WB6 won't startt!

from Stardock Forums

Hi there,

I’ve been a user basically since inception. Any problems I’ve had before this I’ve been able to resolve on my own or by reading through your forums. This is obviously over my head so here I am.   :NOTSURE: 

I had Object Desktop and MyColors installed on my Dimension 9200 - Dell DXP061, Intel Core 2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz, 3 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8600GT running Vista Home Premium with an index rating of 5.3.

Everything was working fine until I opened Stardock Central a couple of days ago and there were updates for WindowBlinds 6, CursorFX Plus and SkinStudio 6 Professional.

After installing the updates my desktop got “glitchy”. Something wouldn’t be skinned or it would be there but be blurred/transparent and missing buttons so I uninstalled WindowBlinds through Stardock Central.

 

Unfortunately after I reinstalled WB6 it wouldn’t start and gave the following message:

Unable to open

                WindowBlinds is unable to start.

                The most likely reason for this is your PC has a .CMD file running

                at startup which has locked WBs activation file. Run  msconfig &

                remove this from startup and then reboot. WindowBlinds should

                then work fine.

I tried to apply the skin ‘camouflage’ in MyColors to see what would happen and everything changes accept for the blind. Actually it changes to a classic look.

I looked through my start up and everything looks normal.

I stripped my system down to the necessities and then I uninstalled WB6 and My Colors then reinstalled WB6 got the same results then reinstalled My Colors got the same results.

I even went so far as to use system restore and rolled back before the updates but I got the same results, WB6 won’t start.

Now I’ve uninstalled all Stardock software including Object Desktop and installed Impulse. I updated drivers then installed WB6 via Impulse and it still won’t start!  :( 

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

UrbanCaveDawg

windowblinds
8,572 views 13 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Run msconfig & remove this from startup and then reboot. WindowBlinds should then work fine.
End of quote


I assume you tried this and it didn't work. (you didn't say)

I would suggest you uninstall>reboot>run ccleaner and clear out any left over crap>install Impulse>reboot>install windowblinds>reboot>run windowblinds......

if it works then reinstall all your other apps as well...personally I reboot after EVERY installation. Good luck :)

Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
The most likely reason for this is your PC has a .CMD file running at startup which has locked WBs activation file. Run msconfig & remove this from startup and then reboot.
End of quote


I don't understand which file it's asking to remove. A .CMD file? There are no .CMD files in my start up. Any ideas?

I always reboot after un/installing software too.

run ccleaner?

Thanks  :LOL: 
Ashes of the Singularity II
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Yeah really, try ccleaner and check the startup section in the Tools tab, you'll see everything that's actually present in your Startup...and remove anything that wasn't there before...be careful not to remove anything you don't understand....
Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top
In msconfig........just a guess.....but look for anything that references a file called sig.bin

It sounds like there's some left overs in your cache or registry. That's probably why re-installing is not working. Ccleaner will help with the registry leftovers.
Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top
Oh my God! I've never had such trouble installing software and all I did was uninstalled a glitchy update and reinstalled! :( 

- Okay, so I uninstalled anything and everything Stardock using SDC. Restarted.

- Then I uninstalled SDC using Windows. Restarted.

- Then I went hunting for anything and everything Stardock on my drive and deleted everything I could find. (Damn SD leaves a hell of a mess!)

- Then I ran Ccleaner and deleted anything I could find SD.

- Then I ran msconfig and once again stripped my system down to the bare necessities turning almost everything off. Nothing references sig.bin. Restarted.

- Then I installed Impulse using Windows. Restarted.

- Then I attempted to install WB6 using Impulse which I signed into. It got as far as 'activating' before Impulse locked up. I eventually had to shut down Impulse using Task Manager. Restarted.

- Then I started Impulse and it showed WindowBlinds as installed. There is no option to reinstall but it verified the installation as ok so I started WB6 and an activation window popped up. I entered the info and WB6 started. All my previously installed skins were still there so I oviously missed something during clean up. I hate Vista. I changed a few skins and everything seemed ok but the same glitchy problems that got me to reinstall were still there. I turned my startup stuff back on. Restarted.

- I changed a few more skins but the glitches made me uninstall and reinstall. Through Impulse this time. Guess what, IT DOESN'T WORK AGAIN! The activation window pops up, I enter the info, click activate and a window pops up saying that SD Product Activation has stopped working. I click close, WB6 starts I try to apply a skin but get the Win classic look.

This is from System Info in WB6:

---
Your computer has a Windows Experience Index base score of 5.3
Your Windows Graphics Experience score is 5.9

WindowBlinds version : WindowBlinds 6.1 (build 97 x86 - Vista Edition)

WindowBlinds is installed correctly on this PC
WindowBlinds has not been activated correctly on this PC. Please activate it from SDC.
(Dell SE198WFP(Digital)) 1 is attached to NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT

Wblind.dll 2008/05/06 15:25:25
Wbsrv.dll 2008/04/28 11:35:58
Wbconfig.exe 2008/04/29 21:02:32
Wbload.exe 2008/04/28 11:35:14
Wbhelp.dll 2008/04/28 11:35:07
Tray.dll 2008/04/28 11:35:21
Wbload.dll 2008/04/28 11:34:28
Screen.exe 2008/04/28 11:35:18
---

I’m stripping everything SD off my system again and will go from there.
I would really appreciate suggestions. Thanks.  :NOTSURE: 
Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top
If you haven't done so already, please contact [email protected] and start a trouble ticket. They will be able to assist you.

