Objective: Extend the use of my existing genuine KII-usb FT232r cable.

The KII-USB is NOT on the recommended cables list, and it seems that people have had issues connecting with the ME7_ECU_Flasher.  The KII is all that I have, and I haven’t had any issue connecting to, reading, and flashing (or recovering) my ECU.

First, we replace Ross-Tech's USB drivers with VCP (Virtual Com Port) drivers.
This broadens the use of the cable to include programs that use direct usb drivers (VCDS, Nefmoto, Galletto)
  -AND-
programs looking for a serial com port (ARGDUB's me7_95040, VAG K+CAN).
  -uninstall the ross-tech USB drivers and check the "delete driver software" box.
    - Ross-Tech provides a VCP driver link and installation notes about how to set up their usb products for use with third party applications.
       -OR-
    - FTDIchip.com provides up-to-date VCP drivers and an installation guide.  <-- I prefer this

note: for future VCDS installations, uncheck all of the driver cleanup & usb driver boxes during installation.

  -open VCDS: options, uncheck "Boot in intelligent mode", and “test”.
VCDS does not need to remain running in the background.

Galletto:
  -The serial # embedded in the .exe must match the serial stored in the FTDI chip of your cable for it to work.
  -If the numbers don't match, the serial inside the .exe can easily be changed with a hex editor.
  -The serial number is stored after the text "Marca:" at offset 0x249E90 in EOBD1260.exe
  -You can get the serial # of your cable by dumping it using nefmoto -> Licensing -> Save Device Info to File
  Credit to kls and NYET

  -OR-

  -Follow ddillenger’s procedure to edit Galletto’s exe for use with your existing FT232R cable

VAG_K+Commander_v3.6:
VAG_K+Commander_v2.5: (files are linked in the post)
(VAG K+ CAN 2.5 vs 3.6 problems)

The limitations of use, of a genuine VCDS cable:

VAG Tacho: (I'm including this just to round out the list, but this should NOT be used with your kii-usb. files are linked in the post)

MPPS V13: (I'm including this just to round out the list, but this should NOT be used with your kii-usb. files are linked in the post)

I don’t plan doing any tuning or programming, but the software grants me the ability to read SKC, recover, and clone ECU's. This information is all here on the site already, but I hope that having it in one place helps someone out a bit.

Massive thanks to TONY, ddillenger, ArgDub, setzi, notorious vr, plila_dot, nyet, kompressd…  all the bosses.

I can confirm that RossTech's VCP driver functions correctly.

On a different topic, i am considering programming all my non VCDS cables to have the vagtacho serial # (using MProg), and hacking galletto.exe to use that # as well.

You can't change the sn on a vagcom cable to work with vagtacho can you?

you can basically brick a cable. enough to require some soldering.

Hi ddillenger, I have been struggling with getting into bootmode for ever. I have the rosstech cable (hex-usb+can), loaded VCP drivers etc, but no go. My laptop has issued com port 11 (all lower ones used already), but now you mention com port must be 1-4. Can you confirm that? Maybe that's been my problem...?
Also, trying to get my cable's ID to use Galletto etc. MProg reports "RT00001" as the serial number, which seems a bit odd. Using the Nefmoto SW ->Licensing -> save device info to file it confirms the RT serial number:

<?xml version="1.0" ?>
- <FTDIDevicesFile Version="1.0.0.0">
- <Devices>
- <Devices>
  <Description>Ross-Tech HEX-USB</Description>
  <Flags>0</Flags>
  <ID>67369508</ID>
  <LocId>529</LocId>
  <SerialNumber>RT000001</SerialNumber>
  <Type>FT_DEVICE_232R</Type>
  <Index>0</Index>
  <ChipID>2995746773</ChipID>
  </Devices>
  </Devices>
  </FTDIDevicesFile>

Help please!
Thanks...

Btw, I tried COM2, with latest FTDI drivers - still no go - but I'll seek further help in a new thread...

For the longest time I could never get the ftdi drivers to work, always had to use the Ross-Tech drivers... recently I had to set up a new computer for logger and tried it our again.  Finally I got the ftdi drivers to work and thought I would share. 

1.  Download the latest ftdi driviers, see link above.
2.  Open your Device Manager and find your VCDS cable
3.  Right click on your VCDS cable and select "update drivers"
4.  Select “Browse…”, then “Let me pick…”, then “Have Disk…”, then “Browse…”, and navigate to the location of the ftdi drivers you just downloaded.
5.  The driver folder should contain “ftdiport.inf” which you need to click, then click "Open", and then click "OK"
6.  The next window gives several models to choose from click “USB Serial Converter” and then “Yes” to the warning and finally click “close” after the driver has been installed.
7.  In the device manager right click “USB Serial Converter” and click on “properties”
8.  In the properties menu select the advanced tab and insure the “Load VCP” is checked and click “OK”
9.  In your Devices and Printers Ross-Tech Hex-USB should show up, right click on “Ross-Tech Hex-USB” and click on “properties”
10.  In the properties menu select the hardware tab to find out the COM location and then use that location... done.

From Ross-Tech


It does NOT apply to our current HEX-V2 or HEX-NET interfaces.
These new interfaces do not use a USB UART chip and cannot be be used for "dumb K-line pass-through"!