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Installing DICOM Capacitor ​

Prerequisites ​

  • Windows 10 or later, Windows Server 2016 or later, Linux, or macOS (x64 or arm64)
  • 2 GB of RAM
  • 1 GB of free disk space
  • 2 GHz or faster processor

DICOM Capacitor is distributed as a self-contained binary — no separate .NET runtime installation is required.

Windows ​

  1. Download the latest installer from the Flux Website
  2. Run the installer (DICOMCapacitorSetup-x64-*.exe)
  3. The installer registers DICOMCapacitorService as a Windows service

Default directories:

PurposePath
Configuration & logs%ProgramData%\Flux Inc\DICOM Capacitor\
Binary%ProgramFiles%\Flux Inc\DICOM Capacitor\

macOS ​

DICOM Capacitor runs as a LaunchDaemon on macOS. Installation is typically performed via the deploy script, which:

  1. Creates a dedicated service user (_dicomcapacitor)
  2. Copies binaries to /opt/dicom-capacitor/bin/
  3. Creates the data directory at /var/lib/dicom-capacitor/data/
  4. Installs a LaunchDaemon plist at /Library/LaunchDaemons/co.fluxinc.dicom-capacitor.plist
  5. Installs brotli via Homebrew (required for compression)

Default directories:

PurposePath
Binary/opt/dicom-capacitor/bin/
Configuration & logs/var/lib/dicom-capacitor/data/
Cache/var/lib/dicom-capacitor/data/cache/
Logs/var/lib/dicom-capacitor/data/log/

A desktop shortcut to the data directory is created at ~/Desktop/DICOM Capacitor Data.

Linux ​

DICOM Capacitor runs as a systemd service on Linux. Installation is typically performed via the deploy script, which:

  1. Creates a dedicated service user (dicom-capacitor)
  2. Copies binaries to /opt/dicom-capacitor/bin/
  3. Creates the data directory at /var/lib/dicom-capacitor/data/
  4. Installs a systemd unit at /etc/systemd/system/dicom-capacitor.service

Default directories:

PurposePath
Binary/opt/dicom-capacitor/bin/
Configuration & logs/var/lib/dicom-capacitor/data/
Cache/var/lib/dicom-capacitor/data/cache/
Logs/var/lib/dicom-capacitor/data/log/

The systemd unit includes security hardening: NoNewPrivileges, ProtectSystem=strict, ProtectHome=true, and PrivateTmp=true.

Docker ​

See the dedicated Docker Operations page.

Data Directory Layout ​

On first run, Capacitor creates default configuration files in the data directory:

<data-dir>/
  config.yml        # Service settings
  nodes.yml         # Destination PACS/servers
  cache/            # DICOM file cache
  log/              # Log files
    capacitor_service.log        # Main service log
    capacitor_service_audit.log  # Audit log

SOP class queue priority rules are configured per storage destination inside nodes.yml using SopClassPriorities; no separate priority file is generated on first run.

You can override the data directory path on any platform:

bash
DICOMCapacitorService --path /custom/path

First Run & Activation ​

On first startup, Capacitor generates an activation URL in the logs. Visit this URL to register your instance at store.fluxinc.ca. Without activation, Capacitor runs in trial mode.

You can also activate via the command line:

bash
DICOMCapacitorService --activation-code "XXXX-XXXX-XXXX" --save-config --quit

Next Steps ​

  1. Configure the Service: Edit config.yml to set your AE Title, ports, and other settings.
  2. Define Nodes: Edit nodes.yml to configure the DICOM nodes you want to communicate with.
  3. Start the Service: Learn how to start and stop the service.
  4. Verify Operation: Check the logs to ensure the service is running correctly.