Fences 4 Portals show no icons on boot

I have a number of portals to various network folders on my desktop. This arrangement works as expected on a Windows 10 machine and on a Windows 11 machine, both of which only have a single monitor. On a second Windows 11 machine with two monitors, after boot, the Portals are "empty" i.e. they show no icons. If I double-click the desktop (hide the non-existent icons) and then double-click the desktop a second time, the portals will be populated and properly show the icons for the contents of those network folders.

A "regular" FENCE (i.e. not a portal) works fine and, immediately after a boot, shows all icons as expected.

What can I do to avoid having to do the "double-double click" whenever I boot up this machine?

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Hello,
Sorry to hear you are having issues. Try this guide: https://forums.stardock.com/486084/fences-support-faq#folderportalsempty

Thanks
Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant.

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@basj

The article you linked is one of those “Let’s throw EVERYTHING at the wall and see what sticks” articles. Fortunately, the specific suggestion you linked will actually work. In fact, I am using an approach that is very similar: The network folders accessed by my portals contain only shortcuts – on a nightly basis, I synchronize all shortcuts with their counterparts on the local machine. A secondary desktop screen contains Portals to those LOCAL copies.

While this setup works, it is a lot of effort. In fact, “double-double-clicking” is a lot easier.

SERVICES running on your local machine have an option for a startup type of “Automatic (Delayed Start)”. Is there an equivalent of that for TASKS such as Fences.exe?

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@basj
Did you, by any chance, find an answer to the question I asked in December?
("SERVICES running on your local machine have an option for a startup type of “Automatic (Delayed Start)”. Is there an equivalent of that for TASKS such as Fences.exe?")

Basically, I would like to delay the start of Fences until AFTER the network is available.

(Apparently there is a group policy setting called "Always wait for the network at computer startup and logon" . This sounds like it might do what I need it to do but I have no idea if or how that would work.)

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Hello,
I have forward your problem/question to Stardock Support Team for their assistance. Please keep an eye on this thread for any updates. We appreciate your feedback and patience.

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

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sdRohan

Join Date 10/2012

+475

That the 2nd PC has two monitors should be irrelevant. If you unplugged the 2nd monitor, is it still reproducible on that PC?

~SD

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You are correct: The problem is the same with or without a second monitor. Fences starts before the network is available and thus can't display the contents of any portal that points to a network location. So "somehow" I need to speed up the start of the network or slow down the start of fences.

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