Missing Dell Update tray icon in Windows 10

Dell Backup and Recovery  DBAR

Dell Backup and Recovery – Support Software

Are both End of Life and End of support.  Upgrading to 10 breaks this permanently. 
May 1, 2016, Dell began the EOL (End of Life) activities for DBAR (Dell Backup and Recovery) DBAR will officially be EOL on Oct 31, 2016. Dell Backup and Recovery is no longer shipped in Dell systems. 

This means your system did not ship with windows 10 or even windows 8.

You should do a clean install of 10 and then update to current which is version 1809.

I find this annoying so I went out and purchased actual DVD of windows 10 1809 system builder version that I use to install everything now.

There are still updates but tons less than starting with an older version of windows 10.

I think I purchased my Dell computer from a Walmart store on December 4, 2013. I think it included the 64-bit Windows 8 operating system. I eventually upgraded from 64-bit Windows 8 to 64-bit Windows 8.1, and probably more than once. I definitely upgraded to Windows 10; but I am not certain whether it was from Windows 8 or 8.1 in the most recent upgrade to 64-bit Windows 10. And I think Dell Backup and Recovery came with my computer and/or its associated software discs along with 64-bit Windows 8; then afterward I might have updated Dell Backup and Recovery via a download from the Internet.

What did you mean by “Upgrading to 10 breaks this permanently”? Does it mean that I can no longer be expected to be able use Dell Backup and Recovery in 64-bit Windows 10? If so, then perhaps I should uninstall Dell Backup and Recovery from my computer’s hard-disk drive. I probably haven’t tried to do anything with Dell Backup and Recovery since I upgraded to 64-bit Windows 10 in probably the Summer of the year 2015.

Rather than have to reinstall Windows 10, I would like to first verify that I have a good Windows operating system, or else fix it with a “chkdsk /f” command. And then if the result of that process would be a good one, I suppose I would not have to even restore Windows from a system restore point. Then I would prefer to reinstall whatever Dell software needs to be fixed. In that case please advise whatever Dell software packages I should reinstall and/or delete from my Dell computer’s hard-disk drive.

But after doing what I above outlined, there still could be a possibility of some Dell software package being incompatible with an up-to-date, 64-bit Windows-10 operating system, unless someone can report that there are no such incompatibilities for all of the Dell software packages I listed, except perhaps for the Dell Backup and Recovery packages.

Gratefully my problem in 64-bit Windows 10 Home Edition in a Dell Inspiron-15 notebook computer of the Dell Update taskbar icon being missing has been solved following the implementation of the following steps, some of which might have been unnecessary:

1. Executing the command “chkdsk /f” in Windows 10

2. Via Windows’ “Add or remove programs” uninstalling probably first Dell Update 3.0.1 and probably secondly Dell Update-SupportAssist Update Plugin 4.0.1.5837

3. Downloading the installation files for Dell Update 1.9.5.0 (A10) fromhttps://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=75ff5.%C2%A0 on the Internet [On that Web page the file version was on March 18, 2019 reported as version 1.9.4.0 (A10).] and Dell Update SupportAssist Update Plugin 3.3.0.4941, A00 from perhaps https://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=gg3dr.

4. While offline executing the installation files for first Dell Update 1.9.5.0 (A10), after which a downward-pointing white arrow and a white-colored gear symbol appeared on the Windows taskbar, and then Dell Update SupportAssist Update Plugin 3.3.0.4941, A00.

Then afterward I went to a location where I could access the Internet using my Dell notebook computer. And after starting Windows and agreeing to the terms of service for using the Internet there, I could see that automatically Dell Update evidently checked for updates to Dell software on my notebook computer because a) the color of the Dell Update gear-looking symbol in its tray icon changed from probably white to green; b) later after moving my computer’s touchpad arrow over that Dell Update tray icon I could gratefully see “Your system is up to date;” and c) the file C:\dell\UpdatePackage\log\GetDockVer32W.log fortunately does not contain any entry dated today, the day of my latest installation of Dell Update, reading “Dock Firmware Update is incompatible with your system.”--In fact there is no entry whatsoever dated today in that log file.

