I manage approx. 200 Dell devices throughout a medium size organisation across multiple geographic sites and remote users.

We deploy Dell Command | Update (Windows Platform Version)  to keep the machines up to date.

Since approx. v 4.2.0 and above (we're now deploying 4.3.0 which appears to have the same issue), on all our devices; whenever the product updates, it no longer functions.  CLI shows "an unexpected fatal error occurred", the GUI just refuses to start following the splash screen. 

A Windows event log trawl hints that the software is failing due to a .NET unhandled exception:

Application: DellCommandUpdate.exe
Framework Version: v4.0.30319
Description: The process was terminated due to an unhandled exception.
Exception Info: System.NullReferenceException
at Dell.DCU.App..ctor()
at Dell.DCU.App.Main()

The only way I have discovered to resolve the issue is a manual uninstall and reinstall of the product, which is clearly not an acceptable in an enterprise environment.   

Anyone encountered this issue or a workaround / resolve prior to us complaining to our account manager?  At present, software written by Fisher Price would be more reliable.

When the unhandled exception issue occurs, the only way to resolve it seems to be:

1. Manually remove DCU using control panel
2. Restart the machine
3. Reinstall DCU 4.4.0

The product will then run normally.