XNAT Setup - First Time Configuration

Instead of dealing with properties files on the file system prior to installation, all basic configuration settings are now available through the UI. To initialize a new XNAT installation:

  1. Go to your XNAT by entering the site URL in your browser.
  2. Log in with the username admin and password admin.
  3. You should be redirected to the XNAT setup page: http://<xnat_home_url>/setup.

You'll find the following settings there:

Site Information

These values can be changed at any time after setup in the Admin UI. See XNAT Site Settings


  • Site ID
    The id used to refer to this site (also used to generate ids). The Site ID must start with a letter and contain only letters, numbers and underscores. It should be a short, one-word name or acronym which describes your site.
  • Site URL
    The address you want visible to users in emails, and other external links. This should be a functional address (i.e. if the user pasted this address in their web browser, they should come to the site). localhost only works if the web browser is located on the same machine. You are required to guarantee that this address is functional for reaching the site.
  • Administrator Email Address  
    The administrative email account to receive system emails. This address will receive frequent emails on system events, such as errors, processing completion, new user registration and so on. These emails can be configured on the Notifications tab.  

Data Storage

These values are populated by default, and should not be changed unless you really know what you're doing. These are also "set it and forget it" values, and we highly recommend that you do not change these values on a running instance of XNAT. For details on these settings, See Understanding the Components of XNAT

  • Archive Location
  • Prearchive Location
  • Cache Location
  • Build Location
  • FTP Location
  • Pipeline Installation Location

SMTP Server Settings

  • Host
  • Port
  • Username
  • Password
  • Protocol

Mail Server Settings

  • SMTP Auth?
  • Smart TLS?
  • SSL Trust


Once you confirm these settings, your XNAT will take a moment to configure itself, then it is ready to run and will take you to the default home page. 

Other Admin Settings

For any future changes via the Admin UI, go to the top menu and click on the Administer menu. 

XNAT is an open source project produced by NRG at the Washington University School of Medicine | NRG Home

Contributions to the XNAT Documentation site are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. Creative Commons License

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