Support Assist, Windows 11, Updated with a new Install, odd things happening?

By the way, the quick way to find if Fast Start is working or even available, you can do it from a CMD prompt run as Administrator:

--------

C:\> powercfg -a
The following sleep states are available on this system:
Standby (S3)

The following sleep states are not available on this system:
Standby (S1)
The system firmware does not support this standby state.

Standby (S2)
The system firmware does not support this standby state.

Hibernate
Hibernation has not been enabled.

Standby (S0 Low Power Idle)
The system firmware does not support this standby state.

Hybrid Sleep
Hibernation is not available.
The hypervisor does not support this standby state.

Fast Startup
Hibernation is not available.

-----------------------

I am giving up on this I guess? No clue why to how to stop it? It has no apparent visual effect on my operation and seems to be only one time per boot?

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@ispalten wrote:

... Did NOT happen??? Oh wait, I just tried again, I looked too soon... within a 1/2 hour of booting, now it is the same, over 150 of them... I give up...

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Hi ispalten:

Under normal circumstances, if Dell SupportAssist Remediation / System Repair is turned on and working then that 30 minute delay is normal. From my 14-Oct-2022 post <here> in this thread:

"The logging of these "Successful Application Reconfiguration" events are a long-standing problem that are caused by Dell SupportAssist Remediation (a.k.a. Dell SupportAssist OS Recovery or System Repair) and occur approx 30 min after boot-up at the same time that Dell SupportAssist Remediation creates a Dell system repair point (snapshot) in the hidden folder at C:\ProgramData\Dell\SARemediation\SystemRepair\.  See Dell employee NikhilKiroula's 02-Jul-2021 post on page 8 of DellKaren's "Successful Application Reconfiguration" and SupportAssist."

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It also has a hard time knowing what something FAILS or it was actually stopped for a reason, like it was being updated? I also see Windows apps fail to update, sometimes, like the Phone app which I rarely use, but never see it actually installed after I see those fails:

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Just an FYI that Microsoft's Your Phone app was re-branded in March 2022 and is now called Phone Link (see the March 2022 announcement at Evolving the connection between your phone and your Windows PC).  According to the 01-Apr-2022 ghacks.net article How to uninstall Phone Link on Windows devices the package name for this app (i.e., Microsoft.YourPhone) has not changed, only the display name.

Settings | Apps | Apps and Features and the Windows Apps tab of my Revo Uninstaller Free do not detect a Your Phone or Phone Link app on my laptop (Your Phone used to be integrated with my Win 10 OS and I am certain it was installed at one time but I don't recall uninstalling it, so it might have been automatically removed during a Feature update to my Win 10 OS ) ...

... but if I use TreeSize Free (and choose to Run as Administrator at launch) I can still see remnants of old Your Phone installations dating back to Aug 2022 in my hidden and protected C:\Program Files\WindowsApps folder.

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64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.2486 * Firefox v110.0.0 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.2301.6-1.1.200000.2 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.5.22.236-1.0.1915 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7279 * SupportAssist v3.13.2.14 * Dell Update for Windows Universal v4.7.1 * Dell SupportAssist Remediation v5.5.5.16458 * Fusion Service v2.1.31.0 * Inspiron 5583/5584 BIOS v1.21.0 * Revo Uninstaller Free  Portable v2.4.2 *  TreeSize Free Portable v4.6.3
Dell Inspiron 15 5584, Intel i5-8265U CPU, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB Toshiba KBG40ZNS256G NVMe SSD, Intel UHD Graphics 620

Oh, I knew about the delay of 30 minutes, it was just I checked thinking re-installing the day before would fix it (foolish of me of course)? So I checked it after looking at my emails and that is why? I should have waited...

I've got a licensed Revo, and it does show Phone Link:

Odd part, if I search for 'Your Phone' it does show as Phone Link, which is useless for me as I have an iPhone. I still use Dell's discontinued Dell Mobile Connect which still works for me.

However, I wonder if these are really Phone Link Updates  (which I can't find listed in the Windows Update logs?

So I searched the package name, found this - https://support.itsolver.net/hc/en-au/articles/5765741657359-How-to-fix-failed-Windows-Update-0x80073D02-9NMPJ99VJBWV-Microsoft-YourPhone 

Not probably worth doing that even. If one Google's Microsoft Your Phone, Phone Link comes up.

Just in case I need to use it (wife has an Android) I'll ignore those.

Now the MYSTERY part...

