WindowBlinds 5 Startup Problems
Wednesday, November 30, 2005 by Andrew Robinson | Discussion: WindowBlinds
When I install WB5, I get the usual pop-up asking me to reboot my system, but when I reboot, I get the same again. If I try and launch through StarDock central, the same happens again. Have I missed something here somwhere?
My system is:
AMD Athlon XP 3200+
1.5 GIG DDR400
Geforce 6800 Ultra 256MB
Windows XP SP2 (Fully Updated)
Any help is appreciated.
[ Update ]
I have read a few of similar problems here, looked for .CMD in MSCONFIG, yet thats not listed.
My system is:
AMD Athlon XP 3200+
1.5 GIG DDR400
Geforce 6800 Ultra 256MB
Windows XP SP2 (Fully Updated)
Any help is appreciated.
[ Update ]
I have read a few of similar problems here, looked for .CMD in MSCONFIG, yet thats not listed.
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Flannelmeister
Reply #22 Friday, December 2, 2005 4:01 PM
Reply #22 Friday, December 2, 2005 4:01 PM
Aaaarggh! Tried reinstalling from SDC and almost exactly the same symptoms straight from the restart after installation. The desktop looks to be there but it is almost as though it is a "picture" of the desktop with no interoperability with the mouse - nothing happens when I click on start button, shortcuts or even right clicking on desktop. All I am able to do is to press control+alt+delete to bring up task manager so that I can restart from its shutdown menu, go into safe mode on restart and run system restore to the point just before I installed. I am afraid that whatever changes were made between the last beta version and the final release has stuffed it as far as my system is concerned. Is there anywhere I can download the last beta version from? That ran perfectly. I haven't got it archived as I did my yearly "spring clean" last weekend and formatted the drive and put a sparkling new installation of XP on my machine and downloaded and applied all service packs etc from windows update. Following loading up a few programs I even did a defragment before downloading SDC. I am extremely dis-chuffed to put it mildly!
Flannelmeister
Reply #23 Friday, December 2, 2005 4:01 PM
Reply #23 Friday, December 2, 2005 4:01 PM
Aaaarggh! Tried reinstalling from SDC and almost exactly the same symptoms straight from the restart after installation. The desktop looks to be there but it is almost as though it is a "picture" of the desktop with no interoperability with the mouse - nothing happens when I click on start button, shortcuts or even right clicking on desktop. All I am able to do is to press control+alt+delete to bring up task manager so that I can restart from its shutdown menu, go into safe mode on restart and run system restore to the point just before I installed. I am afraid that whatever changes were made between the last beta version and the final release has stuffed it as far as my system is concerned. Is there anywhere I can download the last beta version from? That ran perfectly. I haven't got it archived as I did my yearly "spring clean" last weekend and formatted the drive and put a sparkling new installation of XP on my machine and downloaded and applied all service packs etc from windows update. Following loading up a few programs I even did a defragment before downloading SDC. I am extremely dis-chuffed to put it mildly!
Flannelmeister
Reply #24 Friday, December 2, 2005 4:04 PM
Reply #24 Friday, December 2, 2005 4:04 PM
sorry, got taken to an error page after posting the first time and I didn't know it had gone on first time. Oops.
_chris_
Reply #25 Friday, December 2, 2005 4:27 PM
Reply #25 Friday, December 2, 2005 4:27 PM
Just so you know, if windows jams at the start because of WindowBlinds restart it in Safe Mode With Networking Options Enabled that way you can uninstall WindowBlinds through SDC. This safes a painfull system restore.
Flannelmeister
Reply #26 Friday, December 2, 2005 4:35 PM
Reply #26 Friday, December 2, 2005 4:35 PM
Thanks, but have learned to set a restore point immediately before loading anything so isn't too much hassle.
Flannelmeister
Reply #27 Friday, December 2, 2005 4:44 PM
Reply #27 Friday, December 2, 2005 4:44 PM
Ah, reading other forums here I think it may be an icon packager problem not windowblinds. I had installed windowblinds, said no to running the program immediately and then installed icon packager "while I was there" before restarting. Other people have reported problems the same as mine following the latest IP being installed
Flannelmeister
Reply #28 Friday, December 2, 2005 7:15 PM
Reply #28 Friday, December 2, 2005 7:15 PM
yep, windowblinds running perfectly, have not dared to load Icon Packager.
andyr2005
Reply #29 Friday, December 2, 2005 7:26 PM
Reply #29 Friday, December 2, 2005 7:26 PM
Now I cant even install properly, apparently, maximum activations have been reached.
