SupportAssist won't install

We tried reaching you on a private message asking for the Service Tag number to ascertain the warranty but did not receive a response. Please feel free to reply to the private message whenever you are available.

Dell's response so far is to:

1. First establish if the machine is still under warranty - it isn't.
2. Tell me that they can't help me because its not under warranty.
3. Tell me they hope someone from the community can help me.

Honestly, you'd think I was asking them to repair or replace something under warranty. I am just asking for some help. The irony is that the Dell account calls itself "Dell-Cares".

If I'd though the computer I was buying would just stop working once the warranty was up and Dell would just wash their hands of it, I might have looked elsewhere. Surely you can do better, Dell!

Hi jobin481g:

Have you tried a clean reinstall of SupportAssist using DELL-Chris M's instructions at SA Uninstall/Reinstall? Note that those instructions require the uninstall of all SupportAssist-related programs (including the Dell SupportAssist OS Recovery Plugin for Dell Update, Dell SupportAssist Remediation, etc, if installed) before reinstalling SupportAssist. I've used those instructions a few times (I went one step further and used Revo Uninstaller Free in Aggressive mode to uninstall each SupportAssist-related program) to fix a few hard-to-fix problems with SupportAssist.

Here's what's currently installed on my Inspiron 5584 [note that I haven't updated to the latest SupportAssist OS Recovery Tools v5.5.0.16046 (a.k.a. Dell SupportAssist Remediation) that was released a few days ago] :

And I completely agree with your comments about DELL-Cares.  When I purchased my Dell laptop I knew I would not be able to receive a replacement for malfunctioning hardware like a hard drive failure once my basic warranty expired but I had no idea that DELL-Cares would not provide assistance in the Dell forum if I encountered a problem proprietary software like SupportAssist.  What little support I did receive from DELL-Cares while my warranty was still valid was so poor that I have no intention of paying more money to extend my warranty or paying a one-time fee for a support session.
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64-bit Win 10 Pro v21H1 build 19043.1348 * Firefox v95.0.0 * Microsoft Defender v.4.18.2110.6-1.1.18700.4 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.4.11.149-1.0.1513 * Dell SupportAssist v3.10.4.18 * Dell SupportAssist Remediation v5.5.0.16041 * Dell Update for Windows 10 Universal v4.4.0
Dell Inspiron 15 5584, Intel i5-8265U CPU, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB Toshiba KBG40ZNS256G NVMe SSD, Intel UHD Graphics 620

Hi 3 Zinc,

Thanks for this link. I tried following these instructions as closely as I could. (The only bit that was not a written is that I did not have any file in C:/ProgramData\Dell\SARemediation\SystemRepair\SnapShots to delete. Possibly I had deleted them in one of my earlier attempts.)

The installation now runs all the way through - that it, it not longer just hangs. But now it gets to the end and said "Installation failed. Please reboot and try again."

Rebooting and trying again produces the same result.

There is no explanation of why it failed that I can see. I would really have hope that in 2021 they could produce better software that that!

Thanks for your help. I guess I've at least made some progress. But any further ideas for you or anyone else would still be appreciated.

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@chriscfox wrote:
... I tried following these instructions as closely as I could. (The only bit that was not a written is that I did not have any file in  C:/ProgramData\Dell\SARemediation\SystemRepair\SnapShots to delete. Possibly I had deleted them in one of my earlier attempts.)

The installation now runs all the way through - that it, it not longer just hangs. But now it gets to the end and said "Installation failed. Please reboot and try again." ...

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Hi chriscfox:

I might be wrong, but I don't think that step in DELL-Chris M's instructions at SA Uninstall/Reinstall to manually delete the contents of the ...\Snapshots subfolder is absolutely required unless you are affected by a know bug where SupportAssist OS Recovery (a.k.a. Dell SupportAssist Remediation) can exceed the 12 to 18 GB of disk space the program allocates for saving Dell system repair points.  This bug is discussed in SteveTree's 18-Jun-2021 thread Reduce Disk Space Used by SARemediation and several other threads in this forum.  The C:\ProgramData\Dell\SARemediation folder is a protected and hidden folder and if I recall correctly you can't even open that folder in File Explorer, even if you show hidden files and folders (View | Hidden Items | ENABLED), until you've either uninstalled Dell SupportAssist Remediation from Control Panel | Programs | Programs and Features or expand the C:\ProgramData\Dell\SARemediation\ subfolder with a file management utility like TreeSize Free .

