battery change

I have a 96 VW Passat TDI and am moving to a place where no dealership exists within 2 or more hours. When I have had to replace my car battery I have only been able to get it restarted by having it taken to a dealership for some sort of secret code stuff to allow the car to start again (not just the radio, the car itself). Is there a way to change the battery without having to have the car reset at a VW dealer??? I've called national VW (surprise, no help) and my local VW dealer (who's never been helpful...). Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

You can buy a device that plugs into your lighter outlet and provides power to keep the ECM from losing the information required for proper restart. Some hook to a 9V battery, others have clamps to hook to another car's battery. I have not tried one of these on your model of car so am unsure if it will work. They aren't too expensive, it may be worth a try. Do a google search on "computer memory saver".