I've seen the loaded drives in my ebay searches; my ARM64-based laptop is sealed, so I'd have to get my wife's laptop to be able to use one.

And wow, you're so right about chasing issues; ever since I got the X5, I've been chasing issues (as expected, since it's 21 years-old), first on the BMW, and now trying to expand my data hunting quest (my self-inflicted problem), but I'm learning some as I go. That's probably a good thing, to keep my wits about me in retirement (no dementia yet, as far as I can tell...I haven't run for political office, so far...all politicos are crazy).

These drives wouldn't work in your ARM laptop anyway. I'd spend $100 on an extra laptop rather than $200 on these sketchy drives.

x2

Even if your laptop was intel based there's still no guarantee that everything would work properly as there is some configuration that is dependent on your laptop itself. Like the USB port assignments.

Just throwing this out there...there's no reason you can't have multiple laptops ;)

Have an cheapy loaded with your BMW tools and then play around with your arm and hopefully have that going also.

Keep your experiments away from the wife's computer in case anything goes wrong. If something does go wrong then a quick reformat and reinstall will have you back in action vs having to panic that your last 15 years of photos are lost.

I have installed the software from the link I provided you dozens of times and it has never triggered any malware warnings for me so it might be your software being on the extra safe side. Anything coming from Mega will forever be flagged somewhere as long as Kim Dot Com is alive.

Trust "us" look around for a cheap laptop and get an easy win under your belt before curiosity gets the better of you and you start moving onto more challenging/fun stuff

I've had enough tech problems for the week already
 

I've continued to search for backdoors, work-arounds, developer access, and attempts to thwart Microsoft roadblocks, as well as hunting for easier methods to get advanced BMW diagnostic software.

But, after having spent 13+ hours on the phone (not counting the 7 hours I spent on hold waiting for the "techies" to respond to my queries), just trying to switch phone carriers (to save money), I'm fed up with tech for the moment.

In all that time I only got hold of four knowledgeable people (1 each at AT&T and Samsung, and two at Boost Infinite), and that's from dealing with 6 from AT&T, and 4 from Boost. The Samsung rep was helpful, but couldn't provide info I needed (prohibited by Federal Regulations), the reps at Asurion Insurance (providers of our insured AT&T phone replacements) and Verizon (from whence both phones originated) were totally inept morons; therefore, it took me three days to simply get my service switched from AT&T ($150/month for 2 lines/3gb data-unlimited talk & text) to Boost Infinite ($50/month for 2 lines/unlimited everything/infinitely). I hope it will be worth my efforts.

AT&T was surprisingly inept, and the final tech agent finally solved the problem(s) (wrong info had been given to me and Boost, previously), though one other AT&T rep did add one correction (corrected our acct. number, after 20 years using the wrong one in billing, though it wouldn't have saved any money); Boost and I were held at bay until the veteran tech at each site saved the day.

So, I'm simply not in the mood to get all techie any time soon.

I downloaded mine from a "trustworthy" Mega uploader. Unfortunately after years, he no longer offers the software. I have backups here, but he would update them when new datens or software versions would become available.

Anyway, the point I was going to make. All of these will trigger a flag for trojans or other. I forget exactly what triggers it (maybe Dr.Gini files?), but one of the programs included always come back flagged.

I can send you the versions I have (multiples totaling ~650GB) on a HD. They work on Win10 laptop/desktop as that's what I use them on. A cheap HP i5 Win10 lappy. If I had an FTP setup I'd let you DL directly... but it's been a long time since I set that up and I don't have the time to relearn. Kids, wife, cars, house... etc. :(

As others have already said save yourself a significant headache and buy a new to you used laptop specifically for diagnostics that's Intel based. You can usually find an absolute steal on eBay for cheap if you search hard enough for specific models you're interested in that might have minor issues like scratches / dents or easily replaceable parts that are missing / bad like SSD or hard drives or ram. I got lucky myself and found an older but not super outdated Dell Rugged 7204 12" for only $150 shipped on eBay. All because the touchscreen has a minor UV coating failure that you can only notice in absolutely direct sunlight or see with the screen off. They're great though super tough and rugged obviously as the name advertises, the one I got converts into a thick tablet because the screen spins 180 inside the upper lid so you can use the stylus and on screen keyboard in tablet mode.

My model had an i5-4310U with 8gb RAM, 128gb SSD, touchscreen convertible to a tablet with built in stylus as well - all for only $150! I bought a charger for $15 separately. All of the I/O ports have locking covers that are water resistant (read: splash resistant) another cool feature is the keyboard is backlit (white only by default but, red/green/blue and a custom color can be enabled and set in BIOS settings as well)

Ok, I'm convinced. Find a laptop and good source for software. :bmw:

I can't quit, despite myself
 

After four days without experimenting, I succumbed to the dark side influences of the "can't leave well-enough alone" virus I have, and tried something else...getting 5G internet via WiFi to my driveway/parking area and our sheds out back. Previously, the 2.4G was sorta weak out there, so I dug out my 5+ year-old TP-Link A/C1200 (RE380D) Desktop Dual Band Wi-Fi Range Extender, that I last used while we were living in our travel trailer (while our house was being demolished and replaced with a new one). I needed it to get WiFi from the garage, where I had moved the AT&T phone lines & router from the house.

I figured that 5G would extend the WiFi from the house better than the 2.4G we had been using, so I could get my desktop PC to host the program I already had loaded (OBDWiz for PC), using the Chrome Remote Desktop already installed on both the laptop and desktop. The X5 and other vehicles are too far away from the desktop PC for a good bluetooth link-up, which had proven unreliable.

But, after I had gotten the TP-Link extender mounted in my office window (between panes) and the 5G working, I started switching to the 5G net (main router, extender, phone, tablet, both my computers), and didn't give a thought to my wife's electronics, as she was out of town.

She returned yesterday, and her phone, laptop, printer, scanner, and three Roku units were still linked to the 2.4G net, and she (and later I) couldn't configure them to accept the 5G signal, and were useless; her password wouldn't work, except on the phone. So, I went back to the 2.4G net (by unplugging the extender, which was hanging onto the 5G, and resetting the WPA2 button). I guess I'll have to try again, next time she's gone.

Another tech mistake: I downloaded several Wifi analysing apps onto the laptop (from Microsoft Store), and somewhere amongst them was some bug/virus/?? that switched the laptop's "preferred network" from my home Wifi to one named "Computer Doctors". I googled it and found that the nearest "Computer Doctor" listed was 40 miles away, so where in hell did it pop-up from? It wasn't found or listed on my desktop when I scanned for networks available. I couldn't connect my laptop to either 5G or 2.4G until I "forgot" the "Computer Doctor" from available networks, and restarted/updated the laptop several times. All this before my wife returned from out of town. Damn, everything I try opens more cans of worms.

So, back to square one: remote desktop programs removed, back on 2.4G, bogus WiFi programs uninstalled, starting to bring the new laptop back to original set-up, and trying to talk the wife into using it instead of her cheap Lenovo (upgradeable, though currently very slow). For what she currently uses it for, the ARM64-based laptop would be faster/better. Then, maybe I could upgrade the Lenovo, and install the suggested programs onto it (it has an Intel cpu).

Thanks to all, I'm sure I'll finally get something done right, despite my best (worst) efforts, eventually.

dude, you're making this more and more and more complicated and making things worse and worse.

Absolutely. I quit.