(Solution) Mini VCI + Toyota TIS Techstream 8.x on Windows 7/8 64-bit.
Hello, everyone!
Recently I‘ve got myself the MINI VCI cable to play with. As it turned out, with little manual tweaking it is possible, contrary to the popular belief, to get it working under Windows 64-bit. So, I decided to share the instructions, which hopefully will save someone a headache of dealing with dual boot and virtual machines with Windows XP .
Equipment:
MINI VCI cable for TOYOTA TIS Techstream. I‘ve bought mine from Amazon for around $30. The cable is about 4’ long, with translucent casing and “MINI-VCI J2534 Standard OBDII Communication Interface” sticker:
The cable comes with a mini CD with drivers and Toyota Techstream software. Mine was advertised as “Newest V8.00.034 MINI VCI for TOYOTA TIS Techstream Diagnostic Cable & Software”. The “newest” refers to the version of bundled Techstream, rather than the cable firmware, as cable shows serial number “MVCI006000001” and firmware version 1.4.1, which is widely known as “cheap clone of the original XHorse MVCI cable”.
A laptop running 64-bit version of Windows 7/8. Mine is actually Windows 8 x64, but for Windows 7 the configuration procedure should be identical.
The content of bundled mini-CD:
The Techstream, MVCI drivers and TIS Key all can be found on the Internet as well.
Using WinRAR Unpack the following files from mini-CD to a temp folder anywhere on your hard drive (e.g. c:\temp).
- Toyota Techstream 8.00.034.rar
- Techstream_Update_V8.10.021.rar
- MVCI Driver for TOYOTA.rar
- TIS KEY.rar
Now open WinRAR again, navigate to the temp folder with unpacked files and double click the TISKey.exe in WinRAR.
The TISKey.exe is actually a self-extracting (SFX) RAR archive file. Once executed, it simply unpacks and copies the IT3System.ini file to the Techstream folder. Extract that IT3System.ini to the same folder for now.
Installing MVCI Driver for TOYOTA
This is the step which most people stumble upon as “MVCI Driver for TOYOTA.msi” installer indeed does not work on Windows x64. The workaround is to install it manually, as follows:
Open Command Prompt in Administrator Mode. Navigate to the c:\temp folder and run the following command line:
msiexec /a "C:\temp\MVCI Driver for TOYOTA.msi" /qb TARGETDIR=c:\temp\mvci
This will extract the content of the MSI file to the c:\temp\mvci folder:
Delete the “MVCI Driver for TOYOTA.msi” there and then copy the whole
content of c:\temp\mvci to "C:\Program Files (x86)\XHorse Electronics\MVCI Driver for TOYOTA TIS"
Plug the MINI VCI cable to the USB port.
Open the Device Manager and locate two failing devices in the list. Both will appear with yellow icon (usually under “Other”), indicating that Windows failed to install drivers for them. Now, right click each failing device, select Install Driver, then “Browse my Computer…” and point it for "C:\Program Files (x86)\XHorse Electronics\MVCI Driver for TOYOTA TIS" (enable the “include subfolders” flag). Click “Next” and wait until drivers are installed.
You should now see two new devices: “Universal Serial Bus Controllers\USB Serial Converter” and “Ports (COM & LPT)\USB Serial Port (COM5)”.
Run the FirmwareUpdateTool.exe from the "C:\Program Files (x86)\XHorse Electronics\MVCI Driver for TOYOTA TIS". Click “Device Info”. You should see the “device connected” screen like this:
If you see this, it means your MINI VCI is up and running under Windows x64 and can be used by other programs, such as Techstream.
IMPORTANT: Some people have reported that updating firmware on this “cheap clone” cable may render it dead. So, the Firmware Update Tool should not be used for anything, but checking that the device is connected and working properly.
Now install Techstream software using "Techstream 8.00.034.exe" and then update to 8.10 with "Techstream_Update_V8.10.021.exe". Do not launch it yet.
To activate it, copy the IT3System.ini you extracted before to "C:\Program Files (x86)\Toyota Diagnostics\Techstream\Env\".
Alternatively, you may copy two files from the C:\Program Files (x86)\XHorse Electronics\MVCI Driver for TOYOTA TIS\ProgramFilesFolder\Toyota Diagnostics\Techstream\Env" to "C:\Program Files (x86)\Toyota Diagnostics\Techstream\Env\", which seem to do the trick as well.
Registry Hack: for Techstream to recognize MINI-VCI under Windows x64, the Registry has to be modified as:
The attached "mvci-x64.zip" contains the *.REG file that has to be imported to the Registry (extract, right click, then Merge)
A trick here is the "Wow6432Node" in key path, which is the location the 32-bit applications running on 64-bit OS get redirected to when accessing Registry. The "PassThruSupport.04.04" seems to be the place Techstream looks into for available VIMs (sub-keys appear in the "VIM Select" menu in Techstream).
