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April 22nd, 2021 13:00
"Successful Application Reconfiguration" and SupportAssist
Every day several times a day, I see "Successful Application Reconfiguration"s in the Reliability Monitor for all of my Windows 10/Pro apps. These informational events can number up to 1300 of them in a day, depending on how many times this set of events is triggered. It all has to do with the operation of SupportAssist. If SupportAsssist is not installed, these events do not occur. But, when they do occur because SupportAssist is installed, it reduces the Reliability Monitor Stability Index to 1 and decreases performance. There is some kind of incompatability between SupportAssist and other actions of Windows 10 that is causing these Reconfiguration events to occur. It is not normal behavior (although a Dell agent tried to convince me that it is). There is something about SupportAssist that causes this problem. The SupportAssist Team needs to investigate it. I do not want to solve the problem by uninstalling SupportAssist. I want the Dell SupportAssist team to solve this problem by fixing SupportAssist so that it does not cause a "Successful Application Reconfiguration" event.
See https://www.dell.com/community/SupportAssist-for-PCs/XPS-8930-SupportAssist-and-Reliability-Monitor/m-p/7310226#M87983 for a report that uninstalling SupportAssist solves the problem.
DELLKaren
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102 Posts
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May 10th, 2021 09:00
Thanks for testing out all four possibilities with DSA System Repair ON/OFF and DSA Remediation Service STOPPED/RUNNING.
With System Repair set to "ON" when I first disabled DSA Remediation Service, maybe I did not wait long enough after the restart and that's why I saw “System Repair: ON” and the radio buttons to set the size of the backup space. Now, that I've restarted several times since (for other reasons) and the wait has been several days, I am getting what you report here for those two parameters.
BTW, DELL is asking me to send them the log file when DSA System Repair is ON and when DSA Remediation Service is RUNNING [Start Type "Automatic (Delayed Start)" + re-boot + wait 10-15 minutes]. I'll actually wait until I have a sizable flood of "Successful Application Reconfigurations" /Event 1035 (could be several days' worht) and then send them the log file. I hope they will be able to track down the flood. I understand why it is happening, but I think this "overhead" can be prevented, if the coding is correct.
lmacri
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May 11th, 2021 08:00
Hi DELLKaren:
I'm still not sure why Dell Update is a recommended program for my Inspiron 5584 when I already have Dell SupportAssist installed, or why the Dell SupportAssist OS Recovery Plugin for Dell Update (which "works in conjunction with the Dell Update application to keep your systems recovery environment up to date with the latest version of SupportAssist OS Recovery") is a recommended update when Dell SupportAssist regularly detects and install updates for the SupportAssist OS Recovery Tools. Perhaps someone from DELL-Cares will provide insight into how these programs work together.
I don't see a consistent pattern in how updates for these programs are delivered to my Inspiron 5584. I agree with your comment # 2 that the Dell SupportAssist Remediation version is always updated when DSA installs an update for the SupportAssist OS Recovery Tools but comment # 1 ["Whenever a new version of DSA is installed (automatic or manual installation), there is also a new version of Dell SupportAssist OS Recovery Plugin for Dell Update] isn't a regular pattern I notice on my Inspiron 5584. Here are some recent install dates for my Dell programs showing that an auto-update of the DSA isn't always followed by an update to the Dell SupportAssist OS Recovery Plugin for Dell Update on my system. Keep in mind that dates below for auto-updating programs like DSA and Dell Update might be off by a few days:.
23-Sep-2020: DSA auto-updates to v3.7.0.148 (from v3.6.0.97)
02-Oct-2020: Dell Update - SupportAssist Update Plugin updates to v5.2.1.12926 (19.7 MB) (from v5.2.0.12833)
17-Nov-2020: Dell Update for Windows 10 (UWP app) auto-updates to v4.0.0 (from v3.1.3)
18-Nov-2020: Clean reinstall of DSA components [DSA 3.7.0.148, Dell SupportAssist OS Recovery Plugin for Dell Update 5.2.1.12926, Dell Update for Windows 10 (UWP) 4.0.0].
