XPS : SupportAssist failed to update then failed to reinstall

Hi TomPic:

What is the model of your XPS computer (e.g., XPS 13 7390 2-in1, XPS 13 9350, etc). and what is the version and build of your Win 11 OS shown at Settings | System | About | Windows Specifications? You can also find your version and build if you open a Run dialog box (press the Windows + R keys) and enter winver.

Other Dell XPS owners with Win 11 have recently reported problems with SupportAssist (see pwatts2's 24-Mar-2022 SupportAssist Failed Critical Update Installments for one example) but I don't know if that's a coincidence or if there's a real problem that requires further investigation by Dell.

Note that when I perform a clean reinstall of SupportAssist as instructed in DELL-Chris M's  SA Uninstall / Reinstall  I now use Revo Uninstaller Free in Aggressive mode to uninstall programs like Support Assist, Dell SupportAssist Remediation, etc. instead of uninstalling from Control Panel | Programs | Programs and Features. Uninstalling a Dell program from the Control Panel often leaves behind stray files and registry entries that can interfere with re-installation, and I find that Revo Uninstaller Free can safely find and remove these remnants when it is used to perform the uninstall.
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64-bit Win 10 Pro v21H2 build 19044.1586 * Firefox v98.0.2 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.2202.4-1.1.19000.8 * Malwarebytes Premium v44.5.7.186-1.0.1645 * Dell SupportAssist v3.10.4.18 * Dell Update for Windows 10 Universal v4.5.0 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.6635 * Revo Uninstaller Free Portable v2.3.8
Dell Inspiron 15 5584, Intel i5-8265U CPU, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB Toshiba KBG40ZNS256G NVMe SSD, Intel UHD Graphics 620

Hello and thanks a lot for your kind help.

I am using a XPS 13 9300, windows 11 home, version 21H2, build 22000.593.

Everything was working fine prior to the attempt to update supportassist. I know I should have tried to repair it or use revo in aggressive mode at that point but I just uninstalled it and since then it is impossible to reinstall it using help provided here. 

Thanks again, 

Tom

Thank you for reaching out to us. We’d be glad to look into this for you right away. Please private message us so that we can start working toward a resolution.

Did your XPS 13 9330 ship with Windows 11 or did you upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11 yourself?

- I did it myself when proposed by Dell without any problem

Has your service warranty expired yet (i.e., if you provide your unique service tag to DELL-Cares in a private message as they requested have they offered to provide assistance)?

- it has expired, Dell proposed help in a private message but it it didn't solve the problem yet

There is an official Dell support video posted on YouTube called Dell SupportAssist Not Installing (Official Dell Tech Support) - UPDATED

- been there, done that, no success...

What is the full name and version number of Dell Update application currently installed at Control Panel | Programs | Programs and Features?

- I don't have it anymore as in some process to follow to help fix the issue, it was required to uninstall it (it was the latest version)

I checked the Drivers and Downloads tab of the XPS 13 9300 support page at https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/product-support/product/xps-13-9300-laptop/drivers and chose "Windows 11" as the operating system and was able to find a program called Dell Command | Update Windows Universal Application v4.4.0 

- I saw it too but it is not proposed when I enter my service tag

If you previously ran Win 10 on your XPS 9300 and still have an older Dell Update v4.3.0 application installed I doubt it will run correctly on your current Win 11 OS.

- Dell update was working perfectly well up to SupportAssist failed to update itself... 

Many thanks for trying to help !!! 

Tom

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@TomPic wrote:

...There is an official Dell support video posted on YouTube called Dell SupportAssist Not Installing (Official Dell Tech Support) - UPDATED

- been there, done that, no success...

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Hi TomPic:

What error message do you see when you try and install SupportAssist? If you could post a screenshot that might be helpful.

