SupportAssist - We ran into an unexpected issue...

Hi callygsi:

What is the exact model of your XPS laptop, and do you have a Win 10 or Win 11 OS (if so, please include the version and build shown at Settings | System | About | Windows Specifications). If you launch SupportAssist and go to Options (gear icon) | About does it show that you have the current v3.10.4.18?

Please read pwatts2's 24-Mar-2022 SupportAssist Failed Critical Update Installments about issues they're having with SupportAssist on their XPS / Win 11 Pro desktop. You might find some helpful suggestions there, including comments I posted <here> about using the Dell/Alienware Update utility to see if it correctly detects available updates and/or performing a clean reinstall of SupportAssist.
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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

Hi callygsi:

Thanks for the update.

When you have time be sure to sign in to the forum and click the "Accept as Solution" button on your 01-Apr-2022 post <above> so other users can find the fix for your "We ran into an unexpected issue with SupportAssist..." error.

I have the same problem. Tried downloading and installing the latest SA, but it said I have the latest version. 

Why is no one @ Dell accepting that Dell SupportAssist is not working and has a serious problem. To state that one needs to completely delete and reinstall a service that "may fix" the issue once out of three times is ignoring the issue. I have had my Dell laptop for about 1.5 years, experienced this problem ever since purchase, and this continued issue shows Dell is in trouble or just wants to sell things, not support them so they work like they should. Something is causing this and if some one would look at it, they could give us guidelines so we could adjust or address the real problem.

Support Assit quit working - kept returning an error that "System Was Busy - Try Again Later".  Tried to resolve it myself following a Dell published YouTube video.  That didn't work, so I tried a chat session.  One tech shadowed my system and made several changes - still did not work. Tried it again with another agent.  They also shadowed my system and couldn't make it work either.  Finally told me that I needed to do a factory reset - meaning I'd lose all my installed apps, and would essentially start all over.  Told them I'd have to do a hard pass on that option.  Dell...y'all need to figure out a solution to this!

I have been on the phone with tech support for nearly 2 weeks going back and forth. I even had to reinstall my OS and nothing would get SupportAssist to load.

A supervisor with tech support FINALLY managed to get it fixed. It was such an unusual thing that I wanted to make sure to share it with you all just in case it helps any of you out there who are having the same issue!

In the above screenshot, the file selected in blue was missing from the registry file path on my PC (shown above). How it went missing, I have no idea. The supervisor didn't say it was something I could have done on my end, so it must have been some odd glitch with the software somehow, some way. He inserted that selected file to that registry directory while he was connected to my computer remotely.

He then ran the Services program, located the Dell SupportAssist entry there, then clicked restart (shown in purple). Only then did it finally work for me.

I don't know if it's necessarily the same issue that you're having, but I want to put this potential solution out there. I asked the supervisor to please make note of this issue and that (hopefully) such an issue can be addressed in future updates of SupportAssist.

I'm just so relieved that it's working for me again! Hope this info helps!

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@JavaMoon wrote:

...  In the above screenshot, the file selected in blue was missing from the registry file path on my PC (shown above). How it went missing, I have no idea....

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Hi JavaMoon:

Thanks for posting your solution.

Just out of curiosity, what is you Dell computer model, Windows operating system, and SupportAssist version?

I still have SupportAssist v3.11.4.29 (rel. June 2022) that launches and runs correctly on my Inspiron 5584 / Win 10 Pro v21H2 laptop, but a newer v3.12.1.1.80 just starting to roll out to a few users. I've seen a few posts from both v3.11.4.29 and v3.12.1.180 users who had problems launching SupportAssist who mentioned seeing errors related to SupportAssistUI.exe and SupportAssistClientUI.exe - see crimsom's 27-Aug-2022 17 R5, SupportAssist x64 v3.12.5.0 or v3.12.1.180 Installation Invalid for one example.

I checked my own Windows registry and confirmed that the value for SupportAssistUI.exe in the registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\FeatureControl\FEATURE_BROWSER_EMULATION on my Inspiron 5584 laptop looks identical to what you posted <above> [i.e., 0x2AF9 (11001)].

The Malwarebytes Labs article A Brief Guide to FEATURE_BROWSER_EMULATION notes that "FEATURE_BROWSER_EMULATION is a registry key that allows you to set a different default document mode for the web-browser control of any given application...FEATURE_BROWSER_EMULATION is a setting that controls which Internet Explorer version certain browser controls should mimic." According to the MS support article Internet Feature Controls (B..C) a value of 0x2AF9 (11001) means that SupportAssistUI.exe should mimic Internet Explorer 11, with webpages displayed in IE11 Edge mode.
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64-bit Win 10 Pro v21H2 build 19044.2006 * Firefox v105.0.1 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.2207.7-1.1.19600.3 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.5.14.210-1.0.1767 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.6979 * Dell SupportAssist v3.11.4.29 * Dell Update Windows Universal v4.6.0 * Inspiron 5583/5584 BIOS v1.20.0
Dell Inspiron 15 5584, Intel i5-8265U CPU, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB Toshiba KBG40ZNS256G NVMe SSD, Intel UHD Graphics 620

Thanks so much Javamoon. Your solution worked for me.