Silicon-based (m1 / m2/ m3) Mac DIY HA Programming Guide w Noahlink Wireless (Tested for Oticon Genie 2024.2)

djl84 said:
I've just downloaded and used this as per your instructions and it worked flawlessly. Such an improvement in speed using this via VMWare Fusion Pro to emulate windows 11 on an m1 iMac. You really solved a problem for me - thank you
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just got
 
Got my setup working with VM Ware and an M1 MacBook today. I bought an old Windows laptop that was slower than using a Mac.
 
A big thank you to everyone for all the software, driver and testing contributions!

This is possibly interesting:

I just switched to the dark side, a Macbook Air M4, and I tried setting things up today for my Phonak i90 using Windows on Parallels Desktop with a Noahlink Wireless 2.

My plan was to try gluchykuj2's trick .ini file. But, after setting up the Windows virtual machine and connecting my Noahlink Wireless 2, I looked in Device Manager and found that the Noahlink was already associated with the winusb.sys driver.

I installed Target after that, and I was able to discover the Noahlink and update the firmware in Trial & Tools --> Firmware update.

I haven't tried a fitting yet, but currently the Noahlink Wireless passes the "Check" function in Setup --> Fitting Device, and it's showing the model, FW version and serial number info. I'll update later once I've done a fitting.

I don't know what might have changed, but it appears to simplify things for ARM Windows 11.

Windows version on the VM is 24H2, OS build is 26100.4349. Parallels Desktop version 1.20.4.
 
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Rhubarb said:
My plan was to try gluchykuj2's trick .ini file. But, after setting up the Windows virtual machine and connecting my Noahlink Wireless 2, I looked in Device Manager and found that the Noahlink was already associated with the winusb.sys driver.

Windows version on the VM is 24H2, OS build is 26100.4349. Parallels Desktop version 1.20.4.
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I've just setup a fresh VM using exactly the same software versions as you (Win11 24H2, Parallels 20.4), but unfortunately couldn't reproduce this. My Noahlink wasn't detected and remained as a driverless device. I think it might be hardware version 1 though (Model CPD-1 is on the bottom) so maybe it's just the newer one that works out of the box.

But mostly just posting to give a huge thanks to @gluchykuj2 - the hacked inf worked a treat and I'm up and running.
 
Mine is a CPD-2, so maybe that’s the difference. Either way, it’s great that it’s pretty straightforward on Apple silicon.
 
I have a MacBook M4 Air with a Windows 11 ARM VM installed using VMWare Fusion. I was able to use the modified Noahlink.inf file to get Windows to see the Noahlink Wireless device. I then installed the Signia Connexx software (9.11), which then updated to 9.14 using Update Manager. However, when I run Connexx, it is forcing me to add a new client before I can make any configuration changes. So, I added myself to get around this. I was then able to use the Noahlink wireless to connect my Signia Active Pro IX hearing aids and load the programming from the hearing aids into the Connexx application. However, shortly after getting everything loaded, the Connexx software pops up an error message saying something went wrong, and it must shut down. After shutting down, I restarted the Connexx software. I can connect to my hearing aids, but then shortly after they are connected, I get the same pop-up message and the Connexx software shuts down again. Does anyone have any ideas about why this is happening and how I might be able to fix it? I tried asking the Grok AI assistant, but everything it has suggested has not worked. I would really like to get this to work so I can use my MacBook for everything. Right now, programming my Signia Active Pro IX hearing aids is the only reason I still have an Intel Windows 11 machine.

I sent an email to HIMSA asking when they were going to have a Noahlink driver that would work on an ARM-based MacBook or Windows 11 machine, and they responded that there were no current plans to implement that.

FYI...I did try to create a Windows 11 x86-x64 VM using UTM, but it was much, much, much too slow to be usable.
 
I was able to create a Windows 11 ARM VM using UTM on my MacBook M4 Air, install the Signia Connexx software, and the modified unsigned Noahlink.inf driver. This allowed me to use the Connexx app and Noahlink Wireless v1 to view and modify the progamming of my Signia Active Pro IX hearing aids. When I connected my Active Pro IX hearing aids, the Connexx software informed me there was a new firmware version available for my hearing aids. I was able to update the firmware using Connexx/Noahlink Wireless through the Windows 11 ARM VM running on my MacBook M4 Air. This was the last reason for me to keep my Intel-based Windows 11 machine. I "should" now be able to do everything I need to using my MacBook M4 Air! I am going to try to document everything I did to help others who would like to do the same thing.
 
Having trouble all of a sudden with Noah wireless. It will not connect. Trying to reinstall drivers and my computer will not. Tried to updated drivers and I am still unable to use Noah in Target. Any ideas?
 
Have not found a solution to ARM based Macs and Oticon Genie. Genie checks before install and wont allow you to proceed when it detects ARM cpu through virtual media. Parallel 20 didn't work but the interface was smooth and fast. UTM allowed a successful install but it took about 3h for the Genie install, and 2h to setup a new Win 11 as well. Usability was unbearably slow. I don't believe there is a current solution for ARM based macs and Genie.
 
Hmmm. I have Windows 11 Pro VM on Mac Studio M1 with Parallels. Used gpedit to Ignore digital signatures but it is still rejecting the inf provided by gluchykuj2
 
gluchykuj2 said:
Hi, while emulating Intel on an arm64 mac works fine, its quite slow and clunky, in particular on the lower end machines. I figured out a way to use the Noahlink with Arm Windows 11, so the VM runs way faster :)

After inspecting the x86 Noahlink Wireless drivers, it seems like they just associate the device with an WinUSB driver. I was able to prepare an .inf driver to run it on arm machines. It is not signed, so to install it, first disable the driver signature enforcement in the VM. Open the device manager, find the Noahlink and manually install the attached driver file.

If someone wants to do it outside of the VM, and is afraid of installing drivers from random people on the internet - feel free to open the .inf file in a text editor. The driver only associates the VID/PID of Noahlink with WinUSB.sys driver.

Cheers
Click to expand...
gluchykuj2 said:
Hi, while emulating Intel on an arm64 mac works fine, its quite slow and clunky, in particular on the lower end machines. I figured out a way to use the Noahlink with Arm Windows 11, so the VM runs way faster :)

After inspecting the x86 Noahlink Wireless drivers, it seems like they just associate the device with an WinUSB driver. I was able to prepare an .inf driver to run it on arm machines. It is not signed, so to install it, first disable the driver signature enforcement in the VM. Open the device manager, find the Noahlink and manually install the attached driver file.

If someone wants to do it outside of the VM, and is afraid of installing drivers from random people on the internet - feel free to open the .inf file in a text editor. The driver only associates the VID/PID of Noahlink with WinUSB.sys driver.

Cheers
Click to expand...
Do I have to change the name of the downloaded noalink.inf-zip.1054 ?
 
You saved my life with the Noahlink hack. The fix works super. A few years ago I also had a problem with an upgrade of Photoshop Elements. A clever guy like you discovered that they forgot to modify a file location that was different in the new version.
 
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