Fences 3.0.3 fails to recover when explorer is restarted

Please contact support so we can get more info.

https://esupport.stardock.com/index.php?/Tickets/Submit

Done ...

I also experience this fairly frequently

I'm also having the same issue.  It started with Fast Ring 15002 and continues with 15007.

-Paul

There are known issues with Insider builds and Fences.

Now what?

this is what I got from "support"

Hello

As we have found, the problem is not likely with Fences, itself, but with something causing Windows explorer.exe to crash with regularity (Fences runs in the Windows Explorer process). Since only a small number of Fences clients are seeing the issue, we believe it has to do with one or more of the following:

-Updates that MS has put out that introduced bugs - either with the released version or the Preview builds (betas).
-A setting that some users have.
-A third party app that is interfering with 

Our suggestions are: ...

and my response

Hi,

 

as this is the first time we talk I give you some slack. u probably had a lot of other things going when you read my mail/ticket

 

Because I clearly say that "when I restart explorer"

 

So try this and get back to me.

 

1. Have Fences running

2. Restart explorer from Task Manager

3. View results.

 

Note; As I also mention, there's a 80% or so that Fences will recover just fine. The other 20% not so much.

I am not on an Insider build of Windows 10 64-bit and I am experiencing the exact same thing.  This happens daily.  Windows Explorer restarts on my laptop frequently and when it does, sometimes, Fences crashes and is unable to recover.  

Like Blackkatt said above, Fences will sometimes recover and sometimes not.  For me, it's about 50/50. The worst part of it is that there is no particular service to restart.  Only a reboot will fix it.  If I try to open Fences to get it to restart, it pops up a message saying that Fences may need to be reinstalled. 

I have started to experience this frequently now on Win 7, which is a shame.

Getting explorer crashes when resuming from sleep, probably related to teamviewer... but it seems any time explorer crashes fences will too, and then a restart is needed. Would be good if there was a service to restart.

Even due technically not the same. Because, as I specifically said when "I RESTART EXPLORER" it happens too you guys when explorer forcefully restarts as well. Just proves my point that it's a problem with Fences not listening. But probably also something else in your case. You guys might be infected with virus that causes explorer to restart like crazy. It's not Fences that does that. You guys could also be missing registry data. Using reg cleaners? Might also be security program.

But, I can't stress enough Stardock, that my case is different. I do NOT have frequent crashes of any kind. This happens to me when I MYSELF restart explorer to update the notification area aka system tray.

As do I. ))

The same happens for me, I have a 50% chance that it doesn't restart when Explorer crashes for some reason.

When I kill the process and restart it from installation directory ("Fences.exe") it tells me:

"

Fences does not appear to be loaded.

You may need to reinstall Fences.

" 

And of course this isn't true because when I restart Windows it restarts correctly.

I would like to know a simple as possible workaroud to avoid logout or reboot.

Thank you very much in advance for any help.

Version: 3.0.3

OS: Windows 10 Home 64bit

For curiosity's sake I'm going to have a go at killing Explorer and see if I can replicate it.

Gotta admit, however, that having Explorer crash is actually the issue, not what happens to Fences afterwards.

Removing [closing] the shell in which Fences is designed to function 'should' create issues for Fences, just as any program dependent on another will.

Ideally users should not be suffering from a closing of the Shell process [Explorer.exe] whether accidental OR Intentional.  Last time I actively killed Explorer on a regular basis was when I was Running Litestep [an alternate shell] and having both running was 'entertaining' at best.

This happens *most* of the time when I change icon packs.  Changing an IP kills the explorer process and when it comes back Fences is not there. Not every time. A quick reboot fixes it.

Please find a way to fix this, all my other apps that interact with explorer don't suffer from these kind of problems when explorer crashes (7+ taskbar/display fusion/startisback/etc.) so it isn't impossible to do.

I created an easy workaround 

Follow these simple steps

1. open notepad

2. copy and paste

@ECHO OFF

TASKKILL /f /im "explorer.exe" /im "rundll32.exe"

START "" "C:\Windows\System32\rundll32.exe" "C:\Program Files (x86)\Stardock\Fences\FencesMenu64.dll",StartFences

EXIT

3. Save as LazyStardockDevs.bat

4. Double-click "LazyStardockDevs.bat" to restart Fences when it doesn't show up after you restarted explorer (or crashed) without having to log off / reboot!

