Outdated Dell Display Manager application?

TimothyG · December 20, 2022, 06:44:46 PM

Hello,

We've recently enabled this app for publishing in Patch My PC. The version in Patch My PC is 1.56.2110, while there appears to be a newer version 2.0.0.135 here:

https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=yt7f9

Can this be updated, or am I missing something?
Thanks in advance!
Timothy

Ben Whitmore (Patch My PC) · December 21, 2022, 04:42:18 AM

Hi Timothy, ill take a look. Thanks for bringing this to our attention.

Adam Cook (Patch My PC) · January 04, 2023, 04:21:46 AM

Hi TimothyG, it seems this version is not a straight forward upgrade to 2.0.0.135 from 1.56.2110 and requires more testing.

First thing it's x64 only now I think.

Secondly the installer now is 62MB with a new Logo and new vendor. The previous installer was ~900KB.

Thirdly, it doesn't remove the previous version, and it seems the silent installs witch has changed.

I will update you as soon as I can.

TimothyG · January 04, 2023, 10:05:40 AM

Thank you Adam and Ben, I appreciate the status update and look forward to hearing how you progress. -Timothy

Adam Cook (Patch My PC) · January 04, 2023, 10:07:58 AM

We'll likely have this fixed in tomorrow's catalogue release.

Adam Cook (Patch My PC) · January 05, 2023, 08:28:13 AM

This will be in today's catalogue release. I appreciate your patience here.

We added a pre-script to remove 1.x if it exists and also updated the icon.

As an FYI, the new Dell Display Manager 2 has a dependency on .NET Core Desktop Runtime version 5. When you install it, and this isn't installed, the user is prompted to download and install it (see attached). Clicking 'yes' takes the user to this link to download.

The installer does not have any option to suppress this dialogue to the user if .NET Core Desktop Runtime is not installed. It also does not have an option to automatically install the dependency, either. I recommend you install .NET Core Desktop Runtime 5 before deploying this update of Dell Display Manager v2 to avoid this confusion for users.

If you have a support contact at Dell, please make them aware of this issue. Hopefully they will hear the noise and improve it. There is some discussion of this issue on Twitter: https://twitter.com/codaamok/status/1610954039302230016

GeoSimos · February 15, 2023, 02:40:26 PM

Quote from: Adam Cook (Patch My PC) on January 04, 2023, 04:21:46 AMHi TimothyG, it seems this version is not a straight forward upgrade to 2.0.0.135 from 1.56.2110 and requires more testing.

First thing it's x64 only now I think.

Secondly the installer now is 62MB with a new Logo and new vendor. The previous installer was ~900KB.

Thirdly, it doesn't remove the previous version, and it seems the silent installs witch has changed.

I will update you as soon as I can.

4th The new version works much better than version 1.5

I was about to request the detection of <2.0 versions and their removal before installing version 2.x on x64 devices, glad I found this thread!
However, I would like to ask for this to be extended to the updates section also, is this feasible Adam, Ben?

Jared · February 22, 2023, 02:33:53 PM

The update is big enough that making it a separate product in the publishing service was a good call. We've heard from some people that 2.x breaks things and they need to stay on 1.x.

The worst part of the 2.x silliness is that .NET 5 is end-of-life.

Adam Cook (Patch My PC) · February 24, 2023, 06:29:57 AM

Yeah, we originally added DDM 2.x to the catalogue where it would uninstall 1.x. However we found supporting documentation that Dell suggests DDM v1 and v2 are independent and v2 isn't always the best option for some monitors. Therefore we added it as a separate product and fence of detection/applicability between the major versions.

Word of mouth suggests Dell are releasing an update for DDM 2.x next month to include a newer version of .NET.

GeoSimos · April 27, 2023, 02:20:19 AM

Quote from: Adam Cook (Patch My PC) on February 24, 2023, 06:29:57 AMYeah, we originally added DDM 2.x to the catalogue where it would uninstall 1.x. However we found supporting documentation that Dell suggests DDM v1 and v2 are independent and v2 isn't always the best option for some monitors. Therefore we added it as a separate product and fence of detection/applicability between the major versions.

That makes a lot of sense, the .Net 5 requirement is also a blocking issue as many of us don't include it in the standard list of software/runtimes.

QuoteWord of mouth suggests Dell are releasing an update for DDM 2.x next month to include a newer version of .NET.

Nice to know Adam! Thanks for sharing that info.