_chris_
Reply #30 Saturday, December 3, 2005 10:30 AM
Reply #30 Saturday, December 3, 2005 10:30 AM
I tried to uninstall IconPackager and then install WB but that won't work for me 
Chris
Chris
gtc954
Reply #31 Saturday, December 3, 2005 1:27 PM
Reply #31 Saturday, December 3, 2005 1:27 PM
I want to buy Windowblinds 5 and downloaded the free version to check it out. I have installed and uninstalled it 5 times. Each time I try to run it, I get the message to reboot!
What the hell is that?
I have never had a program in my life keep asking me to reboot and not work!
Please give me a direct answer or I will never purchase a program from your company ever!
Tofino
Reply #32 Saturday, December 3, 2005 2:01 PM
Reply #32 Saturday, December 3, 2005 2:01 PM
gtc954:
Steady! I understand your frustration - I'm experiencing the same issue. However, each of us is likely to be experiencing this problem for different reasons related to hardware and software combinations unique to our configurations. It's not really helpful, or likely to garner the kind of response that you are after, to make threats to a group of people who are largely end-users like yourself. Yes, there are Stardock techs operating in these forums but check out the volume of posting that goes on and you'll get a sense of what they have to wade through to get issues like this one. Also, they have to contend with my initial point: each of us is running vastly different configurations.
Check your msconfig startup tab for security apps that might be preventing the WB installer from modifying the registry on reboot and you'll be taking the first step down the road to troubleshooting this. Check out the other threads in the forum and you'll note that some antivirus and/or firewall apps have been implicated in this particular problem. Are you running any of them? If not, what IS running at startup? You might try posting more information about your particular configuration (cpu, ram, xp version, other apps running, etc.) so that when a tech DOES read your post he/she has more to go on than a rant.
Patience! You'll note that some of us have been posting in this thread for almost a week. This will get sorted out, but it will take time.
Mike
Steady! I understand your frustration - I'm experiencing the same issue. However, each of us is likely to be experiencing this problem for different reasons related to hardware and software combinations unique to our configurations. It's not really helpful, or likely to garner the kind of response that you are after, to make threats to a group of people who are largely end-users like yourself. Yes, there are Stardock techs operating in these forums but check out the volume of posting that goes on and you'll get a sense of what they have to wade through to get issues like this one. Also, they have to contend with my initial point: each of us is running vastly different configurations.
Check your msconfig startup tab for security apps that might be preventing the WB installer from modifying the registry on reboot and you'll be taking the first step down the road to troubleshooting this. Check out the other threads in the forum and you'll note that some antivirus and/or firewall apps have been implicated in this particular problem. Are you running any of them? If not, what IS running at startup? You might try posting more information about your particular configuration (cpu, ram, xp version, other apps running, etc.) so that when a tech DOES read your post he/she has more to go on than a rant.
Patience! You'll note that some of us have been posting in this thread for almost a week. This will get sorted out, but it will take time.
Mike
Neil Banfield
Reply #33 Saturday, December 3, 2005 2:44 PM
Reply #33 Saturday, December 3, 2005 2:44 PM
gtc954: If WBconfig says you need to reboot, it means that part of WindowBlinds is not installed correctly.
Did you get any error messages during install?
If you open regedit and look at these keys, do they exist?
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Notify\WBSrv
In most cases we believe this is caused by an application that is 'protecting' certain registry entries to stop apps from autostarting. While this can be a good thing, they need to prompt the user as during software installation you want to autostart things sometimes!
Additionally, if you have antiwpa.dll on your machine, this may be conflicting with WindowBlinds - as WindowBlinds will believe it is running in safe mode and so shutdown.
gtc954
Reply #34 Sunday, December 4, 2005 12:33 AM
Reply #34 Sunday, December 4, 2005 12:33 AM
what is antiwpa.dll ?
No error messages during install.
That key does not exist.
gtc954
Reply #35 Sunday, December 4, 2005 12:35 AM
Reply #35 Sunday, December 4, 2005 12:35 AM
Sorry I thought this was strictly a support forum, and I was probably to pissed to have posted until I calmed down. My error..
Aval0nStardock
Reply #36 Sunday, December 4, 2005 12:45 AM
Reply #36 Sunday, December 4, 2005 12:45 AM
gtc954,
Antiwpa means that you are using a pirated copy of windows. it is and
Anti W.indows P.roduct A.ctivation hook dll. That Pirates use to steel Windows, AARRRrr!!!! 
_chris_
Reply #37 Sunday, December 4, 2005 11:16 AM
Reply #37 Sunday, December 4, 2005 11:16 AM
I've tried to get WB5 working today and got a bit further in the process. After uninstalling nitroboot I added the
DisableStage1=1
to the wb.ini file (as suggested in the "hefty cpu usage on 5??" topic). This seemed to solve the cpu problem on startup, instead of a 100% cpu load it was 0-2%.
