Fences crashes after the 3.1 update

from Stardock.net Forums

I was prompted this morning to update Fences 3 to the latest version.   After the install and a restart of my PC, fences will not start up.  I get  message after my screen flickers a few times that says:

 

Fences has detected that Explorer was not closed properly.  As a precaution, Fences has been temporarily disabled.

Tore-enable Fences, right click your desktop and choose 'Enable Fences'.

 

I have tried to re-enable, but each time it does the same thing and ends up crashing with the above message.  

26,810 views 11 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top

Hello,
Sorry to hear you are having issues. Please refer to this post for information on Fences v3.1 update : https://forums.stardock.com/505007/get;3806834

Thanks
Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant.

Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top

The same happened to me when I upgraded to 3.1 today.   Got the error "Fences has detected that Explorer was not closed properly".  Found a solution that worked for me (from a 2013 article from Stardock):  (SOLVED) Fences has detected that Explorer was not closed properly. » Forum Post by darvin atkeson (stardock.com)

One of the causes of the issue seems to be one or more problematic icons on the desktop.  To resolve, move all the desktop icons to a temp folder on the desktop.  (Some icons won't move...such as Recycle Bin but that's ok.)  After moving the icons, Enable Fences.  The fences should reappear, albeit empty.  Then move icons back to the desktop, one-by-one from the temp folder.  The problematic icon(s) will cause the error to re-appear.  In my case, turns out it was a 23andMe shortcut url icon that caused Fences to break.  (After replacing the URL shortcut in the icon, I was able to move it back to the desktop without breaking Fences.)   

In my case, the URL shortcut that broke Fences was "https://api.23andme.com/cas/login/?redirect=%2Fauthorize%2F%3Finternal_login%3D1%26state%3D%257B%2522origin_uri%2522%253A%2B%2522%252F%2522%257D%26redirect_uri%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fyou.23andme.com%252Foauth_callback%252F%26response_type%3Dcode%26client_id%3D036e8ef67ffec9055e7942df976c1222%26scope%3Dancestry%2Bbasic%2Bhaplogroups%2Bnames%2Bphenotypes%253Aread%253Aall%26skip_buy_page%3D1&internal_login=1".

I replaced the shortcut with "https://www.23andme.com/en-ca/" and the issue went away.

Hopefully, Stardock will figure out why some icons cause the Fences app to malfunction after the upgrade to 3.1.

Fences - Organize your desktop icons today!
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting eniom, reply 2

Hopefully, Stardock will figure out why some icons cause the Fences app to malfunction after the upgrade to 3.1.

This is VERY interesting, eniom.  Thank you for providing this feedback - I will pass it on straight away.

We would also be VERY interested if this process works for others.

Sean Drohan
Stardock Support Manager

Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top

This solution worked for me too.

Now I need to figure out which icon, out hundreds, is causing this to happen. :-(

 

Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top

While Stardock figures this out, I went to CNet's download.com and got the last version of Fences (just say no when the installer asks if you want to upgrade to the latest). I was able to reinstall version 3 and get on with my day.

Reply #10 from Stardock Forums Top

Worked for me too, it was some chrome shortcut. It had more than 256 characters in the url. 

Reply #11 from Stardock Forums Top

Hello,

Just an FYI that Fences 3.12 Beta was released today.

For all the details, please see:

https://forums.stardock.com/506115

We are very much looking forward to your feedback there.

Thanks,

 


AzDude
Stardock Community Assistant