25 Nov 2020: SupportAssist OS Recovery Tools v5.2.2.12981 (180 MB) (FOUND by DSA v3.7.0, skipped after multiple install failures)
03-Dec-2020: SupportAssist OS Recovery Tools updated to v5.3.0.13847 (180 MB) (from v5.2.1.12926)
07-Dec-2020: DSA auto-updates to v3.8.0.108 (from v3.7.0.148)
14-Jan-2021: DSA auto-updates to v3.8.1.23 (from v3.8.0.108)
25-Jan-2021: SupportAssist OS Recovery Tools to v5.3.1.13866 (180 MB) (from v5.3.0.13847)
02-Feb-2021: Dell Update for Windows 10 (UWP app) auto-updates to v4.1.0 (from v4.0.0)
13-Apr-2021: SupportAssist OS Recovery Tools updates to v5.4.1.14954 (180 MB) (from v5.3.1.13866)
24-Apr-2021: Dell SupportAssist OS Recovery Plugin for Dell Update updates to v5.4.1.14954 (25.77 MB) (from v5.2.1.12926)
05-May-2021: DSA auto-updates to DSA v3.9.0.234 (from v3.8.1.23)
05-May-2021: DSA v3.9.0 reinstalls the full 580 MB Dell SupportAssist OS Recovery Tools to v5.4.1.14954 after multiple failed attempts (and changes the install date of the Dell SupportAssist OS Recovery Plugin for Dell Update v5.4.1.14954 at Control Panel | Programs | Programs and Features from 24-Apr-2021 to 05-May-2021)
The image below was captured on 13-Apr-2021 just after DSA v3.8.1 installed SupportAssist OS Recovery Tools v5.4.1.14594, and shows the Dell SupportAssist OS Recovery Plugin for Dell Update was still at v5.2.1.12926. Note that the v5.2.1.12926 plugin was originally installed by DSA v3.7.0 on 02-Oct-2020 (and reinstalled by me on 18-Nov-2020 as part of a clean reinstall of DSA v3.7.0), so I have no idea why the install date is listed as 20-Jan-2021 in this image.
I always have automated update checks and optimization scans disabled in DSA (Settings | Automate Scans and Optimizations | Scan Your System and Drivers | DISABLED) so that might affect the order that updates are delivered to my system. I usually only run a manual "Get Drivers & Downloads" check in DSA (and confirm any updates recommended by DSA are also detected by Dell Update) when I notice a new update has been posted on the support page <here> for my Inspiron 5584.
I've completed further testing with DSA v3.9.0.234, and that statement that "Dell SupportAssist Remediation Services is automatically disabled" doesn't appear to be true for DSA v3.9.0. There are two ways I can now stop the flood of "Successful Application Reconfiguration" events in the Win 10 Reliability monitor (logged in Event Viewer as Source: MsiInstaller; Event ID 1035 in the Windows Logs | Application section).
The first method is to turn OFF System Repair in the DSA v3.9.0 settings (Settings | System Repair | System Repair is Turned On | DISABLE). Note that the Dell SupportAssist Remediation service remains enabled at boot-up with DSA v3.9.0 (Startup Type = "Automatic (Delayed Start)", Status after boot-up = "Running", which I believe is different from DSA v3.8.1.23). This appears to purge all snapshots in the hidden folder C:\ProgramData\Dell\SARemediation\SystemRepair\Snapshots, although further testing is required to confirm.
The second method is to leave the Startup Repair ON in the DSA v3.9.0.234 settings and manually disable the Dell SupportAssist Remediation service at Start | Windows Administrative Tools | Services (Startup Type = "Disabled", Status after boot-up = "Stopped" / blank). This temporarily stops new snapshots from being created in the hidden folder C:\ProgramData\Dell\SARemediation\SystemRepair\Snapshots but doesn't purge older snapshots.
