When Capture starts up, it uses a pre-defiend set of default values for the application settings. These default values are defined in the Capture configuration (Capture.ini) file.
If you are running Capture for the first time on a computer, it uses a pre-defined set of configurations to create the INI file. After this, every time you make any configuration changes, this file is updated when you close Capture.
Location of Capture.ini
By default, the Capture.ini file is created in your HOME directory at the location %HOME%/cdssetup/OrCAD_Capture/<release>. If a INI file exists in your installation, it will be copied to the HOME location. However, you have the option of specifying any other location for the Capture.ini. To ensure that Capture uses the Capture.ini file from an different location, you need to specify the location as a command line argument to the Capture.exe. For details on the command line arguments for Capture, see Command Line Arguments and Switches.
Capture.ini Variables
The Capture.ini file contains a large set of initialization variables used by Capture. Since this file is a text-based file, you have the option to modify or delete the variables and sections in this file. However, any changes you make to this file can cause unexpected behavior in Capture. So you are advised to only make changes as recommended in Capture.ini Variables.
Re-initializing Capture.ini
You can re-initialize all the configuration settings to the Capture default settings by deleting the Capture.ini file. However, these settings will only be available to you after you restart Capture.
Capture CIS Settings
The Capture.ini file also contains the Capture CIS configuration settings. These settings include the CIS parts database setup configuration settings. If you choose to re-initialize your Capture configuration by deleting the Capture.ini, the CIS configuration settings will also be deleted.
However, Capture makes a backup of your CIS settigns in a separate file: BackupCaptureCIS.ini at the same location as the Capture.ini. This backup is maintained every time you close Capture. So the backup contains the most recent CIS configuration settings.
So, if you delete the Capture.ini and restart Capture, you are prompted with a message to choose if you want to use the backed up CIS configuration settings. If you choose to use the backed up settings, the CIS settings are copied from the BackupCaptureCIS.ini to the newly created Capture.ini.