OK, really dumb question...
 

Sorry about this, but what are the 2 inner most headlights for? It's clear that there is a bulb of some sort in there, but it never turns on. Meanwhile those smaller lights on my wife's 5er seem to function as flash to pass lights. Not so on the x5 - just the corona rings light up, nothing else.

should be the same, flash-to-pass... maybe yours is programmed out?

There is no bulb for flash to pass on the inners. The H8 bulb is used for the corona rings. Flash to pass just activates the bixenon feature on the low beams (and activates the highbeams)

So that's just a dummy bulb in there?

^^ Its used for the rings. In the 2011.5 and up models with LED rings, there is no bulb period.

They turn on. Just watch the car when someone else drives towards you and turns a corner (with the turn signal on). Cornering lights.

^^ Cornering lights on the X5 is the fog lights.

Hmmm. Then I guess they are blanks.