Both these methods stop the flood of "Successful Application Reconfiguration" events in the Win 10 Reliability monitor, which also suggests to me that this problem is somehow associated with the creation of system snapshots in the hidden folder C:\ProgramData\Dell\SARemediation\SystemRepair\Snapshots. If my assumption posted <here> on 27-Apr-2021 is correct and these "Successful Application Reconfiguration" events are triggered by poorly coded software that does not access Windows resources correctly [e.g., the program queries the Win32_Product class (which in turn calls msiprov.dll to perform a consistency check) instead of the "lighter" Win32reg_AddRemovePrograms class] then Dell will have to do some digging and figure out exactly which SupportAssist module is the culprit.
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64-bit Win 10 Pro v20H2 build 19042.928 * Firefox v88.0.1 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.2104.10 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.3.0.98-1.0.1292 * Dell SupportAssist v3.9.0.234 * Dell SupportAssist Remediation v5.4.1.14954 * Dell Update v4.1.0
Dell Inspiron 15 5584, Intel i5-8265U CPU, 8 GB RAM, Toshiba KBG40ZNS256G 256 GB NVMe SSD, Intel UHD Graphics 620
lmacri
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May 11th, 2021 09:00
Hi DELLKaren:
I don't know if this is relevant to the discussion in this thread about the creation and purging of System Repair snapshots in the hidden folder C:\ProgramData\Dell\SARemediation\SystemRepair\Snapshots, but a few users have reported a serious bug where important data stored on the D:\ drive of their hard drive was wiped when the DSA v3.9.0 recently tried to install (reinstall??) the Dell SupportAssist OS Recovery Tools v5.4.1.14954 on their systems - see recent posts in my thread Problem Updating To SupportAssist OS Recovery Tools v5.4.1.14594 for further details. I saw that same brief "creating a new partition" warning while Dell SupportAssist OS Recovery Tools v5.4.1.14954 was reinstalled on my Inspiron 5584 on 05-May-2021 but my D:\ drive is a removable USB hard drive and was not plugged in at the time so I don't think any harm was done to my system.
I also don't know if it's a coincidence, but I stopped seeing the unexpected Driver & Downloads (Manual) scans shown on the Home and History tabs in DSA v3.9.0 on 08-May-2021, which is the same day I turned OFF System Repair in DSA (Settings | System Repair | System Repair is Turned On | DISABLE) to do further testing. This is also the day that DSA v3.9.0 delivered an urgent update for “Dell Security Advisory Update – DSA-2021-088” (see my thread Vulnerable Dell DBUtil Driver Puts Millions of Systems At Risk in the Norton Tech Outpost) so perhaps that's what actually stopped these "manual" update checks, but if update checks restart in DSA v3.9.0 after my System Repair is turned back ON then I'll create a new thread to report this bug. Here's an excerpt from my DSA v3.9.0 History tab:
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64-bit Win 10 Pro v20H2 build 19042.928 * Firefox v88.0.1 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.2104.10 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.3.0.98-1.0.1292 * Dell SupportAssist v3.9.0.234 * Dell SupportAssist Remediation v5.4.1.14954 * Dell Update v4.1.0
Dell Inspiron 15 5584, Intel i5-8265U CPU, 8 GB RAM, Toshiba KBG40ZNS256G 256 GB NVMe SSD, Intel UHD Graphics 620
Will7680
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May 12th, 2021 08:00
Hi, just a quick update. This issue has been causing my Dell G3 to crash. Dell are aware and whilst you must always follow Dell's advice, after a long support session, the engineer requested I remove. Upon removal and a re-start the issue is resolved and the computer is operating reasonably normally (usual Alienware Command Centre fails etc). In addition, watch out for the battery app that has now moved to 'My Dell'. I had to remove 'My Dell' and now the battery health cannot be monitored unless you review the status from within the BIOS. Having spent a fair amount with Dell over the last twelve months this issue is highly disappointing, as is the reliability of the system. It would appear that Dell are aware of the issue and have already attempted to patch the problem (unsuccessfully). Dell I have some remediation steps you may wish to consider:
1. Notify all customers when the Support Assist fault has been rectified. I actually found the software quite useful
2. Great to see 'My Dell' being developed but to be honest, it should work - poor. Option to re-download the update to monitor battery health does not re-appear if uninstalled
