XPS13 and thinkpad docking

@Grayson_84  What specific XPS 13 model?  There have been several over the years.  And which specific Lenovo docking station model?  That would be printed on the underside of the dock.  But to start, I'd suggest updating your system BIOS and your Intel Graphics driver, because all XPS 13 models to date that have a USB-C port support Thunderbolt 3 and therefore also support video output over Thunderbolt 3, so if you have a typical USB-C dock that actually relies on DisplayPort Alt Mode, i.e. the GPU output wired to a USB-C port, then it should be completely plug and play in terms of display output, since you don't need any drivers for that beyond the GPU drivers that would be installed anyway.  If on the other hand you have a Lenovo "Hybrid" USB-C dock, then you'll need additional drivers for it because it handles video output in a completely different way.  Those drivers can be obtained from Lenovo's site once you know what dock you have and therefore what Downloads page you're looking for -- and no, they don't restrict themselves to being installed on Lenovo systems.

Hopefully something of what I just wrote fixes your issue.  But as a general bit of advice, when asking for technical assistance, it helps to provide basic technical information like the exact models of the equipment you're dealing with so that the people here who are willing to help have something to work with.

@Grayson_84  Fyi you really shouldn't post your Service Tag on a public forum.  At a minimum, that could be used by others to file an ownership transfer on your system and make it more difficult for you to get warranty service or something.  There are several ways to check your system model within Windows (Google can show you) or your system BIOS, or on support.dell.com.

But having checked your Service Tag on support.dell.com, it's an XPS 13 9350, and the ThinkPad USB-C Dock Gen 2 doesn't require any special software for video output, in fact Lenovo's product page for it specifically mentions compatibility with Dell and HP systems that support DisplayPort Alt Mode or Thunderbolt, both of which your system does.  And as it happens, my wife has an XPS 13 9350 and just got a ThinkPad USB-C Dock Gen 2 from her work as well, but hadn't gotten around to testing it with her personal XPS 13 system.  And having just done that, I'm seeing the same issue, even though I've already done the following:

• Updated the XPS 13's BIOS
• Updated the XPS 13's Intel Graphics driver
• Updated the dock's firmware. Even though it works properly with your ThinkPad, I figured it might be an interoperability issue of some kind, in which case a firmware update might still fix operations with your XPS.

I'm now wondering if the fact that we're dealing specifically with an XPS 13 9350 means that the Lenovo dock might be affected by the same problem that led Dell to publish this article.  As you can see, Dell found that the XPS 13 9350 wouldn't output video to Dell's own USB-C displays, even though the XPS 13 worked fine with other USB-C displays/docks and the displays work fine with other USB-C sources, and the XPS 13 even works fine with those displays when using a USB-C to DisplayPort cable, although you then lose USB and charging functionality.  Dell never explained the underlying cause of that interoperability problem, and decided not to offer a fix because they considered the 9350 "end-of-life" when this was discovered, so their suggestion was that affected users simply spend more money to buy a dock -- never mind that those users might have bought a USB-C display specifically to avoid the need for a dock.  But since the underlying cause was never explained, I wonder if whatever problem exists in that setup also exists between your system and that Lenovo dock.

If so, your only solution might be to get a different dock.  For what it's worth, my wife previously had Dell's USB-C dock, the WD15, and that worked fine with both her XPS 13 and her work ThinkPad.  I swapped over to the Lenovo dock when her work gave her one simply because she uses her ThinkPad with the dock more frequently and therefore being able to use the dock's Power button to control the laptop while the lid was closed was a nice perk.  But based on this, I'll probably be setting up the WD15 again....

@Grayson_84  Just as an additional data point, I also have a ThinkPad Thunderbolt 3 Dock Gen 2, and I just confirmed that the XPS 13 9350 does work with that dock model.  Just as another possible alternative.  But that dock is more expensive than the USB-C Dock Gen 2, and your employer might not be interested in buying that to maintain compatibility with a non-work system.  But the WD15 isn't all that expensive if you want to buy a dock that will cover both systems.  There's also the newer WD19 that's closer to the USB-C Dock Gen 2 in terms of available ports, but I haven't personally tested the XPS 13 with that model.  I would imagine it would work, since it certainly should, but the setup you already have "should" work too.  So should the XPS 13 9350 and Dell USB-C displays.  So I can't be sure about the WD19.  Although if you search "XPS 13 9350 WD19" you might be able to find somebody talking about using that system with that dock successfully (or not).

@jphughan 

I really appreciate the response and the information. First time on the message board so wasn't sure. The service tag on my XPS is: and the docking station is a Thinkpad USB-C Dock Gen2 SN: ZKT0292D

Very useful information, thank you very much