New member struggling with the basics

Hi, I'm clearly new here and never posted on a forum before so apologies in advance.

Having purchased a HEX-V2 with the intention of adding a few extras to my A4 I thought I would start easy and use it to check the fault codes on my sons BMW 118d E87. To my surprise the software tells me it is not OBDII compatible which I can't understand as other cheaper code readers recognise and read it.
Am I missing something as I was told it would cover most cars from 2002 onward.

Any help for a novice newby would be appreciated

Thanks

We specialize in VW/Audi Group cars. VCDS may work in generic OBD-II mode on other cars, but we make no guarantees on any other brand of car.

What model year is this BMW?

-Uwe-

The car is a 2005

In principle, VCDS should be able to communicate with it in generic OBD-II mode, but without access to the car, it's not really feasible to trouble-shoot that, and it's model that was never available in North America.

-Uwe-