I do HAVE the folders here:

---------------------------

C:\Program Files\WindowsApps>dir *your*
Volume in drive C is OS
Volume Serial Number is 9A97-C0F4

Directory of C:\Program Files\WindowsApps

02/15/2023 08:00 AM

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@ispalten wrote:

... However, I wonder if these are really Phone Link Updates  (which I can't find listed in the Windows Update logs?

---

Hi ispalten:

If you want to investigate further:

Phone Link is a UWP (Universal Windows Platform) app that is available on the Windows Store. That means it will be updated in the background by the Microsoft Store, not Windows Update, and when you see a notation in your Reliability Monitor that lists the source as something like 9WZDNCRFJ364-Microsoft.SKYPEAPP (see the image below from my Win 10 Reliability Monitor for 21-Feb-2023 that shows my Skype app was updated yesterday) or 9NMPJ99VJBWV-Microsoft.YourPhone that indicates the update was pushed out by the Microsoft Store.

If you want to see what UWP apps were recently updated launch your Microsoft Store app, click on the Library button, and choose the Apps tab.  If any of your apps have a pending update you can click the blue Get Updates button to start the update.  The image below I captured today confirms my Skype app updated yesterday on 21-Feb-2023.

I log into Windows with my Microsoft account (i.e., not a local account) and if I check the settings of my Microsoft Store profile I can see that I allow the Microsoft Store to update apps automatically.

If Phone Link is the only UWP app you have problems updating see the MS support article Fix problems with apps from Microsoft Store. If you're having problems with multiple UWP apps failing to update then Win 11 has a built in troubleshooter for Windows Store apps at Start | Settings | System | Troubleshoot | Other Troubleshooters - see TheWindowsClub 17-Dec-2021 article Windows Store Apps Troubleshooter for Windows 11/10. However, I've never used this Windows Store Apps troubleshooter so I'm not sure what problems it can automatically fix, and you might find this troubleshooter reports that it has increased the time your system remains in idle mode to allow apps enough time to update or makes some other change to your system that you might decide to undo.

Note that these troubleshooters are gradually being removed from the Win 11 OS and users will eventually be redirected to an online "Get Help" portal to run their troubleshooters - see the recent Microsoft announcement at Deprecation of Microsoft Support Diagnostic Tool (MSDT) and MSDT Troubleshooters.

From my Win 10 machine at Start | Settings | Update & Security | Troubleshoot | Additional Troubleshooters | Find and Fix Other Problems:

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64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.2486 * Firefox v110.0.0 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.2301.6-1.1.200000.2 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.5.22.236-1.0.1915 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7279 * SupportAssist v3.13.2.14 * Dell Update for Windows Universal v4.7.1 * Dell SupportAssist Remediation v5.5.5.16458 * Fusion Service v2.1.31.0 * Inspiron 5583/5584 BIOS v1.21.0
Dell Inspiron 15 5584, Intel i5-8265U CPU, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB Toshiba KBG40ZNS256G NVMe SSD, Intel UHD Graphics 620

@lmacri 

Thanks, you nailed it....

I never use that part of Windows, I think of that 'stuff' more for the MS Surface or Laptops... not a desktop. The only 'app' I use is Messenger and pin it to my taskbar.

As you can see, Store apps update for me OK, and I am not aware of them happening... look at the My Dell for instance. The Support Assist I did install, but it also added an icon to my Desktop whereas My Dell did not. Support Assist was new though.

Now I looked at today's Rel. Mon. and I do see My Dell and Paint were installed:

However, never saw the failed Phone installed? Maybe it was buried somewhere... doesn't matter.

So, as far as I'm concerned, the Reliability Monitor is faulty. Well, only in the sense that it 'scrapes' the Event Viewer and reports that, BUT if there was a failure or even a warning, it gets taken into account on the 'health' of the PC.

All too often it seems it can only rely on the contents of the Event Viewer, and we all know, not everything in it is 'important' and even is to be considered normal.

At any rate, I learned more not to worry about this.

Thanks

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@ispalten wrote:

... Odd part, if I search for 'Your Phone' it does show as Phone Link, which is useless for me as I have an iPhone. I still use Dell's discontinued Dell Mobile Connect which still works for me....