3. If you agree to replace a PC then do so and don't back-track.
Having been a very loyal Dell customer, I think these issues are extremely unfair on your customer-base. Accept software faults happen, that's life, but the software needs fixing now and not in six month's time.
lmacri
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May 12th, 2021 09:00
Hi Will7680:
Thanks for your feedback. What is the full model of your G series laptop (e.g., Dell G3 15 3590, Dell G3 3579, etc.) and operating system. When you say you removed the software to stop these "Successful Application Reconfiguration" events, do you mean you uninstalled the Dell SupportAssist program, or did you also remove associated programs like Dell SupportAssist Remediation and /or SupportAssist OS Recovery Plugin for Dell Update? Here are the Dell programs currently listed in Control Panel | Programs | Programs and Features on my Inspiron 5584.
I am able to stop these "Successful Application Reconfiguration" events on my Inspiron 5584 by either disabling the Dell SupportAssist Remediation service at Start | Windows Administrative Tools | Services and re-booting, or turning off the System Repair feature in my Dell SupportAssist settings (Settings | System Repair | System Repair is Turned On | DISABLE) and re-booting.
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64-bit Win 10 Pro v20H2 build 19042.985 * Firefox v88.0.1 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.2104.10 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.3.0.98-1.0.1292 * Dell SupportAssist v3.9.0.234 * Dell SupportAssist Remediation v5.4.1.14954 * Dell Update v4.1.0
Dell Inspiron 15 5584, Intel i5-8265U CPU, 8 GB RAM, Toshiba KBG40ZNS256G 256 GB NVMe SSD, Intel UHD Graphics 620
Will7680
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5 Posts
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May 12th, 2021 10:00
Hi, my PC is a G3 3500 running the latest version of Windows 10. I removed all of the applications you have highlighted and the PC is running much better. To confirm I removed Support Assist, Remediation and the Plug in. I left all other Dell software applications on the PC. After a restart the application reconfiguration no longer happens and normal operation resumes. You can check this from within the reliability monitor. Thanks.
ThomasAAT
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391 Posts
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May 12th, 2021 16:00
@Will7680 similar to what I did, but I did only have to uninstall the plugin. For me the issue was related to Dell SupportAssist OS Recovery Plugin for Dell Update. So after uninstalling that the "Successful Application Reconfiguration" stopped.
NotMoosetracks
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May 16th, 2021 10:00
I just want to say to everyone that contributed to this conversation that I am very impressed with the diligence and rational thinking reflected in the comments, the experiments, the reported results, etc. Fantastic job!
DELLKaren
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May 16th, 2021 11:00
Thanks to @lmacri's very useful posts, I have learned that I can stop these "Successful Application Reconfiguration" events on my Inspiron 5284 and my Inspiron 7569 by either disabling the Dell SupportAssist Remediation service at Start | Windows Administrative Tools | Services and re-booting, or turning off the System Repair feature in my Dell SupportAssist settings (Settings | System Repair | System Repair is Turned On | DISABLE) and re-booting. As a matter of fact, I did both, to see if they stopped. They did.