But when I tried to open notepad it went wrong again. The cpu raised to 63% and it seemed like nothing happened, I could see the notepad thingy in the startbar again but no real program window. So I opened the taskmanager and started moving it around on the screen, while moving it around, the area where notepad usually appears started filling with task manager screens. So it seems WB5 somehow prevents the program window from displaying. Now I don't know what to do about that, any ideas?
It is also pretty strange that the task manager is displayed correctly.
Chris
BTW: The registry keys exist on my machine and I don't have the antiwpa.dll. And I only run Norton AV and Internet Security to protect my system and I don't think they block programs without asking me.
DisableStage1=1
to the wb.ini file (as suggested in the "hefty cpu usage on 5??" topic). This seemed to solve the cpu problem on startup, instead of a 100% cpu load it was 0-2%.
But when I tried to open notepad it went wrong again. The cpu raised to 63% and it seemed like nothing happened, I could see the notepad thingy in the startbar again but no real program window. So I opened the taskmanager and started moving it around on the screen, while moving it around, the area where notepad usually appears started filling with task manager screens. So it seems WB5 somehow prevents the program window from displaying. Now I don't know what to do about that, any ideas?
It is also pretty strange that the task manager is displayed correctly.
Chris
BTW: The registry keys exist on my machine and I don't have the antiwpa.dll. And I only run Norton AV and Internet Security to protect my system and I don't think they block programs without asking me.
Neil Banfield
Reply #38 Sunday, December 4, 2005 11:35 AM
Reply #38 Sunday, December 4, 2005 11:35 AM
_chris_: so you left the DisableStage1 = 1 line in wb.ini and notepad still used lots of cpu?
Do you have a per app setting for notepad set? If you set it to excluded, does it then open with low cpu?
I assume you had taskmanager up to see cpu usage, was that skinned ok?
_chris_
Reply #39 Sunday, December 4, 2005 1:02 PM
Reply #39 Sunday, December 4, 2005 1:02 PM
Well I couldn't open the windowsblind settings because applications that are more "heavy" like windowblinds or SDC won't load at all. So I guess that the windowblind settings are still set to standard. Therefore I have not set it to exclude notepad, nor have I done this with WB4. The skin that loads on startup is windows classic, at least that is what the taskbar and start menu look like. The task manager was also skinned in the classic skin and looked ok.
The above all happened with the DisableStage1=1 line in wb.ini
When I remove the DisableStage1=1 line from the wn.ini file the taskmanager looks very strange, it doesn't have any borders or the little cross in the upper right corner. And the bar with the file button is black.
Another thing is that I can easily navigate through the taskbar and start menu without any problems, so the problem really seems to be located at the program windows.
I am now looking for a way to exclude WB from skinning notepad.
Chris
Edit: to answer your question, yes notepad used a lot of cpu with the DisableStage1=1 lin in wb.ini
Edit 2: Do you need to have SP2 installed for WB5, because I am still running on SP1?
The above all happened with the DisableStage1=1 line in wb.ini
When I remove the DisableStage1=1 line from the wn.ini file the taskmanager looks very strange, it doesn't have any borders or the little cross in the upper right corner. And the bar with the file button is black.
Another thing is that I can easily navigate through the taskbar and start menu without any problems, so the problem really seems to be located at the program windows.
I am now looking for a way to exclude WB from skinning notepad.
Chris
Edit: to answer your question, yes notepad used a lot of cpu with the DisableStage1=1 lin in wb.ini
Edit 2: Do you need to have SP2 installed for WB5, because I am still running on SP1?
_chris_
Reply #40 Sunday, December 4, 2005 1:45 PM
Reply #40 Sunday, December 4, 2005 1:45 PM
I tried booting again with the DisableStage1=1 line in the wb.ini file. And the first time I had all the problems again wbconfig.exe took 50% of cpu and the other 50% was divided between other apps that wouldn't load. So I restarted and then windows booted ok cpu was back to 0-2% and wbconfig.exe took nothing, though the task manager was skinned weird again. Just like I described above, but on a closer look it does have its borders and all but it looks compressed. I don't really know how to explain it but it looks as if someone kicked it from beneath, there is a huge blank space at the bottom that looks like the task bar and the top thing with the little cross is like 2 pixels high.
Anyway I can't set WB to exclude notepad from the skinning because I can't load any app so I can't bring up the WB config display. I tried to open that in safe mode but then it tells me that it needs a reboot before WB will work. Is there another way to exclude notepad from skinning?
Anyway I can't set WB to exclude notepad from the skinning because I can't load any app so I can't bring up the WB config display. I tried to open that in safe mode but then it tells me that it needs a reboot before WB will work. Is there another way to exclude notepad from skinning?
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Reply #21 Friday, December 2, 2005 2:13 PM
This same exact thing happens to me as well!