Installation

This guide will help you install DaRT Reader on your system.

System Requirements

Before installing DaRT Reader, ensure your system meets the following requirements:

• Operating System: Windows 11, or macOS 26+ on a Mac with Apple silicon
• Memory: Minimum 2GB RAM, 4GB recommended
• Disk Space: about 360 MB on macOS, about 620 MB on Windows, additional space for extracts and databases. On Windows, about 260 MB of that is the copy of the installer that Windows keeps for repair and uninstall.

For detailed system requirements, see System Requirements.

Installation Steps

Windows

1. Download the installer dart-reader-<version>.msi from the download page
2. Run the installer with administrator privileges
3. Follow the installation wizard
4. The application will be installed to C:\Program Files\DaRT Reader by default
5. A desktop shortcut will be created automatically by default

If DaRT Reader is already installed, the installer says so before the welcome page and asks whether to replace the existing installation. Next replaces it, Cancel leaves it as it is. This also applies to a new build of the version you have installed. An installation run silently, for example with msiexec /qn, replaces without asking.

ℹ️ Note: Shortly after a new release, Windows may show a "Microsoft Defender SmartScreen prevented an unrecognized app from starting" message. Click More info and check the publisher shown there: for a genuine installer it reads TaxForge. You can then continue with Run anyway.

The message is not a sign that anything is wrong with the download. SmartScreen shows it for every newly released file until enough installations have taken place worldwide, regardless of the file being signed, and it disappears on its own within a few weeks of a release. If the publisher is missing or shows a different name, do not continue — please contact us instead.

macOS

1. Download the installer dart-reader-<version>.dmg from the download page
2. Open the DMG file
3. Drag "DaRT Reader" to your Applications folder
4. Launch from Applications or Spotlight

ℹ️ Note: On the first launch macOS asks whether you really want to open an application downloaded from the internet, and states that it checked it for malicious software. Click Open. This is the normal confirmation for any downloaded application, not a warning about this one.

If instead you are told that the application "cannot be opened because Apple cannot check it for malicious software", stop. That check needs an internet connection the first time you start the application, so try again when you are online. If it persists, the download is not one of ours — please contact us rather than working around the message.

Checking the download

The download page lists a SHA-256 checksum for each installer. To make sure the file arrived complete and unchanged, compare it with the checksum of the file you downloaded:

• Windows (PowerShell): Get-FileHash dart-reader-<version>.msi -Algorithm SHA256
• macOS (Terminal): shasum -a 256 dart-reader-<version>.dmg

If the two differ, do not install the file — download it again, and contact us if they still do not match.

Verifying Installation

GUI Application

Launch DaRT Reader from:

• Windows: Start Menu > DaRT Reader or run beye from the Command Prompt
• macOS: Applications > DaRT Reader

You should see the project window with three empty panes.

CLI Tool

Open a terminal and run:

beye --version

You should see the installed version:

2.0.1

CLI Installation (Optional)

For automation and scripting, you can also install just the CLI tool:

# Add to PATH (example for bash/zsh)
export PATH=$PATH:/path/to/dart-reader/bin

ℹ️ Note: On Windows, beye is added to the PATH as part of the installer and removed upon uninstalling.

Next Steps

• Quick Start Guide - Process your first extract
• GUI Guide - Learn the graphical interface
• CLI Guide - Command-line usage