But, I do NOT think that these "Successful Application Reconfigurations" events are supposed to be a normal consequence of the settings whereby DSA Remediation is Running [Automatic (Delayed Start)] and DSA System Repair turned ON. To wit, I point out @lmacri's post on 05-11-2021 08:03 AM, which reads:
Both these methods stop the flood of "Successful Application Reconfiguration" events in the Win 10 Reliability monitor, which also suggests to me that this problem is somehow associated with the creation of system snapshots in the hidden folder C:\ProgramData\Dell\SARemediation\SystemRepair\Snapshots. If my assumption posted <here> on 27-Apr-2021 is correct and these "Successful Application Reconfiguration" events are triggered by poorly coded software that does not access Windows resources correctly [e.g., the program queries the Win32_Product class (which in turn calls msiprov.dll to perform a consistency check) instead of the "lighter" Win32reg_AddRemovePrograms class] then Dell will have to do some digging and figure out exactly which SupportAssist module is the culprit.
At Dell's request and instructions, on May 13 I sent them them a log file (Log Collection SARemediation-Plugin.zip) for further research.
DELLKaren
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102 Posts
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May 16th, 2021 19:00
I had a 4-yr Dell Premium Support contract for my Inspiron 7569 until August 30, 2020. I have Dell Premium Support Plus for my Inspiron 5482 and it is good until August, 2023.
Although both machines arrived at my doorstep with both SupportAssist and Dell Update, whenever I would talk with an agent for the two machines, the person would tell me “only use SupportAssist and do not use Dell Update (and uninstall it, because ‘it is an old program and SupportAssist works better’)”. I never heeded that advice, always checking both to see whether they agreed whenever updates were available.
Since March, 2020. I’ve been keeping a record of whether SA and Dell Update agree or not. For my 7569, there are 16 occasions to date on which one or the other, but not both, listed a driver or BIOS. When both do not agree, it is more often Dell Update that will tell me that a driver is needed and SA that will tell me that a new BIOS is needed. If you are interested, I can provide a table for the 5482, as well. Note: In contrast to your experience, when they don't agree, it's Dell Update, and not SA, that will tell me to install SA OS Recovery Tools!
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64-bit Win 10 Pro v20H2 build 19042.928 * Firefox v88.0.1 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.2104.14 * AT&T Internet Security powered by McAfee * Dell SupportAssist v3.9.0.234 * Dell SupportAssist Remediation v5.4.1.14954 * Dell Update v4.1.0 * Dell Inspiron 15 7569 2-in-1, Intel i7-6500U CPU,12 GB RAM, LITEON 512G SATA SSD, Intel HD Graphics 520 and Inspiron 5482 2-in-1, Intel i7-8565U, 16GB RAM, SK hynix 512G NVMe, Intel UHD Graphics 620
ThomasAAT
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391 Posts
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May 17th, 2021 08:00
@DELLKaren that's good to know. And for those who not have the recovery option in BIOS, like the AW17R3 can get rid of the reconfiguration message by uninstalling the recovery plugin, and remove it from its original folder to prevent it reinstalling automatically as I describe in a earlier post.
Regardless Dell have to solve this in next update.
lmacri
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May 27th, 2021 07:00
Hi DELLKaren:
Just a few side comments while you're waiting for feedback from Dell:
I posted <here> on 04-May-2021 that System Repair can be enabled / disabled in the Dell SupportAssist settings, but since then I've learned that System Repair can also be enabled / disabled in the SupportAssist OS Recovery settings manager at Control Panel | System and Security | SupportAssist OS Recovery | Settings. I assume that the Dell SupportAssist Remediation service at Start | Windows Administrative Tools | Services must be running [e.g., Start Type = Automatic (Delayed Start) at boot-up] if you want to access those settings. Kudos to bjm_ for posting the original image shown below in the 05-May-2021 Norton Tech Outpost thread Vulnerable Dell DBUtil Driver Puts Millions of Systems At Risk.
I also just noticed this comment in the 23-Apr-2019 SA (SupportAssist) FAQ pinned at the top of this board:
I haven't tested yet to see how, or even if, I can trigger the creation of new Dell repair points / snapshots in the hidden folder C:\ProgramData\Dell\SARemediation\Snapshots (along with the subsequent flood of "Successful Application Reconfiguration" events) when the Start Type of the Dell SupportAssist Remediation service is MANUAL since I presume this would prevent the Dell SupportAssist Remediation service from starting automatically at boot-up, but that comment in the FAQ implies that Dell has known about ongoing problems with Dell SuppportAssist Remediation and the SupportAssist OS Recovery tools for quite some time.
