SupportAssist fails to UPGRADE & INSTALL due to BRADBURY CERTIFICATE in Update DCF

Yesterday Dell SupportAssist popped-up telling that me that it needed to upgrade to a new version. I have a Dell Optiplex 7050 with Windows 10 Pro 21H2 OS build 19044.1826, running SupportAssist 3.10.4.18.
SupportAssist started to download files (see pic.1) and after a moment it reported installation failed with:

“Installation failed. We were unable to complete the installation. Please reboot
your PC and try again.” (see pic.2).

I rebooted and let SupportAssist attempt to update itself again with exactly the same result.

From that moment on I tried to update at least a dozen times, after first attempting suggestions made by other users here, such as but not limited to:
– cleaning out %TEMP% folders
– disabling NordVPN 6.48.10.0
– disabling AVG Internet Security 22.6.3242
– running Microsoft Install Uninstall Tool
– disabling the Windows 10 Fast Startup power option
– running SFC /scannow
– runing the DISM /CheckHealth command
– runing the DISM /ScanHealth command
– re-registering Microsoft Installer
– enable short filename generation in the registry
– clean-up temp files and folders in C:\Windows\Installer

None of these suggestions, and I repeat, NONE OF THESE worked or even did anything to resolve the issue. I ended up completely uninstalling SupportAssist and removed all stale and orphaned files and folders as suggested by other users.

I rebooted and tried a new and fresh install of SupportAssist only to get the exact same result as before:

“Installation failed. We were unable to complete the installation. Please reboot
your PC and try again.” (see pic.2).

This indicated to me that something else must be going on under the hood of SupportAssist. As a system administrator/systems engineer in academia plus influencer for mass purchases of new servers, storage, and professional workstations in our university medical centers in the Netherlands, I deal with IT issues all day. So I decided to investigate the issue.

SupportAssist uses Microsoft Installer to upgrade to a new version. To do this, it first downloads the installation file (Dell lingo: gets application files) and then delegates to Microsoft Installer to perform the actual installation. The installation file is “SupportAssistx64-3.11.4.29.msi”.
Installation starts and bombs out with ERROR 1603. 1603 is a notorious Installer error and a catch-all for a plethora of possible causes. So I investigated further.

In this case however there seems to be a clear cause for ERROR 1603. During install, a certificate file is extracted from the downloadstream (aka downloaded application files). The name of this file is “BradburyBinarySignedCerti.cer”.
Microsoft Installer tries to install this certificate and fails with status:

“Failed to install Dell certificate file C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Temp\
BradburyBinarySignedCerti.cer“

As a result, SupportAssist installation finishes with status message:

CustomAction InstallDCFCertificate.6B334527_D155_40BD_8197_7A67446F347B returned actual error code 1603
Action ended 14:58:53: InstallDCFCertificate.6B334527_D155_40BD_8197_7A67446F347B. Return value 3.
Action ended 14:58:53: INSTALL. Return value 3.

Since this Installer installation is a transaction that FAILED, all changes made during SupportAssist installation are rolled back in order to leave Windows 10 in a known state.

As can be seen from the reported status above, certificate file: BradburyBinarySignedCerti.cer fails to get installed by function/routine Install DCF Certificate. This rang a bell with me: I have seen DCF before. If you start Windows Explorer and navigate to folder:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Dell\UpdateService

you will notice a subfolder named DCF. Take a look at the filenames of the Dynamic Link Libraries (DLL) stored there:

Dell.DCF.UA.Bradbury.API.Interfaces.dll
Dell.DCF.UA.Bradbury.API.Plugin.dll
Dell.DCF.UA.Bradbury.API.Plugin.Proxy.dll

… all Bradbury related. That rang another bell. Folder

C:\Program Files (x86)\Dell\UpdateService

hosts the implementation of the Dell Client Management Service. Type Ctrl/R and enter services.msc.
Browse down and look for entry Dell Client Management Service (see pic.3).

In my particular situation, the service showed up as STOPPED and DISABLED (see pic.4).

Examine the path to the executable:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Dell\UpdateService\ServiceShell.exe

My guess would be that the cause of the Bradbury certificate not being installed is because of the Dell Client Management Service being down. So I changed Startup Type to Automatic (Delayed Start) and tried to install SupportAssist again by firing up SupportAssistLauncher. Unfortunately, installation failed again.

Right after the failed installation I noticed that Dell Client Management Service was DISABLED and STOPPED again. I checked this by attempting install with SupportAssistLauncher while constantly monitoring the status of the service. As soon as SupportAssist had downloaded its installation files and started the delegated Microsoft Installer phase, Dell Client Management Service was stopped and disabled.

I think it is safe to conclude that there is a relationship between the failing installation of the Bradbury certificate and the status of the Dell Client Management Service.

Since we are preparing a new batch of orders for computer hardware, I am inviting Dell to resolve this issue quickly. Personally, I like vendors to demonstrate that we've made the right choice to select them as supplier.

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