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Join Date 10/2018

Fences 3 / Fences 6 crashing Explorer (MTweaker error)

It's rather ridiculous that this is the place I have to post this is, but apparently Stardock doesn't have proper customer support. They told me "post it on our Forums" so that's what I'm doing.

For a couple of months, Fences 3 has made it impossible to restart Windows Explorer, be it manually or if Explorer itself crashes. It returns a "MTweaker Error"

I have found zero online regarding this particular error. This has happened on both Windows 10 AND Windows 11.

Uninstalling Fences 3 solves the problem. Which means it's something connected to the program doing it.

I tried to instal the trial version of Fences 6 but, while it's slightly more stable than Fences 3 in this regard, the issue is still present, albeit less frequent. I don't need Fences 6, Fences 3 does all I need it to do, so I will need a solution for that one. It's been working great for years, there's no reason to start acting up now.

Below potentially relevant PC specs:

Intel i7-12700K 3.60Ghz

32GB DDR4 RAM

Windows 11 Pro 24H2, build 26100.4652 (although it also happened with the latest build of Windows 10).

Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.26100.128.0

Asus NVidia RTX5090

fences

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Hello,
Sorry to hear you are having issues. But, do know that Fences 3 is not compatible with Windows 11. Please move to Fences 6 for better compatibility.

Thank you,
Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant.

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Do you by any chance have Minecraft installed?

When you get this error, try opening the Task manager and right-click the error reference and select Properties. This might tell you which app is involved.

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Quoting basj,

reply 1

Hello,
Sorry to hear you are having issues. But, do know that Fences 3 is not compatible with Windows 11. Please move to Fences 6 for better compatibility.

Thank you,
Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant.

As I said in my post, this ALSO happens with Fences 6. The issue is still there. And it happened with Fences 3 on Windows 10 as well.

So no, I won't be paying for Fences 6 to have the error persist. I was already deceived with WindowsBlinds11 and it supposed "compatibility" with Windows 11.

Quoting pelaird,

reply 2

Do you by any chance have Minecraft installed?

When you get this error, try opening the Task manager and right-click the error reference and select Properties. This might tell you which app is involved.

Nope.

I've tried that but it doesn't work. There's no "properties" on the error. The error is caused by Fences in Windows Explorer. That much I've managed to identify.

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Perhaps, there is something else is conflicting with Fences. But, if you on Fences 3, you can not know if its compatibility issue with Windows 11 itself. At least, with Fences 6 you can be sure it is not Windows 11 compatibility issue. So, moving back to Fences 3 to try to find the issue will make it harder.

Anyway, would like to suggest to try purge and reinstall steps as mention here : [Link]. Just make sure to redownload the installer of your choice. Reboot after the purge. Reinstall and reboot again after the installation. Retest and report back here.

Thank you,
Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant.

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I'm sorry, I must be writing in tongues... I SPECIFICALLY wrote this on my first post

I tried to instal the trial version of Fences 6 but, while it's slightly more stable than Fences 3 in this regard, the issue is still present, albeit less frequent

That means I ALREADY tried Fences 6 to see if the problem persisted, and it does. I've reinstalled the entirety of Windows and tested it every time I installed a new program. I even installed the absolute piece of garbage that is Windows 11 to try to see if it was an issue with Windows 10 and Fences 3. When the same happened with Fences 3 on Windows 11, I installed Fences 6. And the problem continues to happen. And it only starts happening when I install Fences. Which means Fences is doing something to the Windows registry that's causing this conflict.

I will try the "purge" method, but I highly doubt it'll solve anything.

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Jafo

Join Date 03/2001

+1845

Quoting DJCBS,

reply 3

The error is caused by Fences in Windows Explorer. That much I've managed to identify.

Since this appears to be the first instance of a "MTweaker Error' whether in Fences 3 or 6, then what you actually have 'identified' is you have a system with something installed that conflicts with the use of Fences [of either version].

To determine what is specifically wrong with your installation Support is going to need defined error logs to determine why your system is not coping with Fences.

To be clear, I run Fences 3 [without issue] on the system for which it was designed - Windows 7, and it has run just fine since. If however you are running Windows 10 [or 11] then you really should be using the Fences designed for that OS. If you have been alternating install versions it's quite possible you have a corrupted install [or uninstall] and subsequently both have issues.

