A software install session is short — as long as the machine is ready. Almost every install that runs long runs long for one of the reasons below.
The checklist
Windows version. Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit. Check with <kbd>Win</kbd>+<kbd>Pause</kbd>. Some older diagnostic packages are fussy about this, and it is better to know before we start than at 60% through.
Administrator rights on that machine. This is the number one blocker. An install cannot finish without them, and a work laptop locked down by an IT department will refuse halfway with a message that looks like a crash. If it is a company machine, sort this out first.
Free disk space. Some suites want 20–40 GB. A laptop sitting at 2 GB free is a session that stops.
Remote access. TeamViewer or AnyDesk installed and running, so you can send us the ID when we connect.
Your diagnostic interface. Have the adapter to hand — INLINE 7, Nexiq USB-Link, DPA5, whatever you use. We often set the drivers up in the same session, and it is quicker with the hardware plugged in.
Antivirus. Do not disable it before we arrive — just be at the keyboard. Some installers trip heuristic warnings, and we will tell you which prompts are ours as they appear.
Two things worth doing the night before
Restart the machine. A laptop that has been asleep for three weeks has pending Windows updates queued, and they will fight you for the reboot halfway through the install.
Plug it in. Same reason as the truck battery — an install that dies at the wrong moment leaves a half-registered package that has to be cleaned out before we can try again.
What we do not need
We do not need your passwords. We connect to a session you start and you can see, and you close it when we are done.
After the install
We check the software launches, talks to your interface, and reads a live ECM if one is available. An install that opens but cannot see the truck is not a finished job, and we do not call it one.