My Oct 96 M44 had what are called "the brick type" remotes hanging from the key fob, i.e. only button on the keys is for the light to shine on the lock if you use the key at night to open the car.
I have read that the alarms were not ex works but fitted by the dealers.
My car battery drained at one point and after that the alarm refused to work and the only way to fix that was strip out the glove box to get to the module to reset it.
Long story short, could not be bothered doing that so just used the keys.