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Hi ispalten:

Just an aside, but thought you might be interested in the 28-Feb-2023 BleepingComputer article Microsoft Phone Link Can Now Sync Your iPhone with Windows 11. At present this new capability is being rolled out to users in the Windows Insiders Program for beta-testing so I'm not sure when it will reach Win 11 users on the stable release channel.
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64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.2604 * Firefox v110.0.1 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.2301.6-1.1.200000.2 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.5.23.241-1.0.1927 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7279 * SupportAssist v3.13.2.14 * Dell Update for Windows Universal v4.7.1
Dell Inspiron 15 5584, Intel i5-8265U CPU, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB Toshiba KBG40ZNS256G NVMe SSD, Intel UHD Graphics 620

Hi @lmacri.

Well, thanks for the UPDATE. Interesting the MS would now do that?

Funny thing though, just today Reliability Monitor showed TWO fails to update the Phone Link. I got so 'mad' I went to Revo Uninstaller and uninstalled Phone Link! Talk about timing

As I said though, I've got the Dell app working (for now). I also get Give Away of the Day  (https://www.giveawayoftheday.com/ ) daily emails, and they often have iPhone programs.... Some are totally free, others for a limited time, and all usually licensed. On my 8700 I had an iPhone program that did the same as the Dell program. They've had a few recently too. All I really use it for it to get pictures off the iPhone that I might need. Other than that, I rarely use it Although there are function I can use it for that I might rarely need. I don't expect to make calls from the PC via the phone to someone, which can be done with some programs...

I guess at some point after it is updated, I can check it out, and if it is better than the Dell unsupported app get it.

Thanks for the head up.

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@ispalten wrote:
...Funny thing though, just today Reliability Monitor showed TWO fails to update the Phone Link. I got so 'mad' I went to Revo Uninstaller and uninstalled Phone Link! Talk about timing ...

I guess at some point after it is updated, I can check it out, and if it is better than the Dell unsupported app get it.

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Hi ispalten:

Just an FYI that beta testing of Microsoft's Phone Link for iOS has finished and the rollout to all Windows 11 users is expected to be completed by the middle of May 2023 - see Sergiu Gatlan's 26-Apr-2023 BleepingComputer article Microsoft Rolls Out Phone Link for iOS to All Windows 11 Users for more information. If you're still interested in trying this app, Microsoft has added a "For iOS Users" tab to the Phone Link page at https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/sync-across-your-devices that includes instructions on how to install the Phone Link app from the Microsoft Store if it isn't currently installed on your Win 11 computer.

I've never used Microsoft's Phone Link (or the discontinued Dell Mobile Connect) so I can't tell you how well this redesigned app works.

Also note that I have uninstalled SupportAssist, Dell SupportAssist OS Remediation (a.k.a Dell SupportAssist OS Recovery Tools / System Repair) and the Dell SupportAssist OS Recovery Plugin since the last time I posted in this thread and I don't intend to reinstall them. See my 22-Mar-2023 post in my thread Dell SupportAssist OS Recovery Plugin for Dell Update Rolled Back to v5.5.4.16189.
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64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.2846 * Firefox v112.0.2 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.2303.8-1.1.20200.4 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.5.27.262-1.0.1991 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7279 * Dell Update for Windows Universal v4.8.0 * My Dell v2.2.4 * Dell Inspiron 5583/5584 BIOS v1.22.1
Dell Inspiron 15 5584, Intel i5-8265U CPU, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB Toshiba KBG40ZNS256G NVMe SSD, Intel UHD Graphics 620

@lmacri 

In my quest for a reasonable free replacement for Dell Mobile connect, I found Intel Unison (https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/docs/unison/overview.html ) and it is so much better than Dell's program. You get it now in the Windows Store and both IOS and Android stores.

All I need do is start the program on the PC and the phone/iPad and start connect. Boom, PC has the photo's instantly it seems...

It just works.

I've got all the SA and other stuff loaded and working... not messing with it. At least for now. Seems today from looking a Reliability Viewer when I powered on the XPS it updated Support Assist to  Version 3.14.0.91 even?

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@ispalten wrote:
....Seems today from looking a Reliability Viewer when I powered on the XPS it updated Support Assist to  Version 3.14.0.91 even?

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Hi ispalten:

I just checked at https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-ca/product-support/product/dell-supportassist-pcs-tablets/docs and can confirm the release notes for SupportAssist v3.14.0 (published 27-Apr-2023) are available <here>.