See Dell employee jbilinski's 08-Feb-2022 post in Unable to Install Dell SupportAssist for one other suggestion. Instead on manually removing remnants of your old SupportAssist installation, jbilinski recommended using the Microsoft's Program Install and Uninstall Troubleshooter (MS FixIt tool) to remove remnants of SupportAssist left behind after the Control Panel uninstall, and then download a fresh copy of SupportAssistInstaller.exe from the SupportAssist for Home PCs download page and run the installer with Administrator rights (i.e., right-click the .exe installer choose "Run as Administrator"). Again, I haven't tried this MS FixIt tool myself, but I do know of a few users who found that SupportAssist would not install until they ran the installer with Administrator rights.

I should also mention that the 30-day trial of Revo Uninstaller PRO v4.5.5 has a feature called "Forced Uninstall" that might be able to find and remove remnants SupportAssist and Dell Update programs that have already been installed.  You might want to give this tool a try if the MS Fixit troubleshooter can't find anything.

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@TomPic wrote:
...I checked the Drivers and Downloads tab of the XPS 13 9300 support page at  https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/product-support/product/xps-13-9300-laptop/drivers and chose "Windows 11" as the operating system and was able to find a program called Dell Command | Update Windows Universal Application  v4.4.0 

- I saw it too but it is not proposed when I enter my service tag

It seems odd that the XPS 9300 support page at https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-ca/product-support/product/xps-13-9300-laptop/drivers cannot find the correct version of Dell Update for your system when you enter your unique Service Tag - assuming that support page correctly auto-detects your updated Win 11 OS.

If you click the blue Check For Updates button on that page after entering your unique Service Tag does it find other Win 11-compatible updates (e.g., Dell XPS 13 9300 System BIOS v1.10.0, Dell Command | Integration Suite for System Center v6.0.1, Dell SupportAssist OS Recovery Plugin for Dell Update 5.5.1.16143, etc.) that might need to be installed first as a pre-requisite? I'm afraid the software recommended for my lower-end Win 10 Inspiron laptop is quite different from the software recommended for a Win 11 XPS laptop, so I might not be of much help finding the correct software installers for your particular system configuration.  If DELL-Cares is still willing to help I'd ask their opinion before you start installing other Dell Command software that might not even be needed on your system - the less Dell bloatware you install (and I'd personally put SupportAssist and Dell SupportAssist OS Recovery in that category) the better.
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64-bit Win 10 Pro v21H2 build 19044.1586 * Firefox v98.0.2 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.2202.4-1.1.19000.8 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.5.7.186-1.0.1645 * Dell SupportAssist v3.10.4.18 * Dell Update for Windows 10 Universal v4.5.0 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.6635 * Revo Uninstaller Free Portable v2.3.8
Dell Inspiron 15 5584, Intel i5-8265U CPU, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB Toshiba KBG40ZNS256G NVMe SSD, Intel UHD Graphics 620

Hi,

I hope you are doing good.

This is the follow-up message just to let you know the status of the ongoing support assist issue on the system.

Do let us know if it has been installed on system or not .

Do let us know if you require any assistance.

Regards,

Ankur

First of all, I could make it today and SupportAssist is now working 

It is very difficult to know why it worked this morning and not yesterday. The only difference is that MS pushed the update KB4023057: Update for Windows Update Service components. I cleaned the machine, as I do prior to any attempt based on the video and the Dell guy process. BTW, the MS FixIt tool is not helping as it could not find a hint of the presence of SupportAssist, same from Revo Uninstaller.

I installed it from the SupportAssist for Home PCs download page and it worked. I have the feeling that there are several versions floating around as I have been provided, depending on the help messages, with different installers. The version which has been installed is 3.10.4.

I still don't have Dell Update and cannot find it from my driver page but don't need it if SupportAssist does the job.

Thanks again for your kind help !!!

Tom

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@TomPic wrote:

First of all, I could make it today and SupportAssist is now working ....I installed it from the SupportAssist for Home PCs download page and it worked...

It is very difficult to know why it worked this morning and not yesterday. The only difference is that MS pushed the update KB4023057: Update for Windows Update Service components...

