Android Head Units

1. Create a Wi-Fi hotspot on your phone and call it KYVNY5KL
2. Connect Head Unit to that Wi-Fi hotspot

Note: The hotspot name used to be 44FESRAN, although it stopped working in 2024 with an “UnActivated” error

Before making any changes, make sure you have a backup of your original file. Once you apply a new file, it will persist even through a factory reset.

1. Use a USB drive with FAT32 formatted partition.
2. On the root of the USB drive, create a folder called OEM.
3. Copy your file into OEM folder, so that it’s accessible under /OEM/factory_config.xml location.
4. Plug in the USB drive into Head Unit. If you have two USB connectors, use the one without CarPlay label.
5. Start (or restart) the Head Unit, your file should be automatically detected. Wait for a toast message indicating that settings were applied.
6. Alternatively, go to Factory settings, “Profile Import” and tap on “Import Configuration” button to load the file manually.

1. Find out the exact version of your current MCU on your System Information screen in Settings
2. Find if there are any updates available on Discord where everything apart from a date is the same
3. Extract the ZIP archive if necessary
4. Copy the ksw_mcu.bin file directly to the root of the FAT32 formatted USB drive
5. Plug in the USB drive into Head Unit (if you have two USB connectors, use the one without CarPlay label)
6. Go to Settings, System Information and select MCU upgrade

1. Download suitable firmware OTA update. Check Discord or forums for links.
2. Compare file signatures with values from Updates page (if available) to make sure file is not corrupted.
3. Copy the Ksw-[...]_OS_v[...]-ota.zip archive directly to the root of the USB drive.
4. Plug in the USB drive into Head Unit. If you have two USB connectors, use the one without CarPlay label.
5. Head Unit should automatically detect the file and ask if you want to update, select Yes.

Firmware on KSW units contains various checks based on hardware it’s running on. From what we could find, the following platforms are (or are going to be) supported:

• Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 MSM8917 = M506
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 SDM450 = 501A-
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 MSM8937
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 460 SM4250 SM_KAMORTA = M600, M606 (since Ksw-T-M600_OS_v1.4.8-ota)
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 MSM8953 = M501
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 662 SM6115 = M511, M600
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 SM6225 = M700, M720
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 685 SM6225-AD = M785

Some updates require certain prior versions to ensure compatibility. If your unit is running a version older or in between any of these listed below, make sure that you follow the upgrade path to avoid issues.

M700 (SD680/SM6225) and M785 (SD685/SM6225-AD)

1. Ksw-T-M700_OS_v1.4.2-ota A13 - required before 1.5.6
2. Witstek-T-M700_OS_v1.5.6-ota or later Android 13

M600 (SD662/SM6115) and M606 (SD460/SM4250)

1. Ksw-R-M600_OS_v1.3.1-ota A11 - required before 1.3.5
2. Ksw-R-M600_OS_v1.3.5-ota A11 - required before 1.4.0
3. Ksw-R-M600_OS_v1.4.0-ota A11 - required before 1.4.3
4. Ksw-R-M600_OS_v1.4.3-ota A11 - required before 1.4.5
5. Ksw-R-M600_OS_v1.4.5-ota A11 - required before 2.2.3
6. Ksw-R-M600_OS_v2.2.3-ota A11 - required before 2.4.2
7. Ksw-R-M600_OS_v2.4.2-ota or later A11 - required before A12
8. Ksw-S-M600_OS_v1.4.4NEXAI-ota or later A12 - required before A13
9. Ksw-T-M600_OS_v1.6.9-ota A13 - required before 1.7.8
10. Witstek-T-M600_OS_v1.7.8-ota or later Android 13

M501 (SD625/MSM8953) and M501A- (SD450/SDM450)

For units that originally came with Android 9:

1. Ksw-P-Userdebug_OS_v1.2.0-ota A9 - required before A10
2. Ksw-Q-Userdebug_OS_v3.1.5-ota A10 - last compatible version

For units that originally came with Android 10:

1. Ksw-Q-Userdebug_OS_v4.3.3-ota or later Android 10

Sources: Kri (Bimmerpost), RedErik (Bimmerpost), bimmer5101 (Discord)

The factory_config.xml file is a device/vendor specific configuration file that gets shipped with your Head Unit. Before you make any changes, please make a backup of the original file, so that you can always revert to it.

1. Download ADB from Android SDK Platform Tools
2. Create a Wi-Fi hotspot on your phone
3. Connect Head Unit and your laptop to that Wi-Fi hotspot
4. Connect to the Head Unit by using a terminal emulator of your choice and ADB:

   adb connect IP:PORT

5. Pull the file into your device:

   adb pull /mnt/vendor/persist/OEM/factory_config.xml

6. Disconnect:

   adb disconnect

Note: You might need to configure your environment variables to access adb command from all locations, alternatively you can cd into the platform-tools folder and run it from there, perhaps with ./adb path instead. This is not specific to these head units and therefore out of scope for this guide. Please look up other instructions online to learn more about installation and usage of ADB, and command line utilities in general.