J2534 — connection and setup

Install the J2534 package and the adapter manufacturer’s driver. Select J2534 in Settings → Connections → Transport, then set Adapter and CAN baudrate to match the bus.

For a 32-bit driver, use DriverBridge, included in the J2534 package. Hardware acceleration depends on driver capabilities.

Hardware acceleration

In VAG, Hardware acceleration is available for J2534 adapters with ISO15765 support. Choose a mode in Settings → Connections → Transport before connecting the adapter.

Mode	When to use it
Enabled — default	For supported UDS diagnostic operations handled by the adapter. During an operation, Tracer shows complete messages, but raw CAN frames are unavailable.
Disabled	When you need raw CAN capture, observation of all available traffic in Tracer and Monitor, or a driver incompatible with acceleration. Diagnostic operations may be slower.

Acceleration is used only during a supported operation. Normal CAN reception resumes automatically when the operation ends. Other CAN protocols, including TP2.0, are unavailable during an accelerated operation. This setting is hidden in CANopen.

Viewing and saving traffic

• In Tracer, select Transport for ISO-TP or Protocol for UDS. Messages are shown in full.
• Raw frames are unavailable at the Physical layer; Monitor does not show all bus traffic.
• .ptrc and .log exports do not include hardware messages. Disable acceleration before capturing raw frames.
• Statistics show estimated bus load and ISO-TP messages per second. This is not a CAN frame count; adapter load is unknown in this mode.

See Tracer layers, trace saving, and traffic statistics.

The transport label shows the current mode: CAN or ISO 15765. ISO/CAN in an adapter name is not a mode indicator.

If the adapter is not found, see connection troubleshooting.