Folder permissions reduced in 'Program Data\Dell' folder and SupportAssist and Dell Command Update 5.5 won't install

We just made transition from 5.4 to 5.5.0 in our org. We were applying the update through Intune, which included installing the dependency of .net 8.0 Desktop Runtime first, then uninstalling 5.4 and updating to 5.5. We have had about 95% success, nearly 1000 machines.

What was happening -- DCU would say it installed. For a minute, I could see it in Start Menu (apps), Add Remove programs, and registry. A minute or so later -- it would all disappear and return some error to Intune.

With almost all the failures we were getting the same error, and they also were mostly on our older machines, specifically Latitude 3520's. No idea why, but instead of blaming it on a model, I'm assuming it was due to what they may have had installed over the course of their lifecycle. Ignore that bit for now :)

I started looking into Event Viewer and MSI install with logging. Logging was ridiculously long and way too much info to go through. Event Viewer gave Error 1920. Service Dell Client Management Service (DellClientManagementService) failed to start. Verify you have sufficient privileges to start system services.

So then the Google search. Found many posts suggesting a path. Having 95% success I think helped me avoid getting pigeon-holed into testing solutions. Found your post and thought -- ok, permission, reduced permissions in ProgramData/Dell -- and sure enough...all the inheritance is gone. The 'owner' is a bunch of garbled stuff, and only Authenticated Users is set with permissions, and inheritance is turned off. There are also only a limited number of folders in the Dell folder. On other machines, many (upward of 10). They aren't being written during install.

What to do? Make sure you first have .net 8.0 desktop runtime installed.

Then -- In the ProgramData/Dell folder -- go to Properties > Security > Advanced. Change owner (probably to either System or Administrators). I matched what I had from a bunch of other working machines. If this is individual, you may have to just try one or the other. After you set the owner. Back out. Then go back into the same folder security advanced -- enable inheritance. All the groups will populate.

Keep the Dell folder open in File Explorer so you can watch folder creation (because it's fun).

Now install DCU. 

This time, hopefully, it will populate the folders as it successfully installs DCU 5.5.0

I will have several more of these to do, so I will come back to report success rates and continue monitoring to see if it goes back downhill. I have read a lot of other attempts can revert, like after reboots, running Dell programs, etc.

Good luck.

Thank you so much!

I had the same problem, when I wanted to install DellUltraSharpCalibrationSolutionSetup-1.6.7 on a new Dell Tower T2, an your advise did solve the issue

Shalom

Luzius