I've had this problem since v10.2 of ArcGIS Desktop, I recently upgraded to 10.3 and it still exists. The problem is that ArcCatalog cannot be closed normally. If I try to close it using the Windows close button (red X in Windows 7), instead of closing, all my toolbars disappear, including the menu toolbar. If I try to close it using File > Exit or by pressing Alt-F4, it crashes with the message:
ArcGIS for Desktop has encountered a serious application error and is
unable to continue.
On the bright side, at least that closes the program. This problem doesn't affect ArcMap.
So if I use the Close button in ArcCatalog, I go from this:
To this:
The only way to close the program at that point is to kill the process in Task Manager or crash it using Alt-F4. Has anyone else had this problem and solved it? The only info I could find about it online concerned an issue in ArcGIS that was fixed in v10.1 SP1.
Best Answer
My suspicion is that your Normal.gxt has become corrupted and that you should consider deleting it (after making a backup copy first).
This is described in a very old Technical Article: Corrupted Normal.gxt file generates 'FATAL ERROR'.
There is useful information about this under Changing your application's appearance back to the factory settings:
On my laptop the Normal.gxt is found at
which is a little odd because I have ArcGIS 10.3 for Desktop installed ... but you get the idea.