The package dcmtk provides CMake targets: find_package(DCMTK CONFIG REQUIRED) target_link_libraries(main PRIVATE DCMTK::DCMTK) # You may also need one or more of the following targets: # DCMTK::cmr DCMTK::i2d DCMTK::ijg8 DCMTK::config DCMTK::ofstd # DCMTK::oflog DCMTK::dcmdata DCMTK::dcmimgle DCMTK::dcmimage # DCMTK::dcmjpeg DCMTK::ijg12 DCMTK::ijg16 DCMTK::dcmjpls # DCMTK::dcmtkcharls DCMTK::dcmtls DCMTK::dcmnet DCMTK::dcmsr # DCMTK::dcmdsig DCMTK::dcmwlm DCMTK::dcmqrdb DCMTK::dcmpstat # DCMTK::dcmrt DCMTK::dcmiod DCMTK::dcmfg DCMTK::dcmseg # DCMTK::dcmtract DCMTK::dcmpmap DCMTK::dcmect Add the following cmake code to your CMakeLists.txt to create definitions for DCMTK if ("${VCPKG_INSTALLED_DIR}/${VCPKG_TARGET_TRIPLET}" STREQUAL "/") message(WARNING "No vcpkg install dir found, DCMTK definitions are not set") else() target_compile_definitions(main PUBLIC "DCMTK_PREFIX=${VCPKG_INSTALLED_DIR}/${VCPKG_TARGET_TRIPLET}" "DCM_DICT_DEFAULT_PATH=${VCPKG_INSTALLED_DIR}/${VCPKG_TARGET_TRIPLET}/share/dcmtk/dicom.dic:${VCPKG_INSTALLED_DIR}/${VCPKG_TARGET_TRIPLET}/share/dcmtk/private.dic" "DEFAULT_CONFIGURATION_DIR=${VCPKG_INSTALLED_DIR}/${VCPKG_TARGET_TRIPLET}/etc/dcmtk/" "DEFAULT_SUPPORT_DATA_DIR=${VCPKG_INSTALLED_DIR}/${VCPKG_TARGET_TRIPLET}/share/dcmtk/" ) endif()