Note: This is a long Holiday weekend and it may take until next Monday for support to get to your issue. They will be checking their esupport (which your email request will go to) during this break so they may get to your issue sooner.

If you notice on your System Info above WindowBlinds has not activated correctly.

What you are experiencing is not common and support will get it working for you.
Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top
make sure your not using nview. it conflicts with windowblinds.
Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top
This is getting a bit ridicouls now. No matter what I do I WB6 to run on my laptop. I'm running Vista Home Premium (Version 6.0)

WindowBlinds is unable to start.


The most likely reason for this is your PC has a .CMD file running
at startup which has locked WBs activation file. Run msconfig &
remove this from startup and then reboot. WindowBlinds should
then work fine.



Is what it states!!!!

There are no .CMD files running at startup and nothing relating to SIG.BIN

The application used to work just fine on this laptop, until a recent update.

What has changed?

I have paid good money for this app. and getting quite annoyed that it no longer works!
Reply #9 from WinCustomize Forums Top
It may be that your antivirus is preventing a good install
Deactivate it and reinstall.
Reply #10 from Stardock Forums Top
Just tried that, i deactivated both my firewall and virus checker. and applied a new install.

Didn't work, any other suggestions would be really appreciated.

Plugsie
Reply #11 from Stardock Forums Top
Well, I seem to have everything working again. Unfortunately I don't know the exact cause of the issue or what I did to repair it. I’m split between a registry key and a leftover file that got missed during one or any of the many uninstalls.

After several failed attempts of trying to fix it with SDC (StarDock Central) installed I uninstalled anything and everything Stardock through/using SDC and then SDC itself and restarted.

Then there were several failed attempts after installing Impulse, which I never really planned on using but I’m kinda glad now. It’s not a bad program and has great potential.

I guess I never made myself clear in my initial post but when I said “I stripped my system down to the necessities” I meant just that.
I ran MSConfig and stopped all nonessential items from starting and then restarted.
After restarting I ran Task Manager and ended the last few remaining nonessential items.
Then I tried installing/uninstalling WindowBlinds, etc.
After a couple comments from Lantec and Pixeleo I also used CCleaner which deletes temp files, caches, registry keys, etc.

Regardless of what I did the results eventually produced this:

Unable to open

WindowBlinds is unable to start.

The most likely reason for this is your PC has a .CMD file running
at startup which has locked WBs activation file. Run msconfig &
remove this from startup and then reboot. WindowBlinds should
then work fine.

After being unable to fix the problem to this point, it seemed fairly clear that what ever was starting this “ghost” .CMD file or whatever it was, was well hidden or at the very least it was deeper than CCleaner was willing to go so I opened up regedit and started deleting anything and everything Stardock related.

What I do know for sure is that Stardock's software leaves one hell of a mess after being uninstalled. I’m not sure if it’s because of shared running software, the setup, or just bad programming but it left folders, files and registry entries everywhere.

After I was finished deleting “Stardock” files, folders and registry entries from my system I restarted to make sure I still could. Always make sure you make a back up of your registry before making changes, if you go that way. Not for everybody.

Then I turned everything back to normal and restarted.

Then I installed Impulse and restarted. Worked fine!  ;p 

Then I installed WindowBlinds and ran it. It was fine!  :) I restarted. It was still fine!  :D 

I have since installed other blinds and Stardock programs as well as restarted my system several times with no issues.  :LOL: 

I wish I could have pinpoint the exact problem and if I hadn’t already spent so much time trying to fix it I might have been more careful about keeping track of what I was doing but I just wanted the freaking thing fixed!

If I had to do this over I would have just contacted Stardock and waited for them to fix it. That said, I hope this helps someone just the same.


The Impulse setup file needs to access the internet to download its install file and then once Impulse is installed it needs to access the internet to download all of Stardocks software. I absolutely do not recommend shutting down your virus software to install any software let alone one that needs to access the internet but rest assured that during my excursion to fix WindowBlinds I shut everything down during all installs! (except at the very end, after deleting everthing, I installed all software on a fully running system!
Reply #12 from Stardock Forums Top
I'm beginning to think that I might have wasted my money.........

I don't have the ability to edit my registry.....

I have run Ccleaner several times, uninstalled impulse, WB6, well anythig SD related, reinstalled, uninstalled, reinstalled and on. I have disabled lots of things 1 by 1 on msconfig yet nothing works.

All start up files are .exe files no .CMD's can be found. Is there another way i can view my start up files?

CCleaner shows 12 files MSconfIG lists only 10 in the startup list.

ARRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!
I like WB and really would like it working again....
Reply #13 from WinCustomize Forums Top
plugsie:

If you haven't done so already, please contact [email protected] and start a trouble ticket. They will be able to assist you.
End of quote