If you want to try TreeSize Free be sure you are showing hidden files and folders in File Explorer and select "Run as Administrator" when you launch TreeSizeFree.exe. I have System Repair disabled in my SupportAssist settings at at Options (gear icon) | Settings | System Repair so my C:\ProgramData\Dell\SARemediation\SystemRepair folder only uses about 20 KB of disk space as shown below. Also note that I use the portable (.ZIP) version of TreeSize Free available <here> - that way I don't have to install the program on my hard drive and can unzip and run TreeSize Free from a removable USB thumb drive.

This might sound like an odd question, but have you launched your My Dell app lately to see if it is fully updated? I don't know why so many people are currently having problems installing SupportAssist, but see my 06-Dec-2021 comments about the My Dell app in Momin_A's Dell Power Manager Isn't Installing.... If the My Dell app can interfere with the installation of Dell Power Manager on some computers I wonder if it can also interfere with the installation of SupportAssist?

If that doesn't help, employee Dell-Stephan R has posted some hints in the SA (SupportAssist) FAQ, including a link to Community Manager Dell-SridharV's KB article Solutions for Common SA (SupportAssist) Installation Issues.
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64-bit Win 10 Pro v21H1 build 19043.1348 * Firefox v95.0.0 * Microsoft Defender v.4.18.2110.6-1.1.18700.4 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.4.11.149-1.0.1513 * Dell SupportAssist v3.10.4.18 * Dell SupportAssist Remediation v5.5.0.16041 * Dell Update for Windows 10 Universal v4.4.0 * TreeSize Free Portable v4.5.3.601
Dell Inspiron 15 5584, Intel i5-8265U CPU, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB Toshiba KBG40ZNS256G NVMe SSD, Intel UHD Graphics 620

Hi chriscfox:

One other thought. Does your Windows user account have Standard or Administrator rights? If you aren't sure and have a Win 10 OS check at Settings | Accounts | Your Info. For older operating systems see the MS support article How to Determine Your User Account Type in Windows.

There are some programs that require the user to have Administrator rights in order to perform a clean install or "over-the-top" update with a full offline installer.  It's possible that SupportAssist is one of those programs.

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64-bit Win 10 Pro v21H1 build 19043.1348 * Firefox v95.0.0 * Microsoft Defender v.4.18.2110.6-1.1.18800.4 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.4.11.149-1.0.1513 * Dell SupportAssist v3.10.4.18 * Dell SupportAssist Remediation v5.5.0.16046 * Dell Update for Windows 10 Universal v4.4.0 * TreeSize Free Portable v4.5.3.601
Dell Inspiron 15 5584, Intel i5-8265U CPU, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB Toshiba KBG40ZNS256G NVMe SSD, Intel UHD Graphics 620

Hi chriscfox:

If nothing suggested so far has helped, could you also let us know your Dell computer model, Windows OS and any antivirus or security program you use (or even used in the past) that loads at boot-up and runs in real-time protection mode.  Please include trial versions of any antivirus installed at the factory like McAfee LiveSafe that is no longer in use, or any other antivirus like Avast, Kaspersky, Norton, etc. you previously used and uninstalled from Control Panel | Programs | Programs and Features.

If you have a Win 10 OS your version and build can be found at Settings | System | About | Windows Specifications, or just enter winver in the Run Dialog box.
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64-bit Win 10 Pro v21H1 build 19043.1348 * Firefox v95.0.0 * Microsoft Defender v.4.18.2110.6-1.1.18800.4 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.4.11.149-1.0.1513 * Dell SupportAssist v3.10.4.18 * Dell SupportAssist Remediation v5.5.0.16046 * Dell Update for Windows 10 Universal v4.4.0
Dell Inspiron 15 5584, Intel i5-8265U CPU, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB Toshiba KBG40ZNS256G NVMe SSD, Intel UHD Graphics 620

Hi Imacri,

I've now tried just about everything to no avail.

My machine in an XPS 15 9550. It's running Windows 10.

I don't think I am running any antivirus software on it but I can't promise I haven't in the past.

To be honest, I am fast approaching the point where I will hope the laptop continues to work for as long as possible and then remembering to buy my next one from a company that writes better software and offers better support.

Thanks for all your help thus far.

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@lmacri wrote:

... One other thought. Does your Windows user account have Standard or Administrator rights? If you aren't sure and have a Win 10 OS check at Settings | Accounts | Your Info. For older operating systems see the MS support article How to Determine Your User Account Type in Windows.

