Fences and Fences Pro install but don't work on my Win7 x64 machine

from WinCustomize Forums

I have installed / uninstalled / cleaned registry DOZENS of times both Fences and Fences Pro.  Installation always runs without an error (and the installer leaves only success messages in the Windows Application Event log), but when it is through there is no Fences (or Fences Pro) splash screen and no Fences shortcut on my desktop.  If I try right-click / drag to create a fence there is no Fences dialog, only Win7 options.

 

Stardock support has sent me instructions and software that includes odnt_zapper.exe which is supposed to detect Stardock software and uninstall it, but odnt_zapper.exe doesn't even detect that Fences (or Fences Pro) is present, so to uninstall I use the Control Panel.  Stardock also supplied clear_fences_settings.reg which is used to clean the registry after each time I uninstall.  I also ran Stardock's SDSupportTool.exe to provide them a full profile of what is on this computer.  All of this has been going on for several days with no progress.

 

On the same computer I have a Win2008 Server virtual machine on which I have no problem with Fences or Fences Pro.  But I don't want to spend my work life remoting to a local VM just to have a Fences environment.

 

The computer is in a business environment that includes Cisco Security Agent (CSA) and Symantec Endpoint Protection.  Even when I turn off both CSA and Endpoint Protection, and do the uninstall/reinstall procedure, Fences (and Fences Pro) does not work.

 

I would love any ideas anyone might provide because Stardock is still coming up dry on this one.  

 

The system is:

  • Windows 7 Professional, SP1, 64-bit
  • dual Dell U2412M monitors driven by AMD Radeon HD6450 / Generic PnP Monitor 

 

-Mark

 

8,708 views 3 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top

I'm running Windows 7 Home Permium 64 bit SP1 and Fences Pro without any problems.  Now where we differ is I have no VM on my computer and running different security.  I do have one question, do you have both versions on Fences on the computer?  You probably don't but I had to ask. 

You may want to give support a little more time in trouble shooting your problem.  :sun:

 

Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Philly0381:

 

Thanks for your question.  No, I never have both Fences and Fences Pro installed at the same time.  And I have not given up on Stardock support.  I usually only get one interaction with them per day -- today's question usually results in one response to me the tomorrow morning.  That is okay, but I REALLY want to get Fences Pro working like I had it on my XP computer before its hard drive died and I was supplied this wonderful Win7 x64 machine.

 

-Mark 

The Political Machine 2024
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top

*** SOLVED (finally) ***

I had the same problem with Fences 1 and 2 beta. My machine is very similar to yours - win764 SP1, corporate laptop with CSA, McAfee AV and Endpoint encryption, corp group policy, etc.

After months and months of searching and trying things I finally solved it last night. It can probably be fine tuned but here is what I did:

  1. make sure you have a local account on the machine in the admin group (not sure this is necessary but it's what I did)
  2. start the laptop in safe mode (f8 wouldn't work on my Lenovo so I used msconfig to change boot to safe mode)
  3. log in with the local account
  4. uninstall fences
  5. remove any remaining traces
    • registry: HKCU\Stardock
    • registry: HKLM\Stardock
    • C:\Program Files (x86)\Stardock
    • C:\ProgramData\Stardock
  6. reboot and start again in safe mode
  7. login with the local account
  8. install fences
  9. run C:\Program Files (x86)\Stardock\Fences\Fences.exe
    • you should get a dialog saying fences isn't running
    • the config screen will come up anyway 
  10. reboot
  11. log in with your normal account and enjoy fences with Configure Fences actually working!

A happy side effect of using the local account was that my existing fence definitions were still in the registry of my normal account

Hope this works for fellow suffers!

 

cheers, Chris