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 #51 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting ULTRA1, reply 50

I'd like to know when this will be fixed? It would almost be easier to re-write the entire application than fixing it at this point. Get things done Stardock! You have paying customers with a unusable product.

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. 

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

 

ObjectDock - Access shortcuts and frequently used applications from an animated dock.
Reply #53 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting sdRohan, reply 51


Quoting ULTRA1,
reply 50

I'd like to know when this will be fixed? It would almost be easier to re-write the entire application than fixing it at this point. Get things done Stardock! You have paying customers with a unusable product.



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. 

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

 

 

Thank you for looking into this.  I am not a candidate for the meeting as my error is resolved. I know my situation of WIndowblinds running on Windows 11 might not be the usual reason for the explorer crashing issue but I honestly have no other explanation for it as Fences no longer had the explorer crashing problem as soon as I unloaded Windowblinds.  When I performed the Windows 11 update WIndowblinds wasn't listed as an incompatible app and it loaded into the new OS at startup as usual and seemed to be working fine. I even installed and applied a couple of blinds without any problems.  I haven't a clue why or how the two are related but as my error resolved after unloading Windowblinds there's no other explanation I can think of

Reply #54 from Stardock Forums Top

Hey I tried to join teams but after picking the boat 45x times I gave up. I can't get my teamview working because I can't confirm my account. Keeps saying I ran out of time but there is no time limit listed.

Reply #55 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting ULTRA1, reply 54

Hey I tried to join teams but after picking the boat 45x times I gave up. I can't get my teamview working because I can't confirm my account. Keeps saying I ran out of time but there is no time limit listed.

If you are referring to confirming your Microsoft account (required I believe), its not something we can help with I am afraid.

As kbennett65 noted, do you also have WindowBlinds installed, on Windows 11?  If you too uninstall it (WB), does Fences then work for you as well?

Sean Drohan
Stardock Support Manager

Reply #57 from Stardock Forums Top

I just upgraded to Windows 11 a few days ago and have had the same issues with explorer.exe restarting in a loop and getting the same Fences disabled error. It seems to trigger every time I go browse in Windows Explorer, not when I first open it, but every time I go to a different folder or drive afterwards. I discovered though the issue does not seem to be Fences in my case just a symptom. I disabled all my other Stardock products in services and only left Start 11 to run automatically. I restarted and still allowed Fences to run. Now I have not had any problems at all. The issue seems to lie with one of the other Stardock products (possibly related to windows customization conflicts with Win 11 and programs like WindowsBlinds, Groupy, Modern Mix, Shadow FX, Window FX?) Anyway I will be troubleshooting the other products when I get time later. For now Fences seems to be good and I am happy with that.

Reply #58 from Stardock Forums Top

Maybe you should release a patched version where Fences does not have the ability to produce that error message or to shut off Fences?

Reply #59 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting ULTRA1, reply 58

Maybe you should release a patched version where Fences does not have the ability to produce that error message or to shut off Fences?

That does not fix the issue or identify what is.

Sean Drohan
Stardock Product Lifecycle Manager

Reply #60 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting altae, reply 56

You can send me the invite too.

You do not seem to have Fences 4 under your account, however.

Sean Drohan
Stardock Support Manager

Reply #61 from Stardock Forums Top

I don't care if it fixes the issue or identifies what it is. You've had a broken program for over a month. You probably have thousands of paying customers who have no product.

Reply #62 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting sdRohan, reply 60


You do not seem to have Fences 4 under your account, however.

Sean Drohan
Stardock Support Manager

I'm still running the trial.

Reply #63 from Stardock Forums Top

To be honest it seems very convenient that your Fences program breaks after the Steam travesty. You probably have a group of hackers poisoning your download. If you can find any proof or suspect that hackers are taking revenge for the Steam problem then you might want to contact the FBI and ask them to check.

Reply #64 from Stardock Forums Top

I made a copy from a folder that crash explorer. The copy don't crash explorer, but the original is still crashing explorer. So maybe, some specific folders are linked to something that triggers the problem. Is it possible that are linked to recent files?

Also, I think it would be useful that fences could have some function to ask to restore a snapshot if explorer crash.

Reply #65 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting ULTRA1, reply 63

To be honest it seems very convenient that your Fences program breaks after the Steam travesty. You probably have a group of hackers poisoning your download. If you can find any proof or suspect that hackers are taking revenge for the Steam problem then you might want to contact the FBI and ask them to check.

Um... No... that is not it, Ultra...

Sean Drohan
Stardock Support Manager

Reply #66 from Stardock Forums Top

This is indeed the case. I think they may not solve this problem in a short period of time, because the epidemic may lack human resources, and the development capabilities are worrying. In order to make money, they can only release the beta version and sell it to users. Users will never have problems. It may be resolved.

Reply #67 from Stardock Forums Top

Regardless you still have a app that hasn't worked in over a month so figure something out quickly. I'm not talking a scalpel. I'm talking taking a hammer to the problem.

Reply #68 from Stardock Forums Top

Hello all,

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 another 3rd party multimonitor software (Actual Multiple Monitors, UltraMon, etc), please try uninstalling for a test. 

Sean Drohan
Stardock Product Lifecycle Manager

Reply #69 from Stardock Forums Top

I have had display fusion installed before but uninstalled it long ago. I cannot install Fences 4. Tried about a week and a half ago.

Reply #70 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting ULTRA1, reply 69

I have had display fusion installed before but uninstalled it long ago. I cannot install Fences 4. Tried about a week and a half ago.

What happens when you try, Ultra?

Reply #71 from Stardock Forums Top

Same as everyone else. Windows was not shut down properly or some message like that. Stardock is now focing the shutdown of the program repeatedly for some unknown reason.

Reply #72 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting ULTRA1, reply 71

Same as everyone else. Windows was not shut down properly or some message like that. Stardock is now focing the shutdown of the program repeatedly for some unknown reason.

This is what exposed that DF was the issue for altae, creating a new Windows admin account and doing a clean boot.

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

 

Reply #73 from Stardock Forums Top

I have fences 3.13 and it crash with an specific folder ubication (name it "v9"). I start with a main folder, but when i enter in "v9", it crash. I tried this things with the same portal folder:

- I can change it name, and the problem is gone. ("v9-1" is safe to use)

- I can create a copy and it don't have problem.  

- I can move the files into another folder and the problem remains in "v9", but not the another folder.

- The problem still exist if i use a new portal folder to do the same, no matter the main folder i use to create the portal folder. If i create an portal folder of "v9", it kills explorer instantly. 

- I can create a portal folder from a folder inside "v9" and it works fine.

I use "v9" to run some modelations with an single program. I hate a lot when explorer crash when i'm working, but i love a lot fences to stop using it or its functions. Bye.

Reply #74 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting Axsenh4851, reply 73

I have fences 3.13 and it crash with an specific folder ubication (name it "v9"). I start with a main folder, but when i enter in "v9", it crash. I tried this things with the same portal folder:

Can you post a shared link to a video of this happening?

Sean Drohan
Stardock Support Manager

Reply #75 from Stardock Forums Top

I have just recently installed a new nvme and Fences 4 is crashing on the brand new hd. I formatted all drives so this is completely not related to other software. If you want to check then format a pc and test to see if Fences crashes. It does. I assure you.