Now I try to find the cause of the Dell Update tray icon which I first noted as recently being missing from my computer on February 28, 2019. In Windows 10 multiple things must have occurred on that day: 1) Later I noticed the date of February 28, 2019 associated with Dell Update in Windows’ list of installed computer programs. Its version was 3.0.1. So perhaps Dell Update was somehow updated on my computer on February 28, 2019. Note that this version number is higher than the version number 1.9.5.0 (A10) of this computer program which I installed today. 2) The Windows10 updates with the Knowlege Base (KB) labels KB4487029, KB4023057, and KB4052623 were apparently installed in my installation of the Windows-10 operating system. A guess is that the problem of the missing Dell Update tray icon might have occurred as the result of an update of Dell Update to version 3.0.1 on February 28, 2019. Note that such an update of Dell Update from version 1.9.5.0 (A10) to version 3.0.1 of it has not yet occurred today, March 18, 2019, even though Dell Update has reported today that “Your system is up to date” along with today’s date for its “Last scan” for updates. If the Dell Update tray icon disappears from view again in the near future, I should go to the list of installed computer programs within Windows and there left-touchpad-button-click once on “Dell Update” to see the then-currently installed version of “Dell Update” in the ensuing dialog box. If there its version number will have changed from 1.9.5.0 to 3.0.1 while the Dell Update tray icon is missing from view, then I would attribute the disappearance of that tray icon likely to such updating of Dell Update, unless the installation of a future Windows update would complicate this issue. Or on the other hand, if Dell Update will not be updated to version 3.0.1 in the near future, I could hope that the Dell Update tray icon will not disappear for that reason again. So at this point in time one possible way to explain why the Dell Update tray icon disappeared from my computer might be that there was some fault in the updating of Dell Update to version 3.0.1 of it. Toward that possibility I encourage the writers of the updating process to Dell Update 3.0.1 to inspect the relevant computer code or codes for possible problems, unless they have already performed such an inspection and, if necessary, remedied such possible problems.

Given previous poster “speedster” kindly taking some time to post some information for me, I understand that Dell Backup and Recovery and Dell Backup and Recovery-Support Software are no longer supported. He further wrote, “Upgrading to 10,” so presumably meaning upgrading to Windows 10, “breaks this permanently.” After executing “chkdsk /f” and finding no report of any problems being repaired or fixed, I suppose that my Windows-10 operating system is okay now, at least through the current update to Windows 10. So did “speedster” mean that Dell Backup and Recovery and Dell Backup and Recovery-Support Software are computer programs which will no longer work in Windows 10? If that would be true, I suppose I should uninstall those computer programs from my Windows-10 operating system.

Concerning the use of Dell Backup and Recovery in Windows 10, based on what I have read on https://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/19/sln298526/dell-backup-and-recovery-dbar-and-windows-10?lang=en and https://www.partitionwizard.com/clone-disk/dell-backup-and-recovery-windows-10.html on the Internet, the situation might have been simple for people who upgraded from Dell Backup and Recovery <1.9 to Dell Backup and Recovery 1.9 before upgrading from Windows 7, 8, or 8.1 to Windows 10 or for people who upgraded from Dell Backup and Recovery <1.9 to Dell Backup and Recovery 1.9 within a week after upgrading to Windows 10. But for people like me who did not do either one of these two things, yet upgraded Windows to Windows 10, the situation for the use of Dell Backup and Recovery 1.9 in Windows 10 appears to be

a) difficult in reverting back to Windows <10, upgrading Dell Backup and Recovery <1.9 to version 1.9 of it, and then upgrading Windows <10 to Windows 10, or else

b) to cost money to upgrade to Dell Backup and Recovery Premium Edition.

