Crash: Fences has detected that Explorer was not closed properly

Hello,
Sorry to hear you are having issues. Please try the troubleshooting steps mention in the first post of this thread: https://forums.stardock.com/528229/. If it crash note in which steps number did it crash and report back.

Thank you.
Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant.

Hi Basj,

I did the troubleshooting. It crashed at step 4 after closing the Fences window and returning to the desktop, but I personally think it's not the cause. As I said, the crash is so random that any clicking on desktop or simply doing nothing can lead to a crash. Thanks.

I feel that one of your Fences get corrupted. Most probably one of the portal Fence. If it possible, try restore layout by using the Older saved layout snapshots. Try the earliest first. If that work, move up to newer saved.

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

Thanks for your suggestion. I've tried restoring order layouts, but the crash keeps happening. 

Few more details please.

1. Is the PC on Corporate system? Do you have specific Security application such as Websense/Forcepoint running in your system?
2. If you do not connect your external monitor does the issue still happening?
3. If you do a Windows Sandbox test, do you see the issue also happening while in there? : https://forums.stardock.com/486084/fences-support-faq#sandbox

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

Hello Chuckhe,

This is exactly the same problem I was having the past few weeks (you explained it much better than I did).

• Fences5 version: 5.54 (SAME)
• OS: Windows 11 Pro Version 23H2 (OS build 22631.3737)  (SAME)
• After a clean boot,  problem is triggered trying to access any folder in a Fence, then Explorer is corrupted, so all the following you described continues: 
  • Same pop-up message - "Fences discovered Explorer not closed properly. . . .  Fences disabled"
  • What triggers the continuing crashes: anything, e.g., simple left click, right-click, trying to refresh on desktop, etc. Sometimes, I didn't do anything at all and it just FREEZES (with the taskbar suddenly disappearing or the monitor screen suddenly turning black, flickering to white, empty screen)
  • Occassionally, after a long wait,  Fences re-enables itself, re-applies folders into correct fences, but bug remains on next click.
  • New or existing issue: It's an existing issue. I also can't recall when the problem began to occur, but it's got worse with 5.54. 
  • What I tried (but didn't work): Uninstall (did not do purge) and reinstall.
  • Did not test version 5.50

What worked for me:

• Uninstalled Version 5.54 (that's when it became intolerable),
• Installed Fences5, version 5.04, and DID NOT upgrade to 5.50 or 5.54
• I will stay on 5.04 until the bug is fixed.

Ref: my Post:

• https://forums.stardock.com/524563/page/1/#3935769

Hope this helps?

Bob S.

Great, good to be able to confirm this. for both Chuckhe and Bob, please refer to this guide and forward it to me, so I can forward to Support for review and help on the next step.

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

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

Hi Bob,

Thank you for adding more details. These are exactly what I'm having too (e.g., Fences re-enables itself, re-applies folders into correct fences, etc.). Unfortunately, I just tried 5.0.4.1 and 5.0.0.1, but the problem persists. Thank you again for sharing your suggestion.

I've sent my troubleshooting log (following https://forums.stardock.com/486084/fences-support-faq#ExtendedCrashReporting) to Basj. Hope this issue gets resolved soon.

Chuck

Hello,

I wonder if any of you have test Fences v5.56 Beta?

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

Hi Basj,

I just tried Fences v5.56 Beta. Didn't see a big differnece, it crashed soon after it's installed and enabled.

Thank you for your report, will forward it to Support.

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

That is the log we need however, the one you submitted i 

We would really like both of you to try using this method for collecting crash logs for this issue.  Its a bit detailed but it would really help to find the root cause

https://support.stardock.com/space/SHC/1332969475/Manually+Collecting+Fences+Crash+Dumps

Thanks again for the time and help.

Sean Drohan
Stardock Product Lifecycle Manager

Same problem with Fences 3.1.6.1  What's going on here?

Thx

SG

Hello,
Sorry to hear you are having issues. But, I don't think your issue is the same as Fences v5. It is best to create your own thread on your issue so we can deal with your separately. Also, please post in your new thread more details on your system.

1. Windows full version and OS Build number. Use Winver.exe.
2. Is this a new issue? If its a new one, what changed in your system?
3. Mode details, please.

Thank you.
Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant.

Ok I will post new thread - thanks

Hi chuckhe yes we'd really love to get a crash dump from your copy of 5.56. https://support.stardock.com/space/SHC/1332969475/Manually+Collecting+Fences+Crash+Dumps

It looks like this is a crash that's not being picked up by our built-in crash reporter, so something else is going on. I assume you already did the step for enabling "Advanced crash reporting" and reproduced the crash. If there's no file "fences_debug_snapshot.dat" in "%appdata%\Stardock\Fences\TroubleshootingLog" however after enabling that and reproducing the crash, and if you didn't see the BugSplat popup, you'll need to collect the crash report manually and share it with us. You can use this link to upload, since the file might be very large.

Thanks for your help looking into this – we'd like to get to the bottom of it. Thank you!

Hi sdrohan,

I'm doing the manual collection following the link you and Dr W sent, but I'm not entirely sure about one step (screenshot below): Do I need to type the exact '.dump /mf c:\users\sdrohan\desktop\Fences_RiverComb_04062022.dmp' (with my username replacing sdrohan of course)? The instruction appears to provide merely an example not for me to copy and paste. Thanks.

Quoting chuckhe, reply 17

Hi sdrohan,

I'm doing the manual collection following the link you and Dr W sent, but I'm not entirely sure about one step (screenshot below): Do I need to type the exact '.dump /mf c:\users\sdrohan\desktop\Fences_RiverComb_04062022.dmp' (with my username replacing sdrohan of course)? The instruction appears to provide merely an example not for me to copy and paste. Thanks.

 

The:

.dump /mf

Is whats important.  The rest it the path and file name.  Yours could be

.dump /mf c:\[whatPathYouWantTheFileCreatedAt\chuckhe_Fence.dmp

Sean Drohan
Stardock Product Lifecycle Manager

I see thank you.

I've uploaded a crash dump to the dropbox link Dr W provided. 

Sorry, trying to use the quote/reply/edit functions but ended up posting multiple replies

Here is a build we would like you to install, try to reproduce with, and provide some feedback when complete.

https://cdn.stardock.us/support/uploads/Fences5_5.5.9.1-j86-Setup.exe

We really appreciate the report, feedback, and time.

Sean Drohan
Stardock Product Lifecycle Manager

Hi Sdrohan,

I just installed this version of Fences. Everything is working fine so far, and there have been no crashes yet, which is a good sign. Previous versions usually crashed immediately after installation and running. I'll keep an eye on it to see how it's going. Thanks.

Chuck

Very pleased to read, chuckhe, and thanks for the feedback.

Sean Drohan
Stardock Product Lifecycle Manager