I noticed the Known Issues section <here> of those release notes lists a new bug where installation of SupportAssist v3.14 (which now requires at least MS .NET Runtime v6.14.0 or a higher version of MS .NET Runtime v6.x) "fails if an empty .net folder is still present from the previous uninstallation".  I hope that doesn't trigger a whole new round of installation failures for other users.
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64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.2846 * Firefox v112.0.2 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.2303.8-1.1.20200.4 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.5.27.262-1.0.1991 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7279 * Dell Update for Windows Universal v4.8.0 * My Dell v2.2.4 * Dell Inspiron 5583/5584 BIOS v1.22.1
Dell Inspiron 15 5584, Intel i5-8265U CPU, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB Toshiba KBG40ZNS256G NVMe SSD, Intel UHD Graphics 620

@lmacri 

Interesting...

I assume you meant .NET Runtime V6.0.14.

Well, this does seem odd for me at least?

See, these are the RUNTIMES I have:

C:\Users\xxxx>dotnet --info

global.json file:
Not found

Host:
Version: 6.0.16
Architecture: x64
Commit: 1e620a42e7

.NET SDKs installed:
No SDKs were found.

.NET runtimes installed:
Microsoft.NETCore.App 3.1.32 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
Microsoft.NETCore.App 5.0.17 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
Microsoft.NETCore.App 6.0.14 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
Microsoft.NETCore.App 6.0.15 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
Microsoft.NETCore.App 6.0.16 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App 5.0.17 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App]

Download .NET:
https://aka.ms/dotnet-download

Learn about .NET Runtimes and SDKs:
https://aka.ms/dotnet/runtimes-sdk-info

Also it seems when versions are installed, ZERO content folders are left:

Directory of C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App

04/12/2023 08:24 AM

@lmacri 

Interesting our DOTNET INFO shows I also have an active V5?

I've deleted the empty 2 V6 folders... I don't why they were left, but they didn't both the install either.

Another 'interesting' point...SA's System Repair. NEVER was able to turn that on in settings, forget the error I got, but it just couldn't be set. I removed and re-install SA stuff and never could get it set. After the new update was installed, a few hours later I got a notification that SA had saved my System... Huh???

What is up with that?

No, I only run ONE Account, me as Administrator. I looked in Task Scheduler and only once a week on Tues. is SA Update run? I can't find any other references of DELL or SUPPORTASSIST in it either? I searched the Registry for 'SupportAssist' and there was well over 1,000 entries found before I stopped it, all are probably valid, and I didn't know what I was looking for.

I guess I'll live with it, it seems to do no harm, and I don't even know when it is running the reconfigures?

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... I looked in Task Scheduler and only once a week on Tues. is SA Update run? I can't find any other references of DELL or SUPPORTASSIST in it either? ...

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Hi ispalten:

I had all my SupportAssist automatic background scans disabled [Options (gear icon) | Settings | Automate Scans and Optimizations | Set Your System to Automatically Run Scans and Performance Optimization | OFF] but I do recall that SupportAssist would run a self-check for a program update each time the program was launched (i.e., each time I opened the user interface).

I no longer have SupportAssist v3.x or Dell SupportAssist Remediation v5.5.x installed on my Inspiron 5584 so I can't tell you how the current versions should behave.   Hopefully someone else will jump in to this thread and provide feedback.
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64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.2846 * Firefox v112.0.2 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.2303.8-1.1.20200.4 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.5.27.262-1.0.1991 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7279 * Dell Update for Windows Universal v4.8.0 * My Dell v2.2.4
Dell Inspiron 15 5584, Intel i5-8265U CPU, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB Toshiba KBG40ZNS256G NVMe SSD, Intel UHD Graphics 620

@lmacri 

I'm still 'annoyed' over this happening... so I searched again (Googled "Windows Installer reconfigured the product every day for the same product in the Reliability viewer windows 11") to see if there is any new info...

Found this, https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/windows-server/admin-development/windows-installer-reconfigured-all-applications, which is interesting. Sort of states it is due to a call that is the culprit.

Date listed as on 02/23/2023 and under Windows Server, but applies to "Windows 10 - all editions, Windows Server 2012 R2" but I suspect Windows 11 too.

From it:

==============

This problem can happen if one of the following conditions is true:

• You have a group policy with a WMIFilter that queries Win32_Product class.
• You have an application installed on the machine that queries Win32_Product class.

If you're using a group policy with the WMIFilter that queries Win32_Product, modify the filter to use Win32reg_AddRemovePrograms.

If you have an application that uses the previous class, contact the vendor to get an updated version that doesn't use this class.

=======================

On the HOME edition and of course, I can't easily change the suggested one... but I suspect it could be being done by Dell s/w somehow because of the last line above?

What do you think?