Coding made easy: Step by step instructions

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Coding is for people who want to play with the settings of BMW car software to achieve something more desirable. Coding is not really a programming; it is another name for re-configuring the software of your car. There are limited risks of messing up with your car SW but if you are careful, follow step by step instructions and know and understand what you are doing, it may be OK to go ahead. Never try to guess and do it, be absolutely sure for your steps, clarify your doubts before you proceed. There are experts on the forum willing to help you, don't hesitate to ask even a silliest question. Never-the-less, if you want to try new unknown settings which others have not tried, believe me, you are playing with fire.

What is needed for coding:

ENET cable
E-Sys software 3.18.4 with installation password and coding PIN
psdzdata 2.46.3
A dedicated laptop with Windows XP (preferred) or Windows 7 with minimum 36 GB of free space
Software installer (optional), files attached
Backup utility for CAF files (optional), file attached
Useful Cheat Sheet for F25, file attached

Prepare your setup:

You can build your own cable or buy from a good source. Cable should be reliable as interruption of any kind during coding can be very risky. E-Sys software and psdzdata is also available through various sources.

Delete unwanted SW and data from your laptop. It may be worthwhile to de-fragment your HD of laptop before installing the coding software as this software will occupy almost 18 to 36 GB of space on HD. Use the power adapter to keep batteries charged all the time as installation will take several minutes depending upon the performance of the laptop and data storage media.

Try to clarify your doubts on forum as it helps other readers too, but you are welcome to contact me directly for any help of any sort on if that helps boost your confidence.

Software installation:

You can use the manual procedure (attached) to install software on your laptop or follow automatic installation steps given below:

Create a folder on laptop or any external media and give any name such as BMWInstall. If you are creating folder BMWInstall on laptop, then you may need 36 GB of clear space as the installer will not move or delete any file from your laptop. If BMWInstall folder is on external media, you will need on 18 GB of clear space on laptop.
Copy folders 2_46.3 psdzdata and E-Sys_3.18.4 into BMWInstall (Look at the BMWInstall folder image attached).
Also copy Setup_3.18.4.bat and EDIABAS.INI files into the same folder.
Double click on Setup_3.18.4.v2.bat. It will install the complete software with correct settings to your laptop if the folders names are correct. Enter the password for E-Sys when asked. Installation time maypole take several minutes. Don't interrupt the process, let it run and finish. You are good to go now.

Preparation for coding:

It's a good practice to shut off any wireless or Bluetooth service on the laptop. Let just laptop and car talk to each other with no external interference.
As a precaution, disable any firewall on the laptop. I don't even like any anti virus software as their behavior is not well known, better disable them.
It is preferred to start with fully charged batteries of laptop and car as no interruption can be tolerated during transfer of data from laptop to Car.

Setting up the key to E-Sys:

Launch E-Sys by double clicking its shortcut on desktop. It might take a minute to start, have patience.
Select Options > Settings > EST
Click on the browse button with three dots (…................) and navigate to EST folder. If automatic installation was done, it should be at C:\ESysData\EST
Select file "******.est" and click OK.

ENET cable testing with Car:

Connect ENET cable between car's OBD port and network port of laptop.
Switch on the ignition of the car, don't start the engine.
You will notice laptop tries to connect to the car. Wait a few minutes until the network icon on laptop shows a Connection with the yellow exclamation point over it.
Launch "C:\EDIABAS\Hardware\ENET\ZGW_SEARCH.exe" to verify cable and connection are working. IP Address, MAC Address, & VIN will be displayed in a separate window. That shows that communication between car and laptop can be established with the used ENET cable. It may be useful to create a desktop shortcut for starting ZWG_SEARCH every time. It may not work under Windows 7, try running under Windows XP compatibility mode by right clicking on its exe file and selecting the correct mode.

First time full backup of Car's configuration files:

It's a good practice to take a full back up of Car's setting before any changes are made to the car. This would help reverting back to original settings in case a mistake is made or it is desired to go back to original settings of any or all features.
Connect ENET cable between car's OBD port and network port of laptop.
Switch on the ignition of the car, don't start the engine.
You will notice laptop tries to connect to the car. Wait a few minutes until the network icon on laptop shows a Connection with the yellow exclamation point over it.
Press connect button on top row of E-Sys to connect car with the laptop.
It opens up a popup, select the correct TargetSelector, e.g . F025 and not F025_DIRECT, select "connection via VIN" and press Connect.
Click Ok when connection established.
In Vehicle Order Box (upper left), click on "Read" button., it would display FA of your car.
Go to SVT Actual Box (right pane, midway down) and click on "Read(VCM)" button.
SVT box will display SVT of different modules of your car, some with green bullets. These green CAFD files are of our interest.
Right click on each green CAFD and click on "Read Coding data". Afre codes are read, green icon will change into a folder icon.
Read all the green CAFD files one by on or,select multiple by holding the Ctrl key of keyboard and read Coding data by right clicking..
Check the folder "C:\ESysData\CAF", this will contain all the read CAFD files.
Copy and Save all the files in a safe place. These are your original CAFD files.
You can use utility "Copy_CAF_v2.bat" , copy it anywhere on your laptop and double click on it to automatically save the files under a Folder "C:\My_CAF_Files " with date and time stamp.

Coding CAFD files:

Follow 1 to 8 steps of above topic.
Select "Expert Mode" on the left pane and click on "Coding" button.
Expand the folder of any read CAFD of a module that you would like to edit with the changes as shown on the cheat file.
Right click on the CAFD file and click "Edit FDL". Enter the pin if asked.
Open the module you wanted to edit, click on the Functionen folder, ausgelessen folder of the selected function will show the current settings.
Change them as per Cheat Sheet and Save.
To be on the safer side, edit only one module at a time.
After making all changes in the module as per the cheet sheet for that function, save and go back by pressing top extreme left green arrow "back" button.
Now you can see FA again. Right click on it and "Activate FA". You will see a green active text next to FA. Also FP will open on the right side.
Select the edited CAFD file on SVT box and Click on "Code FDL" in coding box on right.
Coding process will start and should end with no errors.
Take a backup of all the CAFD files again and save in a different folder. Best way is to use "Copy_CAF_v2.bat". Copy it any where on your laptop and just double click on it, all will be done for you and files will be saved under a new date time stamped folder.
Great, you coded one module. Disconnect E-Sys by clicking on top Connect button which is showing a red x. You are done.
Test the car for the changed feature. Some features require 15 -30 minutes to get activated where as some are instant and few need you to switch off the and lock the car and unlock and start.


P.S. Aug 18, 2012:In case its desired to uninstall E-Sys with data files, run Unistall_ESYS with data.bat
P.S. Aug 17, 2012: Setup for psdzdata 2.46.6 added. Remove extension pdf
P.S. Aug 14, 2012: Manual Installation procedure added.
P.S. Aug 05, 2012: Cheat sheet format modified to help beginners