WindowBlinds 10 closing instantly upon opening

from Stardock Forums

Hi guys. Randomly started having this problem, let me outline the exact chain of events.

-Randomly WindowBlinds stopped applying theme after rebooting pc (maybe windows update caused it)
Try reapplying, "WindowBlinds is not installed correctly" or something like this, pressing yes or no makes no difference.
I try  using uninstall.exe, tells me some "Invalid start mode: archive filename"
I found the Purge_WB.bat, used it as administrator, it told me it couldn't find some files.
Rebooted PC, and installed WindowBlinds 10 with the installer from my license-key email.
Immediately after finishing install, it tries to open and just closes instantly.
I run the installer again, and this time it says I need a reboot, so I reboot.
Nothing changed, still closing instantly. This time I go uninstall through Control Panel and it works.
Use Purge_WB.bat again after uninstalling through Control Panel, reboot, reinstall. Still closing instantly.
Last thing I tried was running program while PC was in Safe mode.

I don't have any antivirus running at all, Windows defender off. No idea why this program suddenly decided to break like this. It seems like there is some leftover data/config/ini file that is causing the program to crash over and over again, referencing something that doesn't exist anymore. Something like that maybe. I can't find any log files for crashes or anything like that, so..

In any case I paid money for the program and I would love if I could have this working. Please don't recommend me to buy version 11.

windowblinds
10,754 views 13 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top

If you have some kind of registry cleaner it may help some. Tracks left over from programs you uninstalled. Program uninstallers do not remove everything when you uninstall a program. Always good to run a registry cleaner to clean the little traces left behind.

Hope this is helpful.

Dcrew57

Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top

Hello,
Sorry to hear you are having issues. Need to know you on Windows 7,8,10 or 11? Also need it full version numbers please. Use Winver.exe to get those.

Thanks
Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant.

Ashes of the Singularity II
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top

I used ccleaner as well yes.

Winver is Windows 10, Version 21H2 (19044.2486)

Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top

Did you ever use Eset Antivirus before?

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top

Never used it before, I only occasionally run Malwarebytes and never in the background. No antivirus at all, windows defender off

Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top

Please try purge and reinstall steps as mention here : [Link]. Just make sure to redownload the latest version from your account page. Reboot after the purge. Reinstall and reboot again after the installation. Retest and report back here.

Thank you,
Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant.

Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top

I did before, and just tried again, same issue still persists.

I saw in forums that there was one other person who never got this issue resolved short of reinstalling windows.

There must be some registry key the purge .bat is missing, or leftover data somehow, somewhere. Or maybe certain windows update is screwing with something, after all this started happening after a reboot randomly. It could be that too.

Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top

You on Windows 10 Pro? Have you try Sandboxes? : https://forums.stardock.com/486084/fences-support-faq#sandbox. Try that and report back.

Sometimes there are issue caused by the applied skin. Try removing all the skin. Keep wba files backed up some where. Just install WB with its supplied skin. If that work. Install the WBA one at a time until you found the bad one.

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

Reply #9 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting basj, reply 8

Sometimes there are issue caused by the applied skin. Try removing all the skin. Keep wba files backed up some where. Just install WB with its supplied skin. If that work. Install the WBA one at a time until you found the bad one.
End of basj's quote

I think I can suggest a more direct way to see which skin it's trying to load.

At the login screen, hold down the [Control] button while pressing [Enter] after entering the password, which will prevent WindowBlinds from loading.

Then, run WindowBlinds from the Start Menu.  If WBConfig does indeed open, it should be sitting on the skin it had been trying to load.  Then a person could make a note of that skin and try applying one of the shipped skins to see if it loads.  That should be faster/easier if that's the problem.

Reply #10 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting basj, reply 8

You on Windows 10 Pro? Have you try Sandboxes? : https://forums.stardock.com/486084/fences-support-faq#sandbox. Try that and report back.

Sometimes there are issue caused by the applied skin. Try removing all the skin. Keep wba files backed up some where. Just install WB with its supplied skin. If that work. Install the WBA one at a time until you found the bad one.
End of basj's quote

The only .wba files on my entire computer is the one skin I installed, and it isn't located anywhere else, so I deleted them and I still am instantly crashing. Yes, a brand new install of the OS would work, but I can't re-install Windows because I have too much work-related programs I would need to re-register, re-locate and download, etc..

Quoting DaveRI, reply 9

I think I can suggest a more direct way to see which skin it's trying to load.

At the login screen, hold down the [Control] button while pressing [Enter] after entering the password, which will prevent WindowBlinds from loading.

Then, run WindowBlinds from the Start Menu.  If WBConfig does indeed open, it should be sitting on the skin it had been trying to load.  Then a person could make a note of that skin and try applying one of the shipped skins to see if it loads.  That should be faster/easier if that's the problem.
End of DaveRI's quote

Unfortunately the program crashes instantaneously before any login prompt is active. No amount of uninstalling, using the purge tool, or manually checking %appdata% or anything else has been able to solve this.

Reply #12 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting basj, reply 11

You can try cleanboot: https://forums.stardock.com/486023/windowblinds-support-faq#cleanboot to see it you have conflicting program with Windowblinds.
End of basj's quote

I already had another user account with admin rights, so I logged in and re-installed the program from that account.

This actually forced the program to need re-registration, breaking the crashing loop. After I logged back to my original account, I was able to re-activate and Windowblinds 10 works again with my original account, including my custom theme.

There had to be some data left-over somewhere that the purge.bat wasn't getting, since installing it from the new user made it to where I needed to re-enter the product key (overwriting some data leftover somewhere with the defaults), and purging and re-installing on the original account did not work... I wonder what that .bat could be missing.

Thanks for the help guys, problem is solved.

Reply #13 from Stardock Forums Top

Great to hear that. It is known that the purge do not removed installed Skins. Anyway, it is good to know you resolved it.

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant