Steps for getting the BMW repair manual CD to work in a new computer using a virtual machine

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Paul in Ma
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Jun 22, 2022 7:06 pm
Location: Newton, Ma

Steps for getting the BMW repair manual CD to work in a new computer using a virtual machine

Post by Paul in Ma »

Getting BMW Repair Manual on CD working - photos in PDF attachment

Hello,
I bought the Reparaturanleitung BMW635csi ,Baujahr 75-89 repair CD and had to go through quite a bit to get it installed and running and I thought I would share. Image

The CD runs on Windows 95 – Windows XP. Image

For me this meant running a virtual machine as I don’t have anything this old running. I did have a machine running Windows 10 but basically any system will work as long as you can load virtual box (Microsoft, Apple, Linix) and have a CD/DVD drive on it. The steps are basically downloaded and install Virtual box. Then download a ISO image of XP and follow these steps. This is not nearly as scary as it may sound and there are excellent instructions showing you step by step here including where to download the XP ISO image etc https://www.how2shout.com/how-to/how-to ... albox.html

So after you do this you will have XP running as a virtual machine. Close out and go back into Virtual Box. You then need to highlight your virtual machine and hit settings. Image

Click on storage and click on the CD and change your CD path from the ISO image they directed you to use for the install above and change it to to the the physical CD/DVD. This will allow you to run/access the physical CD in the virtual machine. Image

Now go back into the XP virtual machine and install the BMW repair software from your machines CD
It will install fine but when you go to run it, you will likely get an error "Run-Time error '2004': Out of memory."
It was funny, I searched this error and came upon a 2004 post about it and it was about the same software, Reparaturanleitung BMW635csi ,Baujahr 75-89 repair https://www.pcreview.co.uk/threads/run- ... am.397200/

The fix was in the virtual XP machine, you need to go in and edit the boot.ini file It is not difficult and directions are here http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org/how_do ... y_boot.htm
1. Click Start button.
2. From the Start Menu select Control Panel.
3. In Control panel click the System icon.
4. In the System Properties Window click the Advanced tab.
5. If you now look towards the bottom of the Advanced window you will see a section marked Startup and Recovery.
6. Click the settings button.
7. The Startup and Recovery window now opens.
8. At the top of this window you will see a section marked System Startup.
9. Click the Edit button.
10. This will open the Boot.Ini file in Notepad.
11. Edit the boot.ini file so that it looks like the example below.
[boot loader]
timeout=5
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS [operating systems] multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional 512MB" /fastdetect /maxmem=512
12. go to File on the main notepad toolbar and select Save to save the new boot ini file.
13. Exit notepad, system properties and control panel and then reboot your machine. You will have two choices on bootup and select the one that says windows xp 512MB.
Your program will run now.

Now I had one more issue in this all and it was an error when I first tried to run my virtual machine in Virtual Box. E_FAIL (0x80004005). For me this turned out I had to go into the bios of my computer and allow it to use virtualization. You may not have this issue and if you do, you will need to see how to turn it on in the BIOS of your own computer. It is easy but it will vary based on computer make.

I hope this helps if you ever get this CD and need to load it.
Attachments
BMW 635 repair manual CD install on virtual machine new .pdf
How to install BMW 6 repair manual on virtual machine
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TimU
Posts: 280
Joined: Tue Dec 14, 2021 2:16 am
Location: Sydney

Re: Steps for getting the BMW repair manual CD to work in a new computer using a virtual machine

Post by TimU »

Wow, what an ordeal, but thanks for the instructions.

What error did it throw when you tried to run it natively on Win10/Win11?

Did you try running the setup in Application Compatibility mode?
04/1986 635csi Euro spec
Australian Delivered, RHD
Paul in Ma
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Jun 22, 2022 7:06 pm
Location: Newton, Ma

Re: Steps for getting the BMW repair manual CD to work in a new computer using a virtual machine

Post by Paul in Ma »

I did try to run in compatibility mode and I received the same error I did when running it in the virtual machine. "Run-Time error '2004': Out of memory."

I went through some of the Microsoft tools about it and it came back that it was just incompatible so I vent the VM route. That post someone made in 2004 about the same error saved me.
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