sdRohan sdRohan

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

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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
660,658 views 284 replies
Reply #276 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting Snacko, reply 275

Ok, I got the error again today when I was in a Folder Portal.  When I have drilled down into a subfolder, and press Alt+Left Arrow (or click the up arrow on the titlebar) to to back to the parent folder, Wham!!  That does it.  I've tested this several times, and it only does it on one Folder Portal.  I have 3 Folder Portals on my desktop and they work fine.  The Folder Portal that does this is called 'Cities Skylines', where I keep some pics and notes.

So I deleted everything in that folder, and it still crashed.  I kept restoring the Reg Fences to a new install version/backup that I had and kept testing...  I created a new folder called 'Cities Skylines TEST', and copied the contents of the old one into there.  The new one didn't crash?!  So I deleted the original, and renamed the new one to just 'Cities Skylines'.  And it crashed!!???   So, I removed the 's' on the end of the folder name and now it doesn't crash.  I know this sounds crazy..  I compared the folder properties of the old and new and saw no difference.  The only thing that I can think of is that somewhere in Fences data is info related to a folder named 'Cities Skylines' that causes a crash.

Can we get a dump of said crash..?

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

Sean Drohan
Stardock Product Lifecycle Manager

Reply #277 from Stardock Forums Top

Out of interest, just add any letter instead of 's' to the end.  It could be that the full path and longest filename might be exceeding the default 255 characters that Windows has (but this can be changed to increase this limit).

"Starting in Windows 10, version 1607, MAX_PATH limitations have been removed from common Win32 file and directory functions. However, you must opt-in to the new behavior.

To enable the new long path behavior, both of the following conditions must be met:

  • The registry key Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem\LongPathsEnabled (Type: REG_DWORD) must exist and be set to 1. The key's value will be cached by the system (per process) after the first call to an affected Win32 file or directory function (see below for the list of functions). The registry key will not be reloaded during the lifetime of the process. In order for all apps on the system to recognize the value of the key, a reboot might be required because some processes may have started before the key was set."
The Political Machine 2024
Reply #278 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting sdRohan, reply 276

Can we get a dump of said crash..?

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

Sean Drohan
Stardock Product Lifecycle Manager

Yes, here's the link.

I just had to change the name from 'Cities Skyline' to 'Cities Skylines' and click on it to get the crash.  It happens when I go into our back out of the folder in the Portal Folder.

Andy

 

PS: The screen Flashed 3 times and I got 3 different dumps.  

Reply #279 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting Malice_UK, reply 277

Out of interest, just add any letter instead of 's' to the end.  It could be that the full path and longest filename might be exceeding the default 255 characters that Windows has (but this can be changed to increase this limit).

"Starting in Windows 10, version 1607, MAX_PATH limitations have been removed from common Win32 file and directory functions. However, you must opt-in to the new behavior.

To enable the new long path behavior, both of the following conditions must be met:

    • The registry key Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem\LongPathsEnabled (Type: REG_DWORD) must exist and be set to 1. The key's value will be cached by the system (per process) after the first call to an affected Win32 file or directory function (see below for the list of functions). The registry key will not be reloaded during the lifetime of the process. In order for all apps on the system to recognize the value of the key, a reboot might be required because some processes may have started before the key was set."



Just tested that, and only with an s at the end did it do this.

+1 Loading…
Reply #280 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting Snacko, reply 278

Quoting sdRohan,
reply 276

Can we get a dump of said crash..?

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

Sean Drohan
Stardock Product Lifecycle Manager

Yes, here's the link.

I just had to change the name from 'Cities Skyline' to 'Cities Skylines' and click on it to get the crash.  It happens when I go into our back out of the folder in the Portal Folder.

Andy

PS: The screen Flashed 3 times and I got 3 different dumps.  

Your issue has to do with sorting, something that was addressed with the current Fences 4 version:

  • Fixed Folder Portal crash when details-view is used alongside multiple levels of sorting.

Noted here:

https://forums.stardock.com/512519/fences-40521-beta-feedback-thead

Please install it (the trial if you do not own it currently) and report your findings back.

Thanks for the feedback.

Sean Drohan
Stardock Product Lifecycle Manager

+1 Loading…
Reply #281 from Stardock Forums Top

I'm on vacation now, but I will take a look at this next week.  

Cheers! 

Reply #282 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting Snacko, reply 275

Ok, I got the error again today when I was in a Folder Portal.  When I have drilled down into a subfolder, and press Alt+Left Arrow (or click the up arrow on the titlebar) to to back to the parent folder, Wham!!  That does it.  I've tested this several times, and it only does it on one Folder Portal.  I have 3 Folder Portals on my desktop and they work fine.  The Folder Portal that does this is called 'Cities Skylines', where I keep some pics and notes.

So I deleted everything in that folder, and it still crashed.  I kept restoring the Reg Fences to a new install version/backup that I had and kept testing...  I created a new folder called 'Cities Skylines TEST', and copied the contents of the old one into there.  The new one didn't crash?!  So I deleted the original, and renamed the new one to just 'Cities Skylines'.  And it crashed!!???   So, I removed the 's' on the end of the folder name and now it doesn't crash.  I know this sounds crazy..  I compared the folder properties of the old and new and saw no difference.  The only thing that I can think of is that somewhere in Fences data is info related to a folder named 'Cities Skylines' that causes a crash.

Very interesting!

 

Reply #283 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting sdRohan, reply 280
Your issue has to do with sorting, something that was addressed with the current Fences 4 version:

    • Fixed Folder Portal crash when details-view is used alongside multiple levels of sorting.

Noted here:

https://forums.stardock.com/512519/fences-40521-beta-feedback-thead

Please install it (the trial if you do not own it currently) and report your findings back.

Thanks for the feedback.

Sean Drohan
Stardock Product Lifecycle Manager

Thanks, that did fix it!!  

Can I get a free upgrade from 3 to 4 to fix this permanently?  O:)  

Andy

Reply #284 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting Snacko, reply 283

Thanks, that did fix it!!  

Very please do read that.

Quoting Snacko, reply 283

Can I get a free upgrade from 3 to 4 to fix this permanently?    

There is a substantial discount for Fences 3 owners:

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