IMPORTANT NOTICE: Windows 10 Update 1803 - Precautions !!!

Tim - W4TME

There have been several reports of issues related to DAX driver corruption with the latest Win10 Spring 1803 update that was not resolved by the previous manual procedure of uninstalling an reinstalling the DAX drivers.  In these cases, removing the partially "updated" DAX driver is a very manual and advanced process that requires modifying the Windows registry.

We have some preliminary information that you should find useful in preventing this scenario from occurring where DAX cannot be easily removed and reinstalled.

Take control of the Win10 upgrade process on your PC.  If possible, you should defer Windows from doing the update automatically and perform the update where you as the user initiates the process.  This article provides information on how to defer the Windows 1803 update: https://pureinfotech.com/prevent-windows-10-installing-april-2018-update-1803/  Once the update is deferred, you can run the procedure below and then request that  the update be provided immediately: https://www.windowscentral.com/how-get-windows-10-april-2018-update

Before running the Windows 10 Spring 1803 update, it has been shown that if SmartSDR is not installed on your system, including the DAX drivers, then the probability of having the issue described above is significantly less than if the DAX drivers are installed at the time of the 1803 update.

So we are recommending that you do the following:

1.) Export your profiles.  This is really not necessary to this procedure since the profiles are not stored on the PC, but it is a best practice before removing or upgrading SmartSDR software. 

2.) Start uninstalling all previous versions of SmartSDR starting with the oldest versions first, but do not uninstall the DAX drivers (answer YES to the question about keeping the DAX drivers installed).  You do not have to reboot your PC after uninstalling the older version of SmartSDR.

3.) On the last and most current version of SmartSDR answer NO to the question if you want to keep the DAX drivers.  After uninstalling the last version installed on your PC, reboot the PC.  DAX and CAT should not start automatically because they are no longer loaded on your PC.

4.) Perform the Win10 1803 update and make sure your PC is running properly before installing any SmartSDR software.

5.) Download the latest software available for your radio.  For radios licensed for SmartSDR v2.x, install SmartSDR v2.1.33.  For radios licensed for SmartSDR v1.x, install v1.11.12

If after updating your PC to Win10 1803 and installing the latest version of SmartSDR on your PC, you are having DAX issues and the HelpDesk article, How to Manually Re-Install DAX Drivers provide no resolution to your situation, then we recommend that you open a HelpDesk support ticket.  Please note that correcting this issue will require the FlexRadio support staff to access your PC remotely using TeamViewer in an attempt to resolve the problem and can be time intensive due to the number of DAX drivers that are affected, so it may take time getting to your support request if we have a backlog of incidents to resolve.