I have the Foxwell NT520 Pro handheld for easy stuff. Great tool, very capable, but not for "programming."
I held off on getting a true programming tool for a long time, assuming (and was wrong) that it would be the inevitable research project where people like to boast about how easy it is while giving you 80% of what you need to know, leading to a frustrating journey to unlock the final 20% to even do the simplest thing.
So that general behavior may be true in most cases, but not for this one. I found for the
PA Soft BMW Scanner 1.4, a set of absolutely rock solid instructions that worked perfectly for me on my Win10 laptop. And the instructions were 7 years old and for a Windows 7 laptop, so I feel extra safe about recommending it.
Rather than give you 80% of it, here is a post of mine while I was re-programming the temp gauge in my E53, including the direct link to the rock solid instructions:
https://xoutpost.com/1163383-post52.html
Bottom line: $12 eBay cable with/for PA Soft 1.4, free download of some drivers for modern windows laptops, and best of all the instructions (
https://forum.e46fanatics.com/showpo...72&postcount=1 ) are 100% complete, clear, unambiguous, ... follow them and you will be programming within 15 minutes like I was.