have this problem. It has to be a software conflict. I'm guessing.

Does anypone know a way to fix this issue

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Does anypone know a way to fix this issue

I believe he already answered that -

and -

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Glad to help, Goo.

Also I'm pretty happy our collective blood pressure has dropped a few notches.

If someone has this sort of problem with XP, the way to open the System Configuration Utility mentioned in 2. above is of course

Start->Run->type in 'msconfig' (without the quotes).

Btw, for me it was Windows Standard not Windows Classic that was being applied.

And I was a bit premature getting excited about my logon time. It seems to have settled back to 'normal.'

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Also, I would be pleased if you tried my gadget which has just been accepted:

http://gallery.live.com/liveItemDetail.aspx?li=2ab0d377-2b17-4b3f-96ac-95eb18104371&bt=1&pl=1

I would submit it here, but I am a very poor graphic artist and it looks very plain in comparison to the others here.

Still, I quite like it.

As mentioned, clicking on the main gadget body cycles the display mode but there are quite a few other things that may be clicked on - these change color when you hover over them.

I really should put instructions in the settings and when I recover from the couple hundred hours without sleep, maybe I will. (My motherboard died just before I was going to submit this a week ago so all in all it's been a traumatic time)

Gadget saves it's state automatically three seconds after you stop clicking on it.

Works with Windows 7 - (found why win32shutdown method was working with Vista and not Windows 7 - which was a day without sleep right there)

I'm counting on you Goo.

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I believe he already answered that -

very true... been half asleep and didn't read it....lol, but good deal, thanks for the help your good people.

mystifeid, i got the gadget and i like it... you ought to submit it here anyways and other places as well... exposure will increase its popularity.

nice work on the gadget and the help

Hankers, thanks for showing me the error of my ways

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Mystifeid is my new hero! I have been having the same issue since: Yep, you guessed it, I upgraded my Nvidia graphic drivers. I was tearing my hair out, having tried every suggestion I found here and there and nothing worked permanently. Thanks so much for narrowing it down to that specific service, so we all can all skin in peace.

Note: Both Nvidia and Stardock should be made aware of this conflict to avoid the potential hair loss of the many many concurrent Nvidia and Windowblinds users who upgrade their grahics drivers in the near future.

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it has been brought up in past threads - so Stardock knows, just don't know what they can do about it...

I turned off my XP's nVidia desktop manager back in 2004 when nvidia's version of a rollup button interefered with WB's

for me, turning it off in XP was: right click desktop > properties > settings > advanced > nvidia tab > desktop management = disable

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Thanks mate, your fix worked for me too

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Hey all,

First time poster here. Got the same problem as mystifeid, except all the fixes listed haven't worked for me. Here is my info if it's any help:

WindowBlinds version : WindowBlinds 6.4 (build 73 x86)

WindowBlinds is installed correctly on this PC

WindowBlinds appears to be activated on this PC

Your machine supports per pixel borders on WindowBlinds skins.

(SyncMaster 2253BW/2253LW,SyncMaster Magic CX2253BW/CX2253LW(Digital)) 1 is attached to NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX+

Wblind.dll 2009/02/06 10:45:20

Wbsrv.dll 2009/02/05 13:39:58

Wbconfig.exe 2009/02/10 13:13:20

Wbload.exe 2008/04/26 15:14:14

Wbhelp.dll 2008/04/26 15:14:07

Wbui.dll 2008/04/26 15:14:05

Tray.dll 2008/04/26 15:14:21

Screen.exe 2008/07/15 10:31:09

I've tried a fresh install (using a registry cleaner), disabling my anti-virus before an install, making exceptions to Windowblinds with my anti-virus program, disabling several services (including the Nvidia one) and I'm actually in the process of working this out with Stardocks support staff. Sadly, they are at a loss as to why my skins revert back to Classic after a reboot. So I thought I'd try here. My OS is XP SP3/32-bit and I've never had a previous version of Windowblinds on my system.

As an added note, nothing pertaining to Windowblinds shows up in the "Services" tab of the Configuration Utility. Any and all help will be appreciated.

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The culprit is "NVIDIA Display Driver Service" go to >start >run type msconfig and click on the service tab and disable the service and reboot. (Vista, enter msconfig into start menu search)

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