Note: if you for some reason have other things running "as RunDLL32.exe" you would have to restart them as well.

I picked up the latest Fences today with the purchase of Object Desktop. I was running great and it stopped running. It restarted by itself once and then a little later it stopped and wouldn't start again. The Fences config utility told me it wasn't loaded and might need to be reinstalled.

I uninstalled for now. I pretty my organize my desktop manually much in the manner Fences would for me. I may retry it at another time after a few version bumps.

Windows 10 Home x64 - 16GB RAM

then you have to wait very looooong ...

I disagree with the posters saying Explorer shouldn't be crashing that this is an MS issue.  This is NOT what people are complaining about.

If Explorer crashes or is terminated on purpose, when it is re-started, so should Fences.  As others have stated, sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't.

However unlike others, I've never had to re-boot.  Logoff/logon yes.  Big difference.

But yes this is a bug - Fences is not noticing the termination of Explorer and starting itself when Explorer is re-started, like when a user logs on.

Hey guys, I believe what Blackkatt said about registry cleaners. I used to use them all the time on Win7 Pro x64 before I upgraded to Win10 Pro x64.

I know Windows takes care of the registry by itself, and by introducing registry cleaners there's no telling what kind of damage is done to the registry.

Recently I read several articles that said to DO NOT use registry cleaners because of the bugs they may introduce.

I just purchased Microsoft Windows 10 Professional x64 from Microsoft, after I back up all my files and install files for programs I want to keep that I purchased, I plan on doing a clean install of Win10 Pro x64 to see if it clears up some of the problems I've been having.

I ran a registry cleaner about 2 weeks ago and all my EXE files from Microsoft Office 2013 were GONE! Some of the other files were there, but I couldn't run Word, Excel or PowerPoint because the EXE files were missing. I had to reinstall Office 2013.

So, it's gonna be awhile before I back everything up (docs, downloads, purchased files, etc) so it's gonna take me a couple of weeks to back everything up.

I'll let you know how things go when I finish it, and this time NO registry defragments.

I also use BitDefender 2017 and sometimes it blocks suspicious files for no reason. Even after I add them to the trusted list, it still blocks them.

So like Blackkatt said, it could be a myriad of one or more problems causing this. I've also had problems with other programs when installing. Could be registry cleaners or BitDefender. Anyone else use Bitdefender 2017 that has this same problem with Fences 3.03?

Just wondering,

Dan

Hey @Blackkatt, thank you very much for finding a solution for this problem!

I think you should add START explorer.exe at the end right?

@ECHO OFF

TASKKILL /f /im "explorer.exe" /im "rundll32.exe"

START "" "C:\Windows\System32\rundll32.exe" "C:\Program Files (x86)\Stardock\Fences\FencesMenu64.dll",StartFences

START explorer.exe

EXIT

Also here's the bat file if anyone just wants to download it: http://www.mediafire.com/file/accxcywfo0bndhl/StartFences-Blackkatt.bat

just put it on desktop and run it whenever explorer/fences crashes, or you if want to restart explorer.

A 'registry cleaner' cannot do that.

It's a bit like saying "I ran a registry cleaner about 2 weeks ago and now all my car tyres are flat."...;)

That depends on if they were physically missing or not.  I seem to recall Office is a funny app and instead of shortcuts pointing to say winword.exe, they point to a special launch system which I suspect is using registry entries to know what to run.

Personally I would recommend against the use of registry cleaning tools as in the wrong hands they can indeed make a complete mess of your system.

I tried the original batch file. You are right - needs to restart explorer, too.

Unfortunately, Fences still does not recover for me even with the batch file. I also tried changing the order - fences after explorer. Didn't help.

It happens regularly that if I restart Explorer that Fences does not come back to life (most of the times). Also if Windows restarts Explorer, e.g., after uninstalling a program.

Sure would like a solution that does not require restarting my whole machine.

Wow, and I thought it was just me.

And its not just a win10 issue, I'm running 7 64bit.

Same issue, whenever I restart explorer.exe, fences does not come back unless I either log off or reboot. It would also be nice if Fences could become a service.