Warning Regarding VersaTuner on Macs

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Steve @ VersaTune
Lead tuner
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Joined: March 29th, 2010, 12:58 pm

Warning Regarding VersaTuner on Macs

Post by Steve @ VersaTune »

Over the last year, we have seen a couple instances of ECUs being bricked when flashing using VersaTuner in a Windows VM on Mac OSX. We have worked with affected customers to recover from the situation, but it usually takes a few days to resolve.

VersaTuner does not support running in a virtual machine due to potential issues with data corruption in the USB virtualization. VersaTuner is only officially supported on "bare metal" windows installations on PC hardware. Parallels Boot Camp on Mac hardware is not officially supported, but may have less risk of an unrecoverable flash failure.

We are continuing to investigate this situation and will provide updated information when it becomes available.
NotAPreppie
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Joined: March 29th, 2018, 7:14 am

Re: Warning Regarding VersaTuner on Macs

Post by NotAPreppie »

Just a quick pedantic detail correction to avoid confusing others:
Parallels, VMWare, and VirtualBox are VM solutions.
BootCamp is a bare-metal Windows install on a Mac. Theoretically, using BootCamp to install Windows on a Mac should be indistinguishable from Windows on any other laptop but the devil is in the details (mostly driver issues).
RX-2
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Joined: February 21st, 2019, 2:18 pm

Re: Warning Regarding VersaTuner on Macs

Post by RX-2 »

So is it still not recommended to use versatuner on a Mac?
.p4nzer
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Joined: September 28th, 2021, 8:50 pm

Re: Warning Regarding VersaTuner on Macs

Post by .p4nzer »

Steve @ VersaTune wrote: August 4th, 2017, 9:21 am Over the last year, we have seen a couple instances of ECUs being bricked when flashing using VersaTuner in a Windows VM on Mac OSX. We have worked with affected customers to recover from the situation, but it usually takes a few days to resolve.

VersaTuner does not support running in a virtual machine due to potential issues with data corruption in the USB virtualization. VersaTuner is only officially supported on "bare metal" windows installations on PC hardware. Parallels Boot Camp on Mac hardware is not officially supported, but may have less risk of an unrecoverable flash failure.

We are continuing to investigate this situation and will provide updated information when it becomes available.
Good morning, as I'm about to buy VersaTune for my Mazda 3 2015 (2.2 diesel), I would like to have confirmation that it's safe to use the software with Boot Camp.

As another user mentioned, Boot Camp it's not a VM.
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Ugnius @ VersaTune
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Re: Warning Regarding VersaTuner on Macs

Post by Ugnius @ VersaTune »

Yes, you can safely use VersaTuner with Boot Camp. It is a multi boot utility and not virtual machine software.
Davin69
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Joined: May 16th, 2022, 8:32 am

Re: Warning Regarding VersaTuner on Macs

Post by Davin69 »

Has anyone successfully run VersaTune through Parallels Desktop on an M1 MacBook?

BootCamp isn’t compatible with the M1 chip but I believe they’re made by the same people?

Thanks
tristan_8055
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Joined: September 29th, 2022, 10:23 pm

Re: Warning Regarding VersaTuner on Macs

Post by tristan_8055 »

Wondering if you ever got it to work I just purchased versa tuner but also have a MacBook book with m1 chip
mituc
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Re: Warning Regarding VersaTuner on Macs

Post by mituc »

Please read the first post. Is not a matter of getting it working, is a matter of the virtualization software vendors at getting the USB/network/graphics drivers better (but in this case the USB drivers in particular).
2008 Cosmic Blue Mazda 3MPS
Built engine + WMI + GTX3071 gen2, ~509BHP @34PSI
2008 Icy Blue Mazda CX7
Stock engine and exhaust (YES!!), JBR3" + GTX2867 gen2 + Autotech HPFP, self-tuned to 330-ish BHP
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