Unsolved
1 Rookie
•
2 Posts
0
399
AWCC.UCSubAgent (part of Alienware Command Center) breaks custom USB HID devices
It seems that AWCC breaks my custom USB HID devices. AWCC.UCSubAgent seems to permanently keep my HID devices open which prevents my software from opening them with exclusive write access. The only solution seems to be to disable the Dell TechHub service (which effectively disables AWCC) or simply uninstall AWCC.
DELL-Chris M
Community Manager
Community Manager
•
54.9K Posts
0
April 13th, 2024 12:34
To receive assistance from Dell support agents they need to first verify the ownership and warranty status. Click the blue "Get Help Now" on the right to start a private live chat session. Share the private Alienware Laptop Service Tag with them.
Our users need more data before they can try to assist you =
* What specific Alienware Laptop model?
* What operating system?
* What 3rd party software? "prevents my software"
* What custom USB devices?
* What is the currently installed version of AWCC?
* Have you tested other version of AWCC?
(edited)
ja10e
1 Rookie
1 Rookie
•
2 Posts
0
April 16th, 2024 17:24
Hi Chris - I don't have all the information you asked for. A customer of mine with an Alienware X16R1 reported this issue because he couldn't use our software to connect to our product -- a USB HID device. The AWCC.UCSubAgent process appeared to be the culprit. The AWCC software keeps all USB HID devices open permanently -- not just Dell devices -- which prevents any other software from opening them with exclusive access.
There are other devices that use USB HID (not just my products) that must provide exclusive access to the software that interacts with them. Just one example is any USB-to-UART bridge adapter that uses HID. Any software attempting to open that COM port will need exclusive access to it. So those adapters also will not work with AWCC.
I suspect older versions of AWCC (without support for Windows Dynamic Lighting) would not have this issue. Only versions that support Dynamic Lighting attempt to find all the Dell USB HID devices that support lighting and facilitate that support.
If you're hoping to reproduce this error, you might not be able to. However, a software engineer working on AWCC would recognize the problem without the need to reproduce it. Any chance we could reach one?
(edited)