Error: 'Fences has detected that Explorer was not closed properly'

from Stardock Forums

EDIT 08/02/2022
Seeing that all known crash issues have been addressed within Fences 4, we are closing this thread.  If you are still using Fences 3 and experiencing crashes, please install the trial for Fences 4 to see if you still see them:

https://www.stardock.com/products/fences/download-trial

Should your issues be resolved, there is a substantial discount to upgrade to Fences 4:

https://www.stardock.com/products/fences/download

EDIT 05/19/2022

We think we might have a fix for one crash that is possible with Fences and folder portals.  Please see if the just-released beta does indeed resolve it for you and report back here either way, please.

https://forums.stardock.com/512519/fences-4059-beta-feedback-thead

Special thanks to k3nny5 for working with us in Teams to help resolve it.

EDIT 05/12/2020
Changed the process for collecting data \ crash dumps in the instructions below.

EDIT 12/23/2021
Thanks to help from user altae here, we have confirmed that if DisplayFusion is running, this can cause the issue.  If you have DisplayFusion installed, or other 3rd party multimonitor software (Actual Multiple Monitors, UltraMon, etc), please try uninstalling and a reboot. 

EDIT 12/21/2021
If you are seeing this issue on Windows 11, and have WindowBlinds installed as well, it will very likely crash.  Please uninstall WindowBlinds to see if you still have the issue.

EDIT 11/01/2021
Any post that does not directly contribute to finding the cause will likely be removed.  Also, to find said cause, the data asked for above is crucial.  If it is absent, the post will likely be removed. 

EDIT 10/25/2021
We are seeing that many PC \ OS related issues are clouding the data \ feedback received on this issue.

Prior to doing any of the below, we ask that you have 1st don't the following.

If nothing is resolved from it, please proceed with the below.

For some, when enabling Fences, they are seeing:

'Fences has detected that Explorer was not closed properly'

Specifically for them, we need more data to find the cause. 

Manually Collecting Crash Dump

We are now asking for the manual collection of crash dumps.  instructions on how to do this has been posted here:

https://forums.stardock.com/486084/fences-support-faq#CrashDumps

To help see if Fences is the cause of any crash, Fences has the capability to capture more data when there are crashes.  To enable it, the Fences registry needs to be changed.  One can do so by downloading and running this registry edit file:

https://cdn.stardock.us/support/uploads/FencesAllCrashesNew.zip

We are continuing to look into the crashing reports but we believe the number of users impacted is small at this time. That said, we take this very seriously and want to try and triage specific cases to see if there is a common denominator. 

MS Teams Collaboration

As one would suspect, this cant be done in the forums for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is we need data (startups, running services, sysinfo, etc).  To best accomplish this, we are going to set up a Microsoft Teams 'Team' \ Channel and invite clients having this issue to it.  The requirements for participation would be:

  • English speaking and preferably in the Western Hemisphere (for real-time chat)
  • Able to reproduce crashes at will with the latest version of Fences 4 (not Fences 3)
  • Are ok to submit data (startups, running services, sysinfo, etc) upon request
  • Are willing to stick with the troubleshooting process for (potentially) weeks.

If you can meet these requirements, please post as much here and I will send out invitations and instructions to you directly.

We thank you very much for your feedback and patience.

Sean Drohan
Stardock Support Manager

fences
660,637 views 284 replies
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top

I am also having this error. Recently reinstalled my operating system and walked through the setup to get it back in place again. This previously worked without issues.

 

I've purged the Fences installation multiple times and will get it to work for a bit before it stops working again. Tried to do a clean boot, disabling everything but Microsoft services to narrow down what was the issue but that didn't resolve the problem as it persisted even in the clean boot state.

 

No prompt was received for the BugSplat crash reporter.

 

This is the link to the crash log that I have. There is only one though since it is a new installation.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1loHNRFRUvI4o5h4X_q9c1XIGv5GysTln/view?usp=sharing

 

I hope there is a quick resolution to this. In the meantime I will try Fences 2.0 installation and see if that works for now.

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

Here's the logs
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kXfxPHucDIZEnTMvEub5SQMTyzft1xla/view?usp=sharing

Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Fences has detected that Explorer was not closed properly.

  I get this error most any time Explorer restarts. Chiefly during Program and Driver updates, especially AMD video drivers. (The installer restarts explorer which kicks the legs out from under fences). I also had it happen the last time I updated Groupy.

My log: https://www.dropbox.com/s/69hzezrewjgkskp/TroubleshootingLog.7z?dl=0

  I notice that at the time of the crash, the log records "fixpermissions" several times. I wonder how permissions might be involved?

Let me know if you need more info. I hope we can squash this quickly.

Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting Robert_Snyder, reply 7

Fences has detected that Explorer was not closed properly.