There are some programs that require the user to have Administrator rights in order to perform a clean install or "over-the-top" update with a full offline installer....

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Hi chriscfox:

Sidscrat just posted in SupportAssist Will Not Install that when they downloaded the SupportAssistInstaller.exe from the SupportAssist for Home PCs page, saved the installer to their desktop, and then right-clicked and chose "Run as Administrator" this fixed a “We were unable to complete the installation. Please reboot your PC and try again” error message and allowed the installer to run to completion.

Fingers crossed this simple workaround will prevent your SupportAssist installer from getting stuck on "Downloading and installing start-up files" or finishing with an "Installation failed. Please reboot and try again" error.
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64-bit Win 10 Pro v21H2 build 19044.1415 * Firefox v95.0.2 * Microsoft Defender v.4.18.2111.5-1.1.18800.4 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.5.0.152-1.0.1538 * Dell SupportAssist v3.10.4.18 * Dell SupportAssist Remediation v5.5.0.16046 * Dell Update for Windows 10 Universal v4.4.0
Dell Inspiron 15 5584, Intel i5-8265U CPU, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB Toshiba KBG40ZNS256G NVMe SSD, Intel UHD Graphics 620

Thanks. I think I had tried that before, but I tried it again now. Still no luck.

Hi chriscfox:

Sidscrat posted a clarification on 04-Jan-2022 in SupportAssist Will Not Install and added that they first manually deleted the orphaned folders, registry entries and services left behind by the Control Panel uninstall of SupportAssist as instructed in the Dell Tech Support video Dell SupportAssist Not Installing. Once that preliminary cleanup of the remnants of SupportAssist was complete they were able to install SupportAssist by right-clicking the SupportAssistInstaller.exe installer saved from the SupportAssist for Home PCs download page and choosing "Run as Administrator".

If that extra preliminary step to manually delete the remnants of your previous SupportAssist installation doesn't help then I'm afraid I'm running out of ideas.  I'll post back if I think of anything else you can try, but hopefully someone else will jump into this thread and provide a solution.
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64-bit Win 10 Pro v21H2 build 19044.1415 * Firefox v95.0.2 * Microsoft Defender v.4.18.2111.5-1.1.18800.4 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.5.0.152-1.0.1538 * Dell SupportAssist v3.10.4.18 * Dell SupportAssist Remediation v5.5.0.16046 * Dell Update for Windows 10 Universal v4.4.0
Dell Inspiron 15 5584, Intel i5-8265U CPU, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB Toshiba KBG40ZNS256G NVMe SSD, Intel UHD Graphics 620

I'm going to chime in here... Cause i looked through this thread when trying to work out my own Support Assist installation issue.

• This is what worked for me.

If by chance you did everything that is suggested. Uninstalled, tried softwares to force uninstall, change registries, deleted files and so on. And it STILL doesn't let you install it. Try this.

Uninstall all Dell programs. Go back to Program Data, open the Dell folder and delete everything in it. Same with Dell inc. And then try and install Support Assist by right clicking and "run as administrator". It should work.

Thanks AnserbLUe, but this still did not work for me either.

I still get "We were unable to complete the installation. Please reboot your PC and try again." Obviously rebooting and trying again produced the same result.

The fact that it works for you, though really highlights that the problem is with Dell's own software. You really think they could just fix it rather than trying to extort extended service contracts out of customers.

I have the same issue. I'm on Windows 11. When I look at the windows event viewer under Windows logs | Application on the left, I see the following error (Actually 3 of them pop up) when I try to install. It seems like it wants .NET 5.0 to be installed (which microsoft doesn't support anymore) and I only have .NET 6.0 which it rejects. Here are my log files

Description: A .NET application failed.
Application: Dell.TechHub.exe
Path: C:\Program Files\Dell\TechHub\Dell.TechHub.exe
Message: You must install or update .NET to run this application.

App: C:\Program Files\Dell\TechHub\Dell.TechHub.exe
Architecture: x64
Framework: 'Microsoft.NETCore.App', version '5.0.0' (x64)
.NET location: C:\Program Files\dotnet\

The following frameworks were found:
  6.0.6 at [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  6.0.7 at [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]

Learn about framework resolution:
https://aka.ms/dotnet/app-launch-failed

To install missing framework, download:
https://aka.ms/dotnet-core-applaunch?framework=Microsoft.NETCore.App&framework_version=5.0.0&arch=x64&rid=win10-x64

The installer itself simply says "Installation Failed We were unable to complete the installation. Please reboot your PC and try again"