Installation

Build and install IPED from source

System Requirements

IPED requires Java 11 with JavaFX. We recommend using Liberica OpenJDK 11 Full JDK which includes JavaFX.

Minimum Requirements

• Java: JDK 11 + JavaFX (e.g., Liberica OpenJDK 11 Full JDK)
• Build Tool: Apache Maven 3.x
• Version Control: Git
• RAM: 4GB minimum (8GB+ recommended for large cases)
• Disk Space: 2GB for installation + space for case processing

Supported Platforms

Windows

Windows 10/11 (64-bit)

Linux

Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, CentOS (64-bit)

Prerequisites

1. Install Java JDK 11 with JavaFX

   Download and install Liberica OpenJDK 11 Full JDK from bell-sw.com

   Set JAVA_HOME environment variable:

   Linux/Mac

   export JAVA_HOME=/path/to/liberica-jdk-11
   export PATH=$JAVA_HOME/bin:$PATH
   

   Verify installation:

   java -version
   # Should show: OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 11.x.x)
   
2. Install Apache Maven

   Download Maven from maven.apache.org

   Extract and add to PATH:

   # Verify Maven installation
   mvn -version
   # Should show: Apache Maven 3.x.x
   
3. Install Git

   # Ubuntu/Debian
   sudo apt-get install git
   
   # CentOS/Fedora
   sudo yum install git
   
   # Windows: Download from git-scm.com
   

Building from Source

The default master branch is the development branch and may be unstable. For production use, checkout a release tag after cloning.

Clone Repository

git clone https://github.com/sepinf-inc/IPED.git
cd IPED

Checkout Stable Release (Recommended)

# List available release tags
git tag -l

# Checkout latest stable release (e.g., 4.3.0)
git checkout 4.3.0

Build with Maven

Standard Build

mvn clean install

The build process will:

1. Download all dependencies (first build may take 10-15 minutes)
2. Compile all IPED modules:
   • iped-api
   • iped-utils
   • iped-parsers
   • iped-viewers
   • iped-carvers
   • iped-geo
   • iped-engine
   • iped-app
3. Package the application
4. Generate release in target/release/ folder

Successful build output:

[INFO] BUILD SUCCESS
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Total time: 5:23 min

Locate Built Application

After successful build:

cd target/release/iped-4.4.0-SNAPSHOT
ls -la

The release folder contains:

• iped.sh / iped.bat - Processing launcher
• iped-search-app.sh / iped-search-app.bat - Analysis GUI launcher
• lib/ - Java libraries
• tools/ - External tools (Sleuthkit, ImageMagick, etc.)
• conf/ - Configuration files
• plugins/ - Optional plugins

Linux-Specific Dependencies

On Linux, you must build The Sleuthkit and install additional dependencies.

Install Build Dependencies

Ubuntu/Debian

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y \
  build-essential \
  autoconf \
  automake \
  libtool \
  pkg-config \
  libafflib-dev \
  libewf-dev \
  libvhdi-dev \
  libvmdk-dev \
  zlib1g-dev \
  libsqlite3-dev \
  openjdk-11-jdk \
  libjavafx-base-java \
  libjavafx-controls-java \
  libjavafx-graphics-java \
  tesseract-ocr \
  tesseract-ocr-eng

CentOS/RHEL/Fedora

sudo yum groupinstall "Development Tools"
sudo yum install -y \
  autoconf \
  automake \
  libtool \
  afflib-devel \
  libewf-devel \
  zlib-devel \
  sqlite-devel \
  java-11-openjdk-devel \
  tesseract \
  tesseract-langpack-eng

Build Sleuthkit

# Download and build Sleuthkit 4.12.0
wget https://github.com/sleuthkit/sleuthkit/releases/download/sleuthkit-4.12.0/sleuthkit-4.12.0.tar.gz
tar -xzf sleuthkit-4.12.0.tar.gz
cd sleuthkit-4.12.0

./configure --prefix=/usr/local
make
sudo make install
sudo ldconfig

# Verify installation
tsk_recover -V

Install Optional Dependencies

# For advanced image processing
sudo apt-get install imagemagick graphicsmagick

# For video processing
sudo apt-get install mplayer ffmpeg

# For additional OCR languages
sudo apt-get install tesseract-ocr-por tesseract-ocr-spa tesseract-ocr-fra

For complete Linux setup instructions, see the IPED Linux Wiki.

Configuration

Verify Installation

Test the installation:

Linux

cd target/release/iped-4.4.0-SNAPSHOT
./iped.sh --help

Expected output:

Usage: iped [options]
  Options:
    -d, -data       input data (can be used multiple times)
    -o, -output     output folder
    -profile        use a processing profile: forensic, pedo, fastmode, blind, triage
    --help          display this help
    ...

Memory Configuration

For large cases, adjust memory settings in LocalConfig.txt:

# Maximum heap memory (MB)
# Default auto-detects available RAM
# Manually set for large cases:
maxJavaMemory = 16384

# Number of processing threads
# Default: number of CPU cores
numThreads = 8

Updating IPED

To update to a newer version:

cd IPED
git fetch --tags
git checkout <new-version-tag>
mvn clean install

Troubleshooting

OutOfMemoryError during build

Increase Maven memory:

export MAVEN_OPTS="-Xmx2048m"
mvn clean install

JavaFX runtime components are missing

Ensure you’re using JDK 11 with JavaFX included (like Liberica Full JDK), or add JavaFX modules manually:

# Download JavaFX SDK from openjfx.io
# Add to VM options: --module-path /path/to/javafx-sdk/lib --add-modules javafx.controls,javafx.fxml

Sleuthkit not found on Linux

Ensure Sleuthkit is installed and in library path:

sudo ldconfig
ldconfig -p | grep sleuthkit

Build fails in timezone tests

Some tests may fail in certain timezones. Skip tests:

mvn clean install -DskipTests

For more troubleshooting, see the IPED Troubleshooting Wiki.

Next Steps

Quick Start

Process your first case with IPED

Configuration

Customize IPED settings and profiles