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Hi TomPic:

That's good news. Glad to hear that you were finally able to install the latest SupportAssist v3.10.4 (rel. 20-Nov-2021). Note that user guides and release notes for recent SupportAssist version are posted at https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-ca/product-support/product/dell-supportassist-pcs-tablets/docs.

I'm still not sure why the Win 11-compatible Dell Command | Update Windows Universal Application v4.4.0 (rel. 29-Oct-2021) listed on the support page <here> for the XPS 13 9300 is not recommended for your machine after you enter your unique Service Tag, but installing that software isn't necessary now as long as your SupportAssist is working correctly. Note that I currently have SupportAssist v3.10.4 disabled and use the Dell Update Windows Universal Application v4.5.0 (rel. 25-Mar-2022) recommended for my Inspiron 5584 for checking for Dell software and driver updates - see my 03-Apr-2022 post in SupportAssist PC-Doctor Module, 100% CPU and RAM Usage! for further details.

I should mention that the Known Issues section of the release notes <here> for SupportAssist v3.10.4 state that SupportAssist driver scans may not work after Dell Command | Update or Dell Update are either updated or installed, but that issue can be usually be fixed a system re-boot. In your case that's not something you need to worry about now since Dell Command | Update isn't installed on your system.

Also note that KB4023057 installs / updates a program called Microsoft Update Health Tools. I receive an update for this software every few months via Windows Update. Many people don't like having this software on their system (see Susan Bradley's Tasks for the Weekend – May 8th – Should I Remove KB4023057? in the AskWoody forum), but if this tool is uninstalled Windows Update will just reinstall it again unless you use a utility like DavidXantos' WuMgr to manage your Windows Updates and block (hide) KB4023057. Microsoft Update Health Tools is listed in both Control Panel | Programs | Programs and Features  and Settings | Apps | Apps & Features on my Win 10 machine.

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64-bit Win 10 Pro v21H2 build 19044.1586 * Firefox v98.0.2 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.2202.4-1.1.19000.8 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.5.7.186-1.0.1645 * Dell SupportAssist v3.10.4.18 * Dell Update for Windows 10 Universal v4.5.0 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.6635 * Revo Uninstaller Free Portable v2.3.8
Dell Inspiron 15 5584, Intel i5-8265U CPU, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB Toshiba KBG40ZNS256G NVMe SSD, Intel UHD Graphics 620

Hi TomPic:

One other thought.  I don't know if this was relevant to your problem re-installing SupportAssist, but I always have the Windows Fast Startup power option (also known as hybrid boot-up / hybrid shutdown) disabled because this feature can interfere with the loading of services and drivers for third-party programs at boot-up and cause all sorts of unexpected glitches and strange behavior.

This power option is enabled by default but Microsoft has acknowledged that Fast Startup can even interfere with Windows Update - see the MS support article Updates May Not Be Installed With Fast Startup in Windows 10. If you want to disable Fast Startup the instructions in the TenForums tutorial How to Turn On or Off Fast Startup in Windows 10 should also work for Windows 11.

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64-bit Win 10 Pro v21H2 build 19044.1586 * Firefox v98.0.2 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.2202.4-1.1.19000.8 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.5.7.186-1.0.1645 * Dell SupportAssist v3.10.4.18 * Dell Update for Windows 10 Universal v4.5.0 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.6635 * Revo Uninstaller Free Portable v2.3.8
Dell Inspiron 15 5584, Intel i5-8265U CPU, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB Toshiba KBG40ZNS256G NVMe SSD, Intel UHD Graphics 620

Hello Imacri

Regarding the the Windows Fast Startup power option (also known as hybrid boot-up , I always use restart prior to run any windows update or install any app. I know it is having adverse effects on windows update or Veracrypt.

Regarding the Dell command/update, I could reinstall it properly following the reinstall of SupportAssist from the main list of "drivers and download" for XPS13 9300 under windows 11.

Many thanks again for the time spent on my issues!