Before you start
Decide which PC will be the shop's server. It has to be switched on whenever the shop is open, so pick the machine least likely to be unplugged, and put it on a UPS if you can.
Everything else — the tills, the printer, the scanner — can be added afterwards.
Install the store server
Copy DukanStoreServer-Setup.exe onto the server PC and run it. Accept the Windows prompt.
The installer does everything itself: it installs the database, creates the shop's data folder, registers two services that start with Windows and restart themselves after a power cut, opens the one network port your tills need on your private network only, and stops the machine from going to sleep.
There is no configuration file to edit, no port to choose and no command prompt.
Choose your two codes
One screen asks you for two things, and you should write both down:
- a manager PIN of four to six digits, which signs in on any till and protects prices, stock and takings;
- a till pairing code, which is what connects your tills to this server.
If you also run a Dukan online store and want the two to sync, enter your dukan.biz pairing code here as well. Leaving it blank is a normal, fully supported choice — most shops start that way.
When the installer finishes it shows a green message with your pairing code, and saves it to the desktop as Dukan - pairing code.txt. The person who installs the server is often not the person who adds a third till two years later.
Pair the first till
Install the till program on the counter PC. When it asks for a server, it finds the shop's server on your network by itself; if your network hides it, type the server PC's address instead.
Enter the pairing code you chose during installation and the till is paired. That first code works while the shop has no till yet, which is what stops you being locked out.
Add another till
Every till after the first gets its own code, issued from a till that already works: open the back office, go to Terminals, and choose New code. One code, one till, and no expiry.
The same screen answers "which machines are allowed on my network". Deleting a terminal removes it, ends every staff session on it, and retires its code in one step.
If you ever remove every till, the installer's original code works again, so an accidental unpairing is recoverable without anyone coming out to the shop.
Connect the receipt printer
Open Terminal settings, then Printer. Choose how the printer is attached — the Windows default queue, a named Windows queue, a network address, or a serial port — and set the paper width to 58 or 80 mm.
Set the character table so Turkmen and Russian print as letters rather than as noise, then use the test page on the same screen to confirm. Printer settings belong to the machine the printer is plugged into, so each till has its own.
Connect the barcode scanner
Plug in any USB keyboard-wedge scanner. There is no driver and no setting: the till recognises a scan by how fast the characters arrive.
A scan works on any screen. At the counter it adds the item to the cart; on the returns screen a scanned receipt barcode opens that sale; on a receiving sheet it adds to the delivery.
Set the receipt header
Also in Terminal settings, under Receipt, enter your shop name, address, phone number and the footer line you want printed. Switch the receipt barcode off if your printer cannot draw one — everything else keeps working.
Set your tax rates
Open the back office, then Tax, and create the rates you actually charge. A rate can be inclusive, taken out of the shelf price, or exclusive, added to it — the difference is real money, so set it deliberately.
Each product picks a rate when you create it. Editing a rate reaches every till by itself.
Add your products and staff
Build the catalog in the back office — see The back office — and give each person their own PIN and role in Staff, covered in Staff, PINs and permissions.
Then open a shift and sell. Selling at the counter picks it up from there.