INSTALLATION GUIDE TO ISTA+ 4.

10
DISCLAIMER AND WARNINGS
I'm not a BMW technician. This document was created using knowledge available publicly on
the internet and is provided freely for entertainment purposes only and is not intended to be
instructional in nature. Use of the information in this document or if you engage in DIY
diagnostics or programming and ANY other type of maintenance using this information, you
do so entirely at your own risk. You release the author of ANY and ALL risk and liability and
hold the author harmless from ANY and ALL claims whatsoever. All copyrights belong to their
respective owners.

INTRODUCTION
Going forward, ISTA+ can be used to diagnose ALL cars (E/F/G/i/Mini/RR) and Program
Only F/G/i/Mini/RR cars. E Series Programming is not supported in ISTA+. This version,
shared with you, does not contain any data required for programming. SDP data has to
be sourced separately and added to ISTA+.

BMW officially breaks up the new ISTA+ application capability into two parts – Diagnostics
and Programming. Following is a short breakup of each feature within ISTA+:

DIAGNOSTICS:
• Vehicle identification for specific vehicle management
• Information research for repair and maintenance
• Guided troubleshooting
• Software repair

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
• Minimum system configuration is now hard coded into the program, although the
standalone versions have this check removed.
• 2.2Ghz CPU - 2 core minimum, core i5 or i7 with 4 cores recommended, 4GB RAM -
8GB recommended
• Minimum 30+GB HDD free space for ISTA+ Diagnostics with ONE language
• This version includes English Databases only. If other languages are required, add to
SQLiteDBs folder, which will need more space.

INTERFACES AND OTHER REQUIREMENTS

E-series:
• Interface = K+DCAN Cable or ICOM
• EDIABAS = Low Level ECU Communication Software Server API used by ISTA+
F- series:
• Interface = ENET Cable or ICOM
ICOM:
• ICOM A: main interface
• ICOM B: adapter for programming multimedia in E series
• ICOM C: adapter for old BMW with round 20 pin diagnostic plug
• ICOM D: adapter for motorcycles

Beginner’s Guide to ISTA+ is located at:

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showpost.php?p=9893663&postcount=1

INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS – VARY WITH SOURCE – THE FOLLOWING APPLY ONLY TO SOURCE
OBTAINED FROM THIS FORUM
NOTE: While there are multiple sources to procure ISTA+ and “install” on a laptop, the following
instructions apply only to ISTA+ obtained on this site, and specifically “ISTA+ No Request”
thread. Each source has its own installation method and those are not discussed here. Versions
in pictures used as examples only. Actual version may vary.
PREFERRED OPERATING SYSTEM: WINDOWS 10 X64 PRO/ENTERPRISE

Pre-requisites (Install first, BUT AFTER STEP 1 – So, install unblock.reg first, then
reboot and come back to this step):
 A working EDIABAS installation is required. Run the “Setup.exe” file in
“Easy BMW Tools” folder, to install the required EDIABAS version.

 For x64 based systems, install .NET from “NET Framework” and VCRedist (BOTH x64
AND x32) from Microsoft using links provided in the “VC Redist Links” document. Note,
both x64 and x32 versions are required to be installed for x64 systems.
 On x32 systems, only install the x32 bit versions and vs90_piaredist.exe

*** NEW***
Due to issues with single file size restriction of HTML5 and bandwidth
restrictions, the package is now separated into multiple files. Download all
three 7z files and extract Rheingold.7z.001 which will extract all the zipped
files into a single Rheingold folder.
See screenshot below.

Use MegaSync or JDownloader ONLY! If bandwidth errors occur, use

megadownloader v1.7 (note the version number). Please don’t post saying
download didn’t work in the forum. Alternatively, buy a month’s subscription to
Mega.

Step 1:
Download and run unblock.reg BEFORE downloading anything else. Then REBOOT the
computer, this is a critical step.

Step 2:
Download the rest of the packages. Once downloaded, check whether the downloaded files are
blocked. If they are, unblock them. To check if the file is blocked, right click on the file, go to
Properties, and at the bottom right you should see if there is an option to unblock. This also means
Step 1 was not completed successfully.
Step 3:
Start by extracting Rheingold.7z.001 using 7zip ONLY. This will extract the other zipped files as
well and give you the “Rheingold” folder. You may have to give admin privileges for extracting.
Location doesn't matter, but preferred location is C:\. If extracting to this location, you will need
admin privileges for 7zip before extracting the file. NOTE: Some external locations, especially USB
based drives are known to cause issues with proper running of ISTA+. If errors occur, move
installation to root drive instead and try again.

Step 4:
Assuming you extracted the file to the location suggested above, create desktop shortcut from “C:\
Rheingold\TesterGUI\bin\Release\ISTAGUI.exe”. If not, create the shortcut from the location you
extracted the files to.

Step 5:
Run ONE OF THE FOLLOWING (NOT BOTH), depending from your OS – so if you have x64
Windows, then you would run the x64 reg file only:

Step 6:
Run ISTAGUI shortcut from your desktop as administrator.

Step 7:
When prompted for license, copy the license key from the “License.txt”.

Step 8:
If/When prompted for dealer ID, enter “1” and ignore following warnings. ISTA+ will close.

Step 9:
Run the program again from the ISTAGUI shortcut from your desktop as administrator and verify the
databases in Settings > Version tab in ISTA+. If you encounter start/running issues, delete the
“Rheingold” folder from “C:\”, run “RCleanerV4.4.exe” from the downloaded files as administrator
and start again from step 3.

COMMON ISSUES AND FIXES

• Database Error: "The connection to one of the required databases could not be established.
Please check DSS #00046632EN for further trouble shooting."
o A common error which occurs when SQLiteDBs are not properly or fully unpacked, or the
files are blocked. Start again from Step 1. This can also occur when the default interface
language is not chosen in the settings.
• Failed to start ISTA:

• Possible reasons:
o For x64 versions, all required vcredist versions not installed. Both x86 and x64 are
required.
o RCleanerV4.4.exe was run after installing ISTA+ or did not work as expected. Clean
registry manually and remove all references to Rheingold and start again from Step
3.
 o For x32, especially Windows 7, SP1 is required, update your Windows Service Pack.
There shouldn’t be any issues with Windows 10.
• In some instances, where connection errors occur, you also need to edit the EDIABAS.ini
located at ~\Rheingold\Ediabas\BIN and update your interface type.