Hey we all need a little help now and then. Somethings are hard learning experiences. I've had my share of difficult moments. Everyone here is ready to help in one way or another. Distance is only a short inconvenience. Take a break and some deep breaths.

success, maybe
 

I relaxed, thought about it awhile, told the wife she was going to swap laptops...then about 24 hours later I resumed my quest, but following a different guide and using different downloads. Fifteen minutes ago, after workingonit for 2.5 hours, I think I've done it. As it's now dark, I'll wait 'til tomorrorrow to actually try INPA (or NCS Expert, or one of the four other packages/programs I downloaded).

I watched a YouTube video by Evan Goyuk this afternoon, "The Easiest Setup Guide INPA and NCS EXPERT"
https://youtu.be/MfuFA7noM0Q, then threw caution to the wind and went ahead.

Trusting the two-year-old info and downloading from yet another old link, I did get the program(s) installed, but not the driver for my K-line FTDI-chipped cable. So I hunted for a version specifically intended for ARM64-based desktops (close enough), and installed driver and two enabling features (one from the FTDI site, and one from Microsoft). On my third attempt, everything worked. I set the desktop (laptop) shortcuts into a folder, while I installed the programs (and zipped and extracted files, and driver setups) into the 128GB SD card I use for supplementary storage (the laptop already has an internal 128GB SSD). I have no desire to fill up my boot drive with these experiments, so that was the only precaution I took.

I only have two ports on my laptop, a USB-A and a USB-C 3.0, so my K-line cable couldn't have a dedicated port to use. As the guide said it must be COM-1, I had to make the K-line cable (using a USB-C OTG adapter), identified as an added USB device (COM-3) share the 3.0 port (COM-1), by re-designating it also as COM-1 though Microsoft warns against sharing ports. The USB-A port (COM-2) has a hub attached, with wireless mouse dongle and space for three more. I tested to make sure that the shared COM-1 port was still able to accept & transmit data, by loading & unloading a 500GB SSD with 200GB of files. So, it should work.

IT'S ALIVE!!-Colin Clive, Frankenstein (1931)
 

I watched another video from Evan Goyuk today, to see how INPA was supposed to work...and it does! I went through most systems and INPA mirrors my Foxwell NT510 Elite, both reporting only 2 errors (INPA)/faults (Foxwell), both in KOMBI. They come and go, but never seem to stay away long, and cause no problems.

I need to set "Microsoft print to PDF" as the default printer on my laptop, so the F9 "Print" will keep a record for me, without screenshots, et al.

Another thing: I'll have to use my cellphone for "Google Translate" on/off-line, to read the German tech terms shown in INPA, because what little German I learned 50 years ago is long gone from my memory.

whoops, one last error to overcome
 

I've spent parts of this morning and afternoon attempting to complete opening all the items I downloaded and setup from the Google Drive folder of Evan Goyuk, shown in his video from an above post. It is the "BMW Coding Tool", which gives me the following error
Attachment 82974

I'm not sure if it's needed, since I'll probably never code anything, but maybe I will.

I've tried reloading the folder, and tried to download that .OCX file separarely from Microsoft, but it still doesn't open. Any ideas? It's probably connected to the fact that all the files were intended for Windows XP>Win 7, and my particular Windows 11 laptop running on an ARM64-based CPU may not accept the files neccessary. Project still ongoing.

If it creates an icon, you can try a compatibility association. Win10 does have options to open programs in compatibility mode for Win7 or other OS years. I assume Win11 should do the same.

The other downloaded programs created icons, but "BMW Coding Tool" did not. I just tried all the compatability options, but none worked. The download must've not supplied that incorresct/missing .OCX file.

I think I have the OCX file you're talking about. I got it with my download of BimmerGeeks Standard Tools when I loaded inpa and ncsexpert to my laptop orginally.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folde...-9?usp=sharing

I've been trying to follow your instructions, but I can't find/open any .OCX folder. In the meantime, the BMW Standard Tools installation duplicated what I already had.

The OCX folder is in the Google Drive link from 1823alex. ;)

I did download the suggested items from 1823alex, and the "BMW Coding Tool" v250 installed on my Windows 10 desktop PC, so it must be something else I've overlooked on my laptop.

I've already done lots of add-ons, workarounds and such to get this far, so a few more are to be expected.