Why is Fences 4 still installed after Fences 5 was installed?

Hello,
Sorry to hear you are having issues. 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.

Note: Save your current layout snapshots. Purge do not remove your saved layout snapshots, but to be sure, you can use this guide to back it up: https://support.stardock.com/space/SHC/1331494954/How+do+I+back+up+Fences+snapshots%3F

Thank you,
Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant.

I ran the program, reinstalled Fences 5, restored my snapshot and all looks well except that in "Add Or Remove Programs" Fences 4 still shows as if installed.  However, when I try to remove it, it says the uninstall file is missing.  So, it appears Fences 4 is uninstalled, but has left behind something in Windows that leads Windows to think it is still there.

If you run the purge, reboot, before you install Fences 5, does Fences 4 appear in your Add or remove programs list?

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

Yes.  That is exactly the order I used. Sorry for leaving out the detail about reboot before reinstalling.

After some testing, I see that it also happen on both of my Windows 10 and 11 too. I have since forwarded 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.

BTW, just to note, on my system, Fences 5 still running without issue. Do you having any issue on Fences 5 functionality?

Thank you.

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

Hi elliotjw,

If you're still experiencing this issue, please see our Help Center article:

https://support.stardock.com/space/SHC/1811513364/Manually+Remove+an+Uninstalled+Stardock+Application

I hope the included information there helps.  Thank you.

Adam McGuinness
Stardock Customer Support Specialist

Update:  I ran the Fences removal tool and completely removed Fences.  I rebooted and installed Fences 5.  My computer shows both Fences 4 and 5 as installed.  If I attempt to uninstall Fences 4, it tells me its going to uninstall Fences 5.   Quite frustrating.

I still do not see a resolution for Stardock 4 and 5 in Windows programs in both uninstall and programs

Also, after using the purge for fence 5 it still has a popup to install like it's a new installation and not an update.

There needs to be an update to the current version 5 to resolve this issue because purging is not fixing the issue.

Thanks 

We're working on a resolution to the duplicate entries in Add Remove Programs for a future update, but, their existence is harmless, and the extra entry can be ignored.

For those experiencing duplicate entries, you can use regedit.exe and navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Stardock Fences 4

and delete that key, which will remove that duplicate entry from the Uninstall list.

Good afternoon.

Something similar is happening to me with Fences 5.
What it does is to reinstall itself every day without me telling it anything and, being like this every day is a little bit tiring....

Why can it be?

Best regards.

Yikes. lsma, can you use the tool https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/process-explorer to screenshot the process tree, as well as a screenshot of the installer launch itself?

Looking to see if it gives any hints about who is the parent process of the setup. None of our update mechanisms auto launch the installer, so, working to see what's going on there. Also, please double click on it and find it's full "path" and paste it here for further hints and we can figure out where-to from there.

Thank you!

The issue with both 4 and 5 is still an issue.

I have a resolution

First look in the Programs Files (x86) Stardock folder if both are there

Go to Programs and Features and uninstall both.  4 first and the 5

Reboot and go back to the Programs Files (x86) & Programs and Features both should be gone

Reinstall 5, I have done these steps on 4 pc's and it works

There are still issues with the Fence 5 trying to reinstall itself, but Stardock is working on this issue.

Thanks for your explanation DB.Cooper, I will have to wait then to see what solution Stardock gives us with this problem of Fences 5.

Thank you very much.

Hi lsma,

If you'd like to debug the issue, please download the tool https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/process-explorer and share a screenshot. We'd like to see what the execution tree looks like for the setup process, and also, importantly, the location of the setup file. The location of the setup file will likely be a big hint, and will likely help us be able to solve the problem.

You can also access the setup file path by opening Windows' built in Task Manager, going to the "Details" tab, and turning on the "Command Line" column.

Please see my post above thank you; I look forward to hearing more.

Hi Dr W...

This is what I have been able to do. If I can do anything else, please tell me how.

Thanks for this. So I'm not seeing the relevant info here unfortunately, could you share more from Process Explorer? For example, on my machine here:

upon double click:

This shows me that Explorer executed MSEdge which executed Fences5-sd-setup.exe, and that it's in my downloads folder.

Note, you'll have to run Process Explorer as Administrator to access the path information, otherwise it will say [Access denied] in that field.

Ok, tomorrow when Fences reinstalls again I will look for what you say.

Good night.

Hello again...

Fences 5 has reinstalled again and now I think I've been able to get some images of what you asked for and they are the following...

I hope I've done it right because I haven't found anywhere else where it refers to Fences 5.
Let me know...

Hi! So it looks like you’re using the software IOBit to keep your apps up to date, and it is malfunctioning. 

Do you have any idea what your settings are in IOBit that might be causing this to occur? (Screenshots likewise?) 

Hi Dr W!

Yes, it could be because of the IObit Software Updater program that I have to update all my software automatically, since many of them do not.

I will uninstall it and see if Fences 5 stops updating daily.

Thank you very much for the observation, I will let you know how it reacts now.

That iobit software updater is the reason. It does it to me all the time.

DrJBHL,

Any guesses as to why it does that? Ie anything we can do on our end?

Is there any switch in IOBit that can be turned off that resolves, so perhaps our support team can document it for future people?

Dr W - best I can figure is that it compares version available vs. version installed by software signature. I don't know why, but the 'available' Fences seems to present as a version different than on the user machine, despite being the same. Perhaps by new vs. leftover registry keys?

As for how to fix it, I'll write more tomorrow.

Happy Holidays to all!

Happy holiday in return!!

SantaDoc just visited [We'll discuss the cookies I didn't find, later]. Here's your stocking stuffer: https://www.iobit.com/product-manuals/isu-help/