Fences Installation/Run Problem: integrity compromised

Hello,

I purchased Fences Pro and am moving to a new computer.  My new computer is Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit.  I can not install Fences on it.  When I run the installer, I get the message: "Fences has detected that its integrety has been compromised.  There may be a problem with your Fences installation.  It is recommended that you uninstall and reinstall Fences."  The misspelling of integrity is part of the message. I think that this error message is actually generated when Fences attempts to run at the end of the installation process, so it probably isn't part of the installation process itself.  For instance, after the install, when I click on the "Customize Fences" icon I get the same error message about the integrity.

I have tried contacting Stardock's support email and exhausted all of their ideas.  I have tried uninstalling, reinstalling, I have tried the free version, I have tried running in compatibility mode.  I have downloaded the latest version.  My computer uses McAfee Host Intrusion Prevention and AntiVirus, and I have been able to uninstall the AntiVirus and this hasn't helped.  The Host Intrusion Prevention isn't easily uninstalled, but the program's logs indicate that it hasn't done anything during the installation process or when I try to run Fences.  Also, on a Windows Vista box that runs Host Intrusion Prevention, Fences installs just fine.

What I do know is that my organization implements a STIG, or a set of domain-administered security and system settings, to Windows 7 but it does not apply the STIG to Vista.  So I suspect that one of these 70 or so security settings may be interfering with Fences' ability to install or run.  I do not see any settings which obviously would impact Fences, although there are some such as "allow application to log on as a service" which might be related. 

 

Has anyone here had any experience with a similar problem, or can anyone offer any tips?

 

Thanks!

32,656 views 14 replies
Reply #1 Top

What I do know is that my organization implements a STIG, or a set of domain-administered security and system settings, to Windows 7 but it does not apply the STIG to Vista. So I suspect that one of these 70 or so security settings may be interfering with Fences' ability to install or run. I do not see any settings which obviously would impact Fences, although there are some such as "allow application to log on as a service" which might be related.
End of quote

I can almost guarantee that will be the problem.....I'd put money on it....;)

 

Reply #2 Top

I have exactly the same problem too. I am using windows 7 64bit ultimate and McAfee Total Protection. I get the same message, too.

Can anyone help?

Reply #3 Top

I have just purchased Fences Pro. My machine is Windows7 Pro, 64-bit, Intel QuadtoCore. I have 6Tbytes HDD.

I tried installing Fences Pro, but it just stops (not not-responding) after it starts: "The program features you selected are being configured. Pls wail while the InstallAware W.... This may take several minutes).

It just sits there waiting for something, and I don't know what. I have tried 3 times, same thing each time. I abort after 20 minutes.

What seems to be the problem?

 

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Reply #4 Top

You should probably email support@stardock.com but you might try to disable any security software running during the install.

Reply #5 Top

uwedembski: That is very interesting.  Is your computer connected to a domain or have you applied any other security products or settings?  It seems that the common thread between us is the McAfee products.  I had uninstalled most of my McAfee products, but there was some little helper thing that I couldn't get rid of so I gave up.

Please let me know if you are able to fix this by removing McAfee, rebooting, and trying the install.  I will try to uninstall all of my components as well.

Reply #7 Top

Have you tried running the setup file as administrator?

Reply #9 Top

I know this is an old thread, but I went through this issue about 6 months ago with Stardock's support on the free version (edit: and they didn't have an answer for me other than "Purchase the Pro version!  It surely won't have this problem!".  Nor did they comment when I provided them with my solution).  OP, my computer is configured similarly to yours, I'm sure (I'm guessing you're gov?).  It's a certificate issue.  Stardock's executables are signed with a UTN-USERFirst-Object issued certificate.  Chances are, UTN-USERFirst-Object is not a trusted Root CA or 3rd Party Root CA in your certificate store. Jack187n2's link has instructions similar to what I did on my machine (I can't read German very well, but from the screenshots they added the UTN-USERFirst-Object certificate to one of their trusted CA stores on the machine).

Unfortunately, the certificate Stardock signed the free version with is now expired.  I can still run it, but I'm prompted for my administrator credentials every time Fences does anything (startup, log trim, opening the config window, etc).  So if you don't have admin access on your machine, this probably isn't a valid option for you.  If the certificate on the Pro version is still valid, it may work, though.

You can (probably) view the certificate to see the expiration.  Just right-click on fences.exe (in C:\Program Files (x86)\Stardock\Fences) and select properties.  Click the "Digital Signatures" tab, select the Stardock Corp signature and click Details.  Then click View Certificate.  Valid date range should be there.  (If you're going to attempt to add the USERFirst cert to your trusted store, from here click the "Certification Path" tab at the top, then click on UTN-USERFirst-Object in the Cert path list, then View Certificate.  Click the details tab from there and "Copy to File" to export it for later import into your cert store).

And here's a link on how to add it to your stores if you have admin access:  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc754841.aspx#BKMK_addlocal

Note that I really don't recommend doing this if you're on a managed network, especially in a gov facility.  Ask your admins; they may be open to adding it for you if they know the possible security impacts and can mitigate them ahead of time.

Reply #10 Top

Jack,

I think the method on the page you linked would only add the certificate to the trusted CAs on your USER cert store.  Many machines are configured to ignore Trusted CAs from the user store.  If you export the certificate via the method in my previous post, and use the method in my technet link to get to the local computer store and add it there instead, it may work.  And if your computer doesn't have to meet any sort of security standard, you can avoid the administrator elevation prompts that I get by enabling automatic admin elevation in Windows UAC (or possibly just by disabling UAC altogether).

Reply #11 Top

Okay, so I gave it another shot when the 2.0 beta was released.  Fences still would not run, giving an error message similar to the original one.  I saw the recent additions to this thread.  Sure enough, the digital signature was not accepted by windows.  I tried exporting a the cert and importing it into my cert store as advised by XcentricOrbit but that did not work.

I was able to see in my certificate chain that Windows had a problem with AddTrust External CA Root, (UTN-USERFirst-Object was not trusted because AddTrust was not.). 

I was able to download the AddTrust cert from here: https://support.comodo.com/index.php?_m=downloads&_a=viewdownload&downloaditemid=87

I found these instructions for installing and verifying the cert: http://idoc.vsb.cz/en/okruhy/cit/tuonet/sluzby/eduroam/vsb/ca/win7/

I had to go back and explicitly select "Trusted Root Certification Authorities" as the store instead of using the automatic function.

After that, Fences worked.  I am one happy camper.

Reply #12 Top

Quoting slate0, reply 11
Okay, so I gave it another shot when the 2.0 beta was released.  Fences still would not run, giving an error message similar to the original one.  I saw the recent additions to this thread.  Sure enough, the digital signature was not accepted by windows.  I tried exporting a the cert and importing it into my cert store as advised by XcentricOrbit but that did not work.

I was able to see in my certificate chain that Windows had a problem with AddTrust External CA Root, (UTN-USERFirst-Object was not trusted because AddTrust was not.). 

I was able to download the AddTrust cert from here: https://support.comodo.com/index.php?_m=downloads&_a=viewdownload&downloaditemid=87

I found these instructions for installing and verifying the cert: http://idoc.vsb.cz/en/okruhy/cit/tuonet/sluzby/eduroam/vsb/ca/win7/

I had to go back and explicitly select "Trusted Root Certification Authorities" as the store instead of using the automatic function.

After that, Fences worked.  I am one happy camper.
End of slate0's quote
You should have gotten an email from us on another file to try.  Let us know how that goes please.

Reply #13 Top

Just an FYI, I have this same issue, but only at work where I'm locked down behind a firewall, various security software and windows group policies.

However, it doesn't happen all the time, just sometimes when I boot up.  I log out (or reboot, either way is the same) until it works again and there's no issue for weeks at a time.  So for me, I can work around it, but I have no idea what trips it up exactly.  Other than as I've mentioned this is only at work and we use McAfee here as well (since I saw it mentioned above).

Reply #14 Top

Quoting Trekkan, reply 14
Just an FYI, I have this same issue, but only at work where I'm locked down behind a firewall, various security software and windows group policies.

However, it doesn't happen all the time, just sometimes when I boot up.  I log out (or reboot, either way is the same) until it works again and there's no issue for weeks at a time.  So for me, I can work around it, but I have no idea what trips it up exactly.  Other than as I've mentioned this is only at work and we use McAfee here as well (since I saw it mentioned above).
End of Trekkan's quote
email support and I can send you a possible fix . . that we may never know if it works.  :)