I don't think this is directly related to the "Successful Application Reconfiguration" events being discussed in this thread, but I also wanted to warn others that a handful of users who have an extra partition on their hard drive (e.g., who created a D:\ drive to store personal data) have reported that their data was lost when Dell SupportAssist v3.9.0 installed the SupportAssist OS Recovery Tools v5.4.1.14954 - see balji's 09-May-2021 SupportAssist Deleted My Partitions While Installing OS Recovery for more information. I was asked to provide diagnostic logs to help Dell debug this problem (even though my service warranty has expired) and was told that the latest Dell SupportAssist v3.9.1 released a few days ago will "stop recommending SA OS Recovery tool for installation" while this data corruption issue is being investigated.
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64-bit Win 10 Pro v20H2 build 19042.985 * Firefox v88.0.1 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.2104.14 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.3.0.98-1.0.1292 * Dell SupportAssist v3.9.1.245 * Dell SupportAssist Remediation v5.4.1.14954 * Dell Update v4.2.0
Dell Inspiron 15 5584, Intel i5-8265U CPU, 8 GB RAM, Toshiba KBG40ZNS256G 256 GB NVMe SSD, Intel UHD Graphics 620
lmacri
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May 27th, 2021 08:00
Hi ThomasAAT:
Do you mean that the new Dell SupportAssist (DSA) v3.9.1 re-installed the same Dell SupportAssist OS Recovery Plugin for Dell Update v5.4.1.14954 that you uninstalled on 09-May-2021?
I don't know why this update is offered by DSA on your Alienware 17 R3 when it's not listed on the support page <here> for the Alienware 17 R3, unless it's normally bundled inside the SupportAssist OS Recovery Tools on Alienware laptops or integrated with the Alienware Update Application or some other Alienware software that DELLKaren and I don't have on our Inspiron laptops. However, the support page <here> for my Inspiron 5584 shows the latest Dell SupportAssist OS Recovery Plugin for Dell Update 5.4.1.14954 hasn't been updated since 08-Apr-2021, so DSA v3.9.1 probably just reinstalled the same "buggy" plugin you had before.
Also note that the SupportAssist OS Recovery Tools and the Dell SupportAssist OS Recovery Plugin for Dell Update can be delivered by DSA as separate, distinct updates on my Inspiron 5584.
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64-bit Win 10 Pro v20H2 build 19042.985 * Firefox v88.0.1 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.2104.14 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.3.0.98-1.0.1292 * Dell SupportAssist v3.9.1.245 * Dell SupportAssist Remediation v5.4.1.14954 * Dell Update v4.2.0
Dell Inspiron 15 5584, Intel i5-8265U CPU, 8 GB RAM, Toshiba KBG40ZNS256G 256 GB NVMe SSD, Intel UHD Graphics 620
ThomasAAT
2 Intern
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391 Posts
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May 27th, 2021 08:00
@lmacri I just got the SA update and the recovery plugin auto installed again. And sadly the flood of "Successful Application Reconfiguration" returned. So its not fixed in this update. I did the same - uninstalled the recovery plugin and removed the folder containing the plugin auto install file from its original folder. That way I dont get the flood in the event viewer. Hope Dell provide us a fix with your contribution.
ThomasAAT
2 Intern
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391 Posts
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May 27th, 2021 11:00
@lmacri Yes the same buggy plugin got installed automatically beside SA. So thats why I got the flood in event viewer again.
It's a mystery why I got this plug in since it not listed under supported systems. That said, I also have a 11 year old XPS 15 that also get the same plugin version every time SA installs. This system dont get the "Reconfiguration" messages, but since I dont need it and its not supported, I remove the plugin form the XPS also.