  I get this error most any time Explorer restarts. Chiefly during Program and Driver updates, especially AMD video drivers. (The installer restarts explorer which kicks the legs out from under fences). I also had it happen the last time I updated Groupy.

My log: https://www.dropbox.com/s/69hzezrewjgkskp/TroubleshootingLog.7z?dl=0

  I notice that at the time of the crash, the log records "fixpermissions" several times. I wonder how permissions might be involved?

Let me know if you need more info. I hope we can squash this quickly.

Driver update issues are not uncommon and anything that restarts Windows Explorer (which Fences runs in) could cause this.

That, however, would be outside the scope of what this thread is for - when the noted error happens on general use.  

Sean Drohan
Stardock Support Manager

Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting sdRohan, reply 9

Driver update issues are not uncommon and anything that restarts Windows Explorer (which Fences runs in) could cause this.

That, however, would be outside the scope of what this thread is for - when the noted error happens on general use.

Sean Drohan
Stardock Support Manager

 

Restarts of explorer never caused this problem in earlier versions of Fences and shouldn't be causing it now. One of my stated causes was the update of one of your OWN programs. That makes it a Stardock problem, like it or not.

Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top

UPDATE | This may be only a coincidence, but just in case it's helpful---

I run Directory Opus (DOPUS) as my Explorer replacement.  

Prior to re-installing Fences this morning, I fully exited DOPUS.  Fences was re-installed, computer rebooted (DOPUS autostarts), and so far now errors thrown.  

I do have the catch-all-errors registry modification enabled--- just in case.

/mark/

Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top

Never heard of Directory Opus, but I imagine while an interesting workaround, won't work for most people who have no desire to pay for an explorer replacement just to get fences to work ;) 

Reply #9 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting JMBWITHCATS1, reply 18

Never heard of Directory Opus, but I imagine while an interesting workaround, won't work for most people who have no desire to pay for an explorer replacement just to get fences to work  

D.O. has been around since dirt was invented (January 1990) ^_^ .  That said, we cannot ensure Fences would work with any Windows Shell replacement.  It is nice to see he was able to make it work.

Fences 'works' with Windows Explorer just fine - this thread is to find out why some are seeing this particular error.  As you can see, we have done quite a bit of work (crash collection, BugSplat integration) to help find the cause.  We do hope you find the time to review what is being asked for and provide whatever you can.

Sean Drohan
Stardock Support Manager

Reply #10 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting Robert_Snyder, reply 10

Restarts of explorer never caused this problem in earlier versions of Fences and shouldn't be causing it now. One of my stated causes was the update of one of your OWN programs. That makes it a Stardock problem, like it or not.

That it did not happen prior is a fair point and good to now know.  That it is related to Fences, however, remains to be seen.

Thank you for the data, Robert.

Sean Drohan
Stardock Support Manager

Reply #11 from Stardock Forums Top

Thank you sdRohan, I am one of those who suffer the error loop, and had to uninstall Fences just to get control on my computer again.  I reinstalled it,but received the same error again, but this time, no loop, so I haven't had to uninstall it, just leave it not running... if that helps.

Reply #13 from Stardock Forums Top

Removed by admin: Sean Drohan

Please see the initial post for the reason.

Reply #16 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Follow Instructions at the top of this Thread ...

Reply #18 from Stardock Forums Top

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DJE4GpFsG_LiU8XZstmSmCqdxM8Ij82G/view?usp=sharing

Something I've noticed.

I have 2 fences portals to a network share. 

After I reboot and fences loads, If I hover over either of them, they show no files, but if I go to the File Explorer and go to the folder that they are "looking at" on the network, I can see the files in File Explorer.

SO, I then attempt to connect to my enterprise vpn, and attempt to open Remote Desktop Connection Manager, and the error pops up.

UPDATE: Problem seems to have gone away after I deleted my desktop fence portals.

Reply #21 from Stardock Forums Top

I've gotten Fences to work. What I did was delete every registry entry containing both Fences and Stardock. Then I reinstalled ONLY Fences 3. Do not install Fences 4 or your system will give the same error as before and you will need to repeat this process.

Reply #24 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting downeywright, reply 23

Have the same "Explorer" message suddenly today. Fences UNUSABLE.

Any tech support here??

Yes, we are collecting data on this issue as detailed in the initial post.  Please review it and edit your post so as to best help us in this effort.

Regards,
Sean Drohan
Stardock Support Manager

Reply #25 from Stardock Forums Top

I got an email notification about this. What I did was run the purgefences app that can be downloaded somewhere on this site. I then downloaded Fences 3.09 from a website and logged in like normal. It runs fine. I also disabled automatic updates in Object Desktop before install but if you don't own Object Desktop then this is a step you can skip.

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