User Guides

How to use the desktop software and the Nizpro programmer.

1. Before you start

You need a Nizpro programmer connected to the PC by USB, and a 12 V supply on the ECU harness.
Switch the ignition off before connecting or disconnecting anything.
You need an NCDS account and an internet connection. The software checks entitlements and records every write against your account.

Supply voltage matters more than anything else here. The software will refuse to detect or write outside 12–14 V, and it re-checks immediately before erasing. Between 12 and 13 V it will still proceed but shows the programmer in orange as a caution. Use a charger or a healthy battery — a supply that sags mid-write is the one way to damage an ECU.

2. Signing in

The software opens on the Sign In screen. Enter your account email and press Sign In. New customers can use Create account to start self-service onboarding.

Your role — Customer, Dealer or Admin — decides which actions are available. Most of this guide describes the Dealer view, which has the full set of ECU operations.

3. Connecting the programmer

Plug the programmer in. The status bar along the bottom shows the connected unit's CPU ID, its firmware version and the live battery voltage it is reading from the harness.

The readiness indicator must be green — Device ready — before you can detect or write. If more than one programmer is connected you will be asked to choose, by COM port and serial.

The My Devices tab lists the programmers registered to your account, with firmware versions and when each was last seen. Use Check for Firmware Update there to keep a unit current.

4. Detecting an ECU

On the Main tab press Detect ECU. The software reads the ECU's identity, then looks it up in the Nizpro catalogue. The Detected ECU card shows the model, the engine, the tune currently installed, the licence groups it is covered for, and its status.

What the status means:

Licensed — a paid tune is recorded against this unit.
Unlicensed / Stock — no licence yet. A first tune is a New Flash and costs a credit.
Unverifiable — the unit carries a key but its record cannot be confirmed. Read and Submit to Nizpro so we can look at it.

If the model is not in the catalogue at all, use Tools ▸ Read and Submit to Nizpro so it can be identified and added.

You can work on an ECU that is not on your account. If a customer brings you a unit licensed to another dealer, you can still write, flash to stock, return it to stock and verify it. What you cannot do is transfer it out — moving ownership stays with the account that owns it.

5. Writing a tune

Detect the ECU.
Press Write ECU and choose a tune from the picker.
Read and accept the acknowledgements. These are recorded against the write.
A progress window shows each stage — preparing, writing, verifying.

Once the erase begins, the write must finish. Do not unplug the programmer, disturb the harness or cut power until the software reports completion. Cancelling is only possible up to that point, and after it the button will not stop the operation — an interrupted write leaves the ECU with no usable calibration.

A write consumes one credit from the relevant licence group. Writing again to the same ECU within the coverage you have already paid for does not cost another.

6. Flash to Stock, Return to Stock, and Verify

Flash to Stock

Writes the factory calibration back to a licensed ECU. The licence is kept — you can put a tune back on later without buying another credit.

Return to Stock

Writes the factory calibration and gives up the licence. The confirmation tells you whose account the licence is being taken from, because it is not always your own.

Return to Stock is irreversible and it forfeits the credit. A new credit must be purchased to put a tune on that ECU again, and none is refunded. If the ECU belongs to another account, it is their licence and their credit you are destroying. Use Flash to Stock instead if you only need the engine running on the factory calibration.

Verify ECU — Full

A read-only integrity check. It reads the ECU back and compares it with what should be on it — the licensed tune if the unit has one, or the factory stock calibration if it detects as stock. It costs nothing and changes nothing.

Running it on a stock unit is worth doing on any ECU you have not seen before: a unit that appears stock but was altered by someone else will not match.

7. Transferring ECUs

ECU Transfer In takes ownership of a unit onto your account. ECU Transfer Out hands it to another account — you will need the recipient's email address. Transfers are recorded, and some require approval before they complete.

8. Other tools

Identify ECU — reads back the ECU's identity for the unit currently connected. Useful when you have several on the bench and want to be certain which one is on the harness.
Perform RC Reset — the remote-control reset procedure, where the model calls for it.
Read and Submit to Nizpro — captures a full read of an unknown or problem ECU and queues it for review.
Send Flash Log to Nizpro — uploads the flash history held on this PC. It sends only what is new since last time.
Re-send All Flash Logs (recovery) — sends everything this PC still holds, ignoring what has already been sent. Only use it if Nizpro asks you to. It is there for rebuilding records after a failure at our end, and it will produce duplicates by design.

9. Legacy Woolich / WRT units

A unit previously flashed with a Woolich/WRT tune is recognised on detect. Depending on what is found, the software will either offer to send it to Nizpro for recognition, or let you adopt it onto your account with a normal New Flash. Adoption is a paid write like any other — recognising a third-party key does not grant a Nizpro licence.

10. The tabs

Main — detect and operate on the connected ECU.
My ECUs — the units you own or have worked on, with their tunes and history.
My Devices — your registered programmers, firmware and last-seen times.
Supported ECUs — the read-only catalogue of models, engines, harnesses, licence groups and available tunes.

11. Credits and licensing

Credits are held per licence group, not per tune. Your balance is shown on your account.
A New Flash on an unlicensed ECU consumes one credit.
Re-flashing within cover you already hold does not consume another.
Return to Stock forfeits the credit for that ECU. Flash to Stock does not.

12. Keeping the software current

Help ▸ Check for Updates compares your build with the latest release. Help ▸ Release Notes lists what each software and firmware version changed. Firmware for the programmer itself is updated from the My Devices tab.

13. If something goes wrong

The programmer is not ready. Check the USB connection and the 12 V supply. The status bar shows the voltage it is actually reading.
Detect finds nothing. Confirm the ignition is off, the harness is seated, and you have the right harness for the model.
A write failed verification. Do not disconnect. Follow what the summary tells you, and if it cannot be cleared, send the flash log and contact Nizpro before moving the unit.
The software refuses an operation. The reason is shown on screen — usually voltage, an open failure on that ECU, or a transfer waiting to complete.