How to Reset BMW iDrive Screen and Other Troubleshooting Tips!

Your iDrive system is the lifeblood of your BMW. It controls so much, and it gives you much needed information, entertainment, and more. However, what do you do if you need to reset your BMW iDrive system? Regardless if you are having BMW iDrive problems or just want to reset your BMW to factory settings before selling it, this guide will show you how to get that done.

Coming up, you’ll learn:

• What is the BMW iDrive system all about?
  
• What are the most common issues it can face?
  
• How to reset the BMW iDrive system?
  
• How many different ways for resetting it are there?

Enjoy the read!

What is BMW’s iDrive?

First off, what is this iDrive that we keep speaking of? In short, it’s the in-car communications and entertainment system in BMW, MINI, Rolls Royce, and even the Supra (though they try to keep that last one separated…).

The main parts are the head unit (hidden behind your radio controls and other buttons), the screen, and the controller. In later model BMWs, the heads up display and some digital clusters are also key integrated parts of the iDrive system.

First appearing in its rudimentary form in 2001, it quickly grew over the years to not only be more seamless and easy to operate, but more and more essential to the safe and complete functionality of newer vehicles.

In 2003, the first really mainstream iDrive was BMW’s CCC, which after a few updates, was replaced by CIC in 2008. In 2012 with BMW’s NBT head unit (Next Best Thing), the iDrive started to transform into something a little more modern with iDrive 4. With the NBT EVO head unit coming out in 2016, BMW rolled out iDrive 5 and 6, which is the predecessor to what we all know and love today. More recently, iDrive 7 came about with the MGU head unit BMWs, quickly followed by iDrive 8.

In the event you’re wondering, BMW is currently on iDrive 9.

Common Issues with BMW iDrive – iDrive Not Working

With any modern technology, there will be problems. From your phone, to your computer, TV, and more, things glitch, malfunction, and/or try to take over the world. Don’t know what I mean? Check out the August episode of Last Month in BMW to see how BMW is using robots to replace humans. Yeah.

Anyway… You can run into a whole host of issues from your BMW screen not turning on, the iDrive screen is glitching or lagging and possibly even freezing, control display problems, your BMW Bluetooth is not working, Apple CarPlay or Android Auto not working, and more. 

You should be glad to know that most of this can be solved with an iDrive system reset or reboot. If you don’t know how to reset your BMW iDrive, you’ve come to the right place, so keep reading!

Preparation Before Resetting BMW iDrive – What are the Main Ways?

Before you reset your iDrive system, there are a few things you need to keep in mind. First off, how are you resetting your iDrive? Is it a soft reset, hard reset, software update, or a factory reset?

How to Easily Reset BMW iDrive

Soft and hard reboots won’t cause you to lose anything, but a factory reset will erase all settings, user profiles, connections, history, and so on. On F and G series BMWs, a software update will need to either be performed at a dealer, or with a BimmerTech iDrive software update. It’s always best to start with the least “extreme” method first when you attempt to reset the BMW iDrive.

Now on to the resetting guide…

BMW iDrive Soft Reset

The easiest way to try and reboot your iDrive is to simply do nothing. Yup. Most modern BMWs will reset themselves every time you park. If you’re having an issue, park your BMW, turn off the engine, roll up the windows, get out, lock the doors, and wait a minimum of 10 to 15 minutes. Once you do, your BMW will go to “sleep.” Next time you “wake it up” by unlocking it, it could have fixed your problem.

BMW iDrive Hard Reboot

A hard reset (or reboot) of the iDrive system is actually faster than a soft reset. Have your BMW safely parked (since your iDrive controls a lot of your BMW, you don’t want to do this at a red light or something). Regardless, rebooting and resetting your BMW iDrive system is easy. Simply press down and hold the volume/power button for the audio system until you see your iDrive screen go black. Then release the button and allow the system to restart.

Reset Caused by the BMW iDrive Software Update

In most cases, you should never really need to do a software update. You generally will not get any new or exciting features. However, you can always call one of our sales specialists with your BMW’s VIN and they will be able to tell you if you can unlock anything, such as full screen Apple CarPlay.

If you have tried rebooting your iDrive system and are still experiencing issues in your F or G series BMW, you might want to try a software update. As mentioned, this can be done at the dealership, or with a remote coding session with BimmerTech. If you choose the second option, you’ll hook up a laptop to your BMW, and one of our technicians will perform the update on your BMW remotely. Easy!

This can fix some unusual glitches or consistent errors that are not hardware related.

Factory Reset and Erasing Personal Data

A factory reset is generally a method of last resort, since personal data and settings will be erased. This may sound daunting, but keep in mind that your car is not like your phone. Yes, you will have to re-pair your devices, re-enter addresses, and other things like that, but that’s simple compared to losing everything on your phone.

This can be a good option if you are having issues with your phone connecting and stuff like that. This method is also a great method to do before selling your car, as you won’t leave behind personal phone numbers or addresses!

Here’s how to perform a factory reset and erase all personal data on some of the more recent BMW iDrive systems.

BMW iDrive 6 

1. Go to “My Vehicle” and scroll down to and select “Data Privacy.” 
2. Choose “Delete personal data.” 
3. Confirm by pressing “Delete personal data” again, and then “OK.” 
4. Allow your BMW to do a soft reboot by exiting your BMW, locking it, and leaving it alone for 15 minutes. 
5. After that time, you can unlock your BMW, and your personal information will have been removed.

BMW iDrive 7 

1. Go to “Car,” “Settings,”General Settings,” and scroll down to and select “Reset vehicle data.” 
2. Confirm by selecting “Reset vehicle data” again, and then again one more time. 
3. The iDrive screen will then go black, and it will boot up again freshly reset.

BMW iDrive 8

1. In the app menu, go to “System Settings,” and scroll down to and select “Reset vehicle data.” 
2. Confirm by selecting “Reset vehicle data” again, and then again one more time. 
3. Your BMW will then restart and be reset.

Simple as that and mostly similar across different iDrive versions. 

Post-Reset Steps and Maintenance 

After you perform a soft or hard reboot on your BMW, everything will be just as you left it, just hopefully functioning this time!

To confirm that you successfully completed your factory reset on your BMW iDrive system, if you decided to go that route, you should be able to tell right away that it worked when you turn back on your BMW. It will welcome you as a new user, or prompt you to link or create a user/driver depending on your iDrive system. If you get back in your BMW and it greets you by your name, well… Something went wrong!

You’ll also want to try and perform regular iDrive updates any time they are available, should you keep running into issues. Technology changes all the time, and new bugs and glitches are discovered all the time. If there is a fix, BMW is on it and will take care of it. (If not, well, that’s where we come in, but try a simple iDrive update first!)

To Sum It All Up…

Technology is great. It makes life easier, creates more enjoyable creature comforts in your BMW, and so much more. However, as established, it’s not perfect and can glitch out, get buggy, and just be a pain from time to time. Thankfully it can sometimes be just as easy to fix. Just remember the age old question… Did you turn it off and back on again?