I had this same problem today.  New laptop, been using fences for years.  Got the pay version of fences today because I can't live without it, installed and never got any errors, install completed as normal however I didn't get the customary "you just installed a new app, do you want to launch it for the first time" kind of screen.

Since I'm an experienced Fences user, I right clicked the desktop and saw the "configure fences" button at the top of the flyout menu, but when I click on it there's an hour glass for a second, it goes away and no message, no error, nothing.

If I righclick and drag I can click create fence here and then same thing, hour glass for a second and it just goes away and no fence.

I removed Fences from Control panel and thought I would try reinstalling.  Removed, rebooted and the desktop was empty.  Odd thing is that when I browse through my documents to the "desktop" folder, all my stuff is there, just the entire desktop is blank.

I reinstalled fences and although I have the same behavior (no fences config or fences created) after install my desktop icons immediately came back.

I'm confused?  anyone have any ideas?  Thanks.