Run Techstream. Go to Setup | VIM Select menu and select the “XHorse - MVCI”
Connect MVCI cable to your car’s OBDII interface, turn ignition on, then click “Connect to Vehicle” in Techstream. Wait. Then wait again (by the way, you'll be doing that a lot with this cable ). If everything works, you will be prompted to confirm car year/model after which you'll get to the diagnostic interface.
The built-in Techstream cable diagnostics shows:
So far, I tested the cable with 2013 4Runner, 2004 Sienna and 1997 Camry LE/4cyl, and it seems to work fine with all of them. Absence of (L) line connection means no support for ECU re-flashing (which is not something I'm comfortable doing myself anyway). Option customization/clearing DTC is possible (already verified).
Just bought the device. Installed software on my win XP netbook. Connected the cable to the DLC3 connector of my vehicle. Pressed "Connect" button. Nothing happened for 5 minutes. Should I wait any longer?
I too bought the adapter from Amazon for $27 with the intention of either running a VM with XP or a dual-boot with Win7-32 bit in order to utilize the adapter and Techstream. That was until I found your post, followed your directions and VOILA!! Everything works as you described. There was a few hickups with the driver update since I tried to install it before without the registry hack and got stuck with a non-working driver for the USB port but I forced it to use the driver using your method and I got thru it. Beautiful. I ran a health check on my wife's 2007 RX400h and everything checks out. COOL!
Great instruction Alex, Thanks. I may have a slightly different version, most things look the same as above but not everything.
I am having some trouble with step 4d, I don't see any failing devices. When I plug and unplug the MVCI cable I can see a USB device come and go, so it must be the cable. I try to install the new driver, but it says the correct driver is already installed. It try it again, same thing, Ok, maybe it is, so I move on.
The firmware update tool works, and I can see the cable, so it must be good.
Now #6, Registry hack. In my version, under Pass Thru Support.04.04. I have only "DENSO CORPORATION - TIS Techstream VIM"
The contents look different:
Key Name: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\PassThruSu pport.04.04\DENSO CORPORATION - TIS Techstream VIM
Class Name:
Last Write Time: 12/23/2013 - 11:00 AM
Value 0
Name: Vendor
Type: REG_SZ
Data: DENSO CORPORATION
Value 1
Name: Name
Type: REG_SZ
Data: TIS Techstream VIM
Value 2
Name: ConfigApplication
Type: REG_SZ
Data:
Thanks for the guide I migrated my techstream VM from XP to Windows 7 this weekend.
I have a BRZ and the techstream platform is pretty new to most of us. As far as i know none of us have been able to program TPMS id's with one of the cheap cables. Do you know if the L line is needed for this function?
Thanks for all info. It worked very well, but then I did the upgrade to 147 firmware and now is dead. I can find it with firmware tool, it looks ok, but in the car it gives me nothing. So don`t try to update firmware for mini-vci.
PS: I had all lines green (K), only L red, so a lot of information from the engine.
Hello everyone, I read here about how to make it work on 64bit, not sure if it helps now but when I ordered mine on ebay some time ago it was from a romanian seller and it has a custom installer: http://imageshack.com/a/img909/5495/724783.jpg
mine works on 64 bit without having to do anything, until now I tested it on win7 64 bit and 32bit and works great.
Hello everyone, I read here about how to make it work on 64bit, not sure if it helps now but when I ordered mine on ebay some time ago it was from a romanian seller and it has a custom installer: http://imageshack.com/a/img909/5495/724783.jpg
mine works on 64 bit without having to do anything, until now I tested it on win7 64 bit and 32bit and works great.
Any chance you can share that installer? I got the cable installed and the firmware tool can see it. When I run Techstream and go to setup -> vim, it sees the xhorse. But when I connect connect it still doesn't work.
This is on a Windows 8.1 64-bit laptop with a cable bought off Amazon.
Any chance you can share that installer? I got the cable installed and the firmware tool can see it. When I run Techstream and go to setup -> vim, it sees the xhorse. But when I connect connect it still doesn't work.
This is on a Windows 8.1 64-bit laptop with a cable bought off Amazon.
Ok, I got it so that it connects now fine and I can get real-time and sensor data. However, when I go to set options it acts like it is getting a list of them and then comes back with nothing. Any ideas how to fix this? I have techstream 9.x something installed not 8.x
Ok, I got it so that it connects now fine and I can get real-time and sensor data. However, when I go to set options it acts like it is getting a list of them and then comes back with nothing. Any ideas how to fix this? I have techstream 9.x something installed not 8.x
What do you mean by going to set options? And what kind of vehicle are you trying to connect it to?