If Dell Backup and Recovery <1.9 will not be usable in Windows 10, which well might be the case, though based on only what I have read on the above two Web sites I am not absolutely certain of it, then to avoid spending money using option “b” or to avoid the spending of time using option “a,” it would make sense to uninstall Dell Backup and Recovery <1.9 from the Windows-10-loaded Dell computer. Then free ways to avoid “a” and “b” appear to be to use alternative, free, hard-disk-drive backup software, such as

A) in Windows 10 clicking on the Windows-looking icon on the left-hand side of the Windows taskbar, then clicking on “Settings,” “Update and Security,” “Backup,” and “+ Add a drive” probably with an external hard-disk drive connected to the computer;

B) using Macrium Reflect, available from https://www.macrium.com/reflectfree;

C) using MiniTool Shadowmaker, available from https://www.minitool.com/backup/system-backup.html; or

D) to install DriveImage XML, available from http://www.runtime.org/dixml.htm and to use an external hard-disk drive onto which the hard-drive backup data can be written.

Or to restore only Windows system software, hopefully leaving personal files undisturbed, one could try returning one’s Windows software to one of the previously set Windows restore points, which could have been produced automatically by the Windows operating system or by the computer user’s order via in Windows 10 clicking on the Windows-looking icon on the left-hand side of the Windows taskbar, then clicking on “Windows System,” “Control Panel,” “System and Security,” “System,” “System Protection,” and the “Create” software “button” to the right of “Create a restore point....”

Based on the poster “speedster’s” posting in this “thread” of postings and the World-Wide Web (WWW) sites with the Uniform Resource Locators https://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/19/sln298526/dell-backup-and-recovery-dbar-and-windows-10?lang=en, https://www.partitionwizard.com/clone-disk/dell-backup-and-recovery-windows-10.html, and https://www.minitool.com/backup/system-backup.html, I decided that it was likely that my installation of Dell Backup and Recovery 1.5.0.0 and Dell Backup and Recovery-Support Software 1.5.0.0 would not work well or be suitable for my installation of the 64-bit Windows 10 Home Edition operating system on my Dell notebook computer. Accordingly I uninstalled those applications in reverse order from my installation of Windows 10.

Dell Data Safe and Dell Backup and Recovery are END OF LIFE END OF SUPPORT.  Windows 7 loses support in January 2020.  Windows 8 is end of life. Windows 8.1 support ends Jan 2023.  The original Windows 10 support ends as well.

Windows 10 version history Date of availability End of service for Home, Pro, and Pro for Workstation editions End of service for Enterprise and Education editions

Upgrading from 7 or 8 to 10 makes the DBAR broken forever.

There is no reverting or reinstall of these programs.  There is also no support for these programs because they are end of Life.

Its 2019 and those programs support ended in 2016.

The current tool applies to current models and Windows 10.  Systems that were not shipped with 10 from 2009 to 2012 are end of life.  5 years is maximum and systems come with 90 day to 3 year warranty standard depending on what was purchased.   Systems not purchased directly thru dell are not supported by Dell after the 5 year system design life cycle.

Need to reinstall your PC's operating system?
Use the Dell OS Recovery Tool to create a USB recovery drive that you can use to reinstall the OS that came with your PC.

https://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/drivers/osiso/recoverytool/

https://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/drivers/osiso/recoverytool/WT64A

or Linux
https://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/drivers/osiso/recoverytool/Linux

What you will need

Service Tag of the Dell PC on which you want to install Microsoft Windows or Linux
Download and install Dell OS Recovery Tool
https://www.dell.com/support/home/Drivers/OSISO/recoverytool
(runs in Microsoft Windows only)
Blank USB flash drive 16GB or 32GB
Microsoft .Net Framework 4.7.2
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4054530/microsoft-net-framework-4-7-2-offline-installer-for-windows

Administrator user rights and at least 16GB of available storage space to download the Dell ISO recovery image

In my previous posting in this “thread” of postings please omit my mentioning of https://www.minitool.com/backup/system-backup.html on the Internet. Also in this “thread” of postings I mistakenly wrote the poster’s user name “speedstep” as “speedster.” Sorry, I made those errors.