When a perceived 'bug' is unique to a system it can be very difficult to replicate and solve.

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Quoting Jafo,

reply 6

To determine what is specifically wrong with your installation Support is going to need defined error logs to determine why your system is not coping with Fences.

There's no Support.

I tried to contact them and I was directed to the Forums. I was given ZERO support from the supposed support team.

Quoting Jafo,

reply 6

I was running Fences 3 on Windows 10 because that's the version of Fences that was available for purchase when Windows 10 launched.

And Fences 3 worked on Windows 10 for years without issue UNTIL recently. Furthermore, I already tried the version of Fences "designed for" Windows 11 - Fences 6 - and the problem persists. I didn't install anything I hadn't installed before. Hence why I tried to contact Stardock's support.

But it's becoming clear this just won't be solved 'cause Stardock doesn't have any sort of proper support and is hoping someone "on the internet" finds a solution for them.

So I think I'll just uninstall Fences, review it appropriately and look for an alternative.

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I think you might have this installed : https://github.com/MotyaDev/MTweaker

Remove it as I think the error is coming from that not Fences which is why this has never been reported before.

Also you have had support replies from a number of Stardock people in this thread.

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Quoting Neil Banfield,

reply 8

I think you might have this installed : https://github.com/MotyaDev/MTweaker

Remove it as I think the error is coming from that not Fences which is why this has never been reported before.

Also you have had support replies from a number of Stardock people in this thread.

Which ones?

Anyway, thanks for the link. I never installed that nor would I be able to find it as I don't speak Russian. But at least it gives me something to look for. I have heard of windows tweakers before so I'll see if I can find something related to it on my PC that may have been left over from some other program.

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Jafo

Join Date 03/2001

+1845

Quoting DJCBS,

reply 9

Which ones?

basj is one Support person.

Neil Banfield is the creator of Windowblinds itself.

I am Wincustomize.com site administrator for the past quarter century [almost] with a long experience with Stardock's products.

Please follow Neil's directions. As I said, it's almost 100% certain you have a specific third party conflict.

Just as an aside, Fences 3 may have been available and usable on Windows 10 initially, but most of the reason for subsequent version releases of Fences was to keep pace with the on-going changes to the OS GUI as Microsoft continued to move goal posts in its OS.

The reasoning for Forum-based Support is that often the solution for one user's issues can aid others without each and every person with a similar problem having to initiate correspondence themselves.

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Quoting Jafo,

reply 10

Quoting DJCBS,

reply 9

Which ones?

basj is one Support person.

Neil Banfield is the creator of Windowblinds itself.

I am Wincustomize.com site administrator for the past quarter century [almost] with a long experience with Stardock's products.

Please follow Neil's directions. As I said, it's almost 100% certain you have a specific third party conflict.

Just as an aside, Fences 3 may have been available and usable on Windows 10 initially, but most of the reason for subsequent version releases of Fences was to keep pace with the on-going changes to the OS GUI as Microsoft continued to move goal posts in its OS.

The reasoning for Forum-based Support is that often the solution for one user's issues can aid others without each and every person with a similar problem having to initiate correspondence themselves.

So, for future reference, the people with a Stardock logo are official support, is that it?

Anyway, no I didn't have that program installed. I did (another) clean installation of Windows 11 to make sure of it.

But after looking for other possible tweaker software, it seems that the conflict is being generated between Fences and ExplorerTool, which I had on an external hard drive. I've managed to find other people with MTweaker errors on GitHub conflicting with other programs and the common denominator was ExplorerTool.

I've gotten ridden of it and will do further testing to see if the issue is solved.

In the meantime, I'll have to find an alternate solution for Explorer's awful and unusable grey theme. I tried WindowsBlinds but it's not viable. I don't intend to alter the design of Windows itself, just replace the awful grey theme with a black one, but there's nothing like that available that I could find. And unfortunately Skin Studio is stuck on designing for Windows 7.

If you have any other suggestions, I'm all ears, thanks.

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Quoting DJCBS,

reply 11

So, for future reference, the people with a Stardock logo are official support, is that it?

That's correct. In addition, there are many volunteers (like myself) and a large community helping out 24/7 making the support forums one of the best.

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