DDPM Subagent crashes on startup when C:\ProgramData\Dell is owned by SYSTEM (InvalidFileHandleException)

The following is recommended text from Copilot after successfully resolving a long-standing issue I had with DDPM failing at the 'Connecting to DDPM subagent' state. This was successfully resolved by changing the ownership of the C:\ProgramData\Dell folder from 'SYSTEM' to 'Administrators'. Recommendations to Dell are at the end of the text...

Product

Dell Display and Peripheral Manager (Windows)

Version

DDPM 2.2.1.16

OS

Windows 11 Pro (Build 26200)

Issue Description

Dell Display and Peripheral Manager fails to start and hangs at “Connecting to DDPM subagent”.
The DDPM user subagent crashes immediately on startup with an unhandled exception.

Observed Error

From DDPM.Subagent.User log:

Dell.Client.Framework.Security.Interfaces.InvalidFileHandleExceptionReceived an invalid file handle while trying to access parent folder:C:\ProgramData\Dell

The crash occurs during:

PathHelper.CheckParentFolderRedirection()

Root Cause (Confirmed)

If C:\ProgramData\Dell is owned by SYSTEM (with normal inherited permissions), the DDPM user subagent fails to initialize on Windows 11 build 26200.

Changing only the ownership of C:\ProgramData\Dell from SYSTEM → Administrators immediately resolves the issue and DDPM functions normally.

No other permissions or inheritance changes are required.

Important Notes

• C:\ProgramData itself remains owned by SYSTEM
• Only the vendor folder (C:\ProgramData\Dell) ownership was changed
• This appears to be related to stricter file‑handle validation in newer Windows 11 builds
• The DDPM security framework rejects the folder handle even though permissions are valid

Expected Behavior

DDPM should be able to access C:\ProgramData\Dell when owned by SYSTEM with inherited permissions, or the installer should set compatible ownership automatically.

Suggested Fix

• Relax handle validation for SYSTEM‑owned vendor folders
• OR explicitly set ownership of C:\ProgramData\Dell during installation
• OR handle this condition gracefully instead of crashing the subagent