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13 Posts

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August 18th, 2017 00:00

DDM.EXE (almost) Impossible to Overwrite/Remove

Recently received an update for Dell Display Manager. Was version 1892, the update being version 1895.

The problem was that the update couldn't replace the existing ddm.exe file and, hence, the installation failed.

Even using Administrative privileges I couldn't manually delete the file - it just kept telling me I needed administrative privileges to do it. ???

Using a third-party app (SuperAntiSpyware it was in this case), plus a System Restart, got rid of it and the the update then installed ok.

Any thoughts?

Thank you.

234 Posts

August 18th, 2017 05:00

Windows won't let you delete a file that is in use. The DDM installer sends a message to the copy of DDM that's running to close itself, but sometimes that message fails. When that happens the installation/update fails. You would then need to either close the copy of DDM that is running or terminate it using TaskManager, and then rerun the installer. You can't just go and try to delete the ddm.exe file if its still in use.

13 Posts

August 18th, 2017 19:00

Thanks, swamped.

I figured it was still "in use" somehow, but, after uninstalling DDM altogether and disabling the display driver, I couldn't figure what else to do. Maybe a System Restart at that stage would've been enough?

It didn't occur to me to use TaskManager, but I'll bear it in mind for future reference.

Cheers.

1 Message

September 10th, 2020 22:00

Thanks! Taskmgr worked. 

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