SupportAssist Install/Uninstall Issues

Question

OK, I'm working on a neighbor's Inspiron 3567, and noticed that SA wasn't working correctly. Basically it was trying to install Intel Bluetooth drivers for a Qualcomm adapter. There was no way to hide or clear this update from SA, and every time it tried to install that update, SA just sat there with a spinning circle and a grayed out screen. The first thing I did was repair and reset the app under Windows Settings. (Which probably broke something). When I launched SA, it blue screened on me. When Windows booted back up, I attempted to launch SA again, to which it sat at the splash screen for several minutes until it gave me an error. At this point, I decided to uninstall and reinstall SA to see if things would clear up. The uninstall went OK, or so I thought. When I tried to reinstall using the setup program here, it told me that I already had the latest version available, even though it wasn't installed. After deleting some registry entries and leftover files as described here, I was able to progress further, only to get an error message stating that installation was canceled. I then found this article here, and these were my results... Scenario 1 - Using the original setup files that came with the computer (because the download links are broken), the Windows Installer attempts to uninstall the version that's currently installed, but blue screens about halfway through. I was able to download the MSI and MSP for the latest version (here & here), but the MSI requests for a disk, which I don't have, and in turn, won't let me continue. Scenario 2 - Basically does not apply because the SupportAssistAgent folder has already been deleted, or was deleted from the initial uninstall? Scenario 3 - Blue screens while attempting to repair. Scenario 4 - Never received that error message, so at this point, it has nothing to do with Windows' Scripting Host. I eventually gave up and attempted a System Restore, which didn't even place SA back on the start menu. Uninstalling with the MSI now gives me an error message saying some file string can't be found in the installer while trying to uninstall it. The MS fix it tool still blue screens while trying to uninstall it. The blue screen that I'm getting is for a PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA. I did find several posts about SA blue screening with a BAD_POOL_HEADER, some of which have been solved, but nothing with the one that I'm getting. I pretty much given up at this point, unless someone has any ideas. I don't want to a factory restore as this wasn't the primary reason for working on this person's computer. I've spent more time trying to get SA installed than I did fixing the main issue. The SA installer and framework appears more complicated than it should be and should be simplified.

Kflash08 · Accepted Answer

Update: I used the Windows Install Clean Up Tool to remove SupportAssist, and that seemed to have taken care of the blue screen among other things. However, I still couldn't reinstall and keep getting "install canceled" messages. I tied the MSI command again with the pre-installed installers that came with the computer. The MSI succeeded this time without blue screening, but the MSP kept giving me an error message saying that it wasn't a valid installer. I tried installing the latest version again with the MSI command, and this time it threw out a 1402 error, which indicated that the requested registry keys were denied. I gave those keys permissions (that was a pain) and the MSI installer succeeded! Installed SA using the Dell SA installer and it successfully installed SA!

Now, wouldn't it been convenient if the Dell SA installer ACTUALLY TOLD YOU what the error was and how to possibly correct it without me going through all this trouble to figure it out?

DELL-Cares · Answer

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