Fences 4.22 on Windows 11, Folder Portal background becomes solid black when a monitor is enabled/disabled or resolution changes

Hello,
Sorry to hear you are having issues. Need to know.

1. Screen resolutions and Scale factors on all monitors.
2. HDR system turn on? If it on turn off and see if the issue still there.
3. Does restart Explorer.exe resolve the issue.

Thanks
Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant.

Sure, I'm happy to provide the information.

1:

Monitor 1: 3840x2160 @160hz 150% Scaling HDR

Monitor 2: 1920x1080 @60hz 100% Scaling SDR

2:

The issue also happens with HDR off

3:

Restarting explorer.exe does fix the issue.

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.

I did that though now I have that problem again that I can't open the Fences control dialog at all anymore after a re-install. This was already a known bug with Fences 4 on Windows 11 when your system-language wasn't English. I remember I had to change the language of Fences in the Registry to fix it but I don't know where anymore.

I fixed that by installing Fences4_4.1.1.0-j110-Setup.exe and then upgrading to 4.22 again, however the problem with the black Folder Portals persist.

I also disabled any other third-party software like Wallpaper Engine however it caused no change in behavior. The background of Folder Portals turn black as soon as the display topology changes or any navigation is done inside Folder Portals.

Also I noticed Folder Portals don't seem to automatically refresh if any change happens in a folder.  I have my Downloads folder as a portal and whenever I download something I have to manually refresh the Downloads Folder Portal Fence to see the new file.

Was you referring to the context menu thing you mention here: https://forums.stardock.com/517370/get;3882059. Can not find any post by you referring to language.  ref https://forums.stardock.com/replies/full/6671746

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

Not sure why you need to install older version instead installing the latest V4.22? Also, please post a full desktop screenshot so I can see and understand the issue better.

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

Otherwise I couldn't get Fences to open for some reason but as said the reinstall didn't improve things anyhow.

As for screeenshots, here are two that show the issue, Folder Portal before a display was enabled or disabled:

And here after a monitor was enabled or disabled or any navigation inside the Portal was done:

In my extensive testing now I noticed it doesn't happen 100% of the time but in 8 of 10 tries enabling and disabling a monitor the background would change to black and it required a restart of explorer.exe to restore to normal. The high transparency is just for illustrative purposes. Note, this exclusively happens to Folder Portals, normal Fences are fine.

Also sorry for the weird colors, HDR screenshots aren't easy to take.

I found the culprit, it's caused by a open-source third-party tool I failed to consider!

https://github.com/Maplespe/ExplorerBlurMica

So this is not a problem on Fences' side, I'll open an issue on the project's Github. Although it would be nice if the developers of Fences could look into this as well.

Here's a link to the Issue I opened: https://github.com/Maplespe/ExplorerBlurMica/issues/148

As a paid Fences 4 user, could I still install the Fences 5 trial to see if any improvements are made?

Anybody can do Fences Trial.

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

Alright I tested it on a fresh Windows 11 VM with Fences 5 and ExplorerBlurMica, it happens with Fences 5 too and is definitely related to the tool if the devs perhaps want to take a look.

Hello,
I have forwarded your finding to Stardock Support Team for their review. We appreciate your feedback.

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

Alright thank you, I hope that a fix is coming.

Not sure its an easy fix since both products might have conflicting issue, both using Explorer.exe to work.

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

I'm aware, still thank you.