Which programs should be installed and what do you need to do to start mining Ether and use Ethereum?
[Ethereum] How to Mine Ether and use Ethereum on Windows
clientsinstallationminingwindows
Related Solutions
I wrote how to do GPU mining for Ethereum with Debian/Ubuntu here: https://www.meebey.net/posts/ethereum_gpu_mining_on_linux_howto/
TL;DR
Install/use Debian 8 or Ubuntu 16.0.4 then execute:
sudo apt-get install software-properties-common
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ethereum/ethereum
sudo sed 's/jessie/vivid/' -i /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ethereum-ethereum-*.list
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ethereum ethminer
geth account new
Copy long character sequence within {}, that is your <YOUR_WALLET_ADDRESS>
. If you lose the passphrase, you lose your coins!
sudo apt-get install linux-headers-amd64 build-essential
chmod +x NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-367.35.run
sudo NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-367.35.run
ethminer -G -F http://yolo.ethclassic.faith:9999/0x<YOUR_WALLET_ADDRESS> --farm-recheck 200
echo done
(Hi @phuong, please reply on your progress by adding comments below).
Lets go through the steps to get your environment working. We will use the command line geth
so we can trace through the issues.
To mine the Testnet, you will need to have downloaded the whole Testnet blockchain and have set up your coinbase. Your coinbase is by default the first Ethereum account ( or address) created on your computer.
Run the following command:
geth --testnet console
Do you see a message with "coinbase" as shown below?
datadir: /home/user/.ethereum/testnet coinbase: 0xaaaa9dfd7c15c60a45ce1d401b5a1a6081d2bbbb at block: 207951 (Wed, 30 Dec 2015 09:17:55 AEDT)
If you do, then you have already created your first account - go to step 4. If not, then shutdown
geth
by pressing Control-D. Whengeth
has exited, type in the following command:geth --testnet account new
You will be prompted with the following message where you enter in a password twice. Don't forget this password.
Your new account is locked with a password. Please give a password. Do not forget this password. Passphrase: Repeat Passphrase: Address: {aaaa9dfd7c15c60a45ce1d401b5a1a6081d2bbbb}
After creating your account, start
geth
again using the command:geth --testnet console
Is your blockchain up to date? To mine the Testnet, you need your blockchain to be synced up to other peers on the network.
In your
geth
console, type the following:> eth.blockNumber 285161
This block number should be very close to the block number you find on the Ethereum TESTNET Morden Block Chain Explorer. This is 831257 currently.
If this block number is way below the current block number, you will have to leave
geth
running for a period of time whilegeth
syncs the blockchain. As this may take hours, you may runeth.blockNumber
(deprecated & only works on earlier versions of Geth) oreth.syncing
to view the progress of the sync.Once your blockchain is synced up, exit
geth
by pressing Control-D.Start Ethereum Wallet. Select the menu Develop -> Network -> Testnet (Morden). Click on Develop -> Start Mining (Testnet only). You should see the balance in your "MAIN ACCOUNT (ETHERBASE)" increase by 5 ethers for every block you mine.
Notes
If you have only downloaded the Ethereum Wallet and not the normal
geth
installation package, you will find a copy ofgeth
executable in the following directory relative to your Ethreum Wallet installation directory - lets call this Ethereum Wallet installation directory {EWINSTALLDIR}. I note that you are running Ubuntu, but for completeness, here are the executables for the different environments:Linux
{EWINSTALLDIR}/resources/node/geth/geth
Mac
{EWINSTALLDIR}/resources/node/geth/geth
Windows
{EWINSTALLDIR}\resources\node\geth\geth.exe
Use the full pathnames for your operating system where you seegeth
in the commands above.
Best Answer
Here is a guide you may find useful:
Step 1: Download Geth
The first thing you need to do is go to this link download Geth.
Geth is the program that communicates with the Ethereum Network and acts as the a relay between your computer, its hardware and the rest of the ethereum network computers so if a block is mined by another computer your Geth program will pick it up and then pass on the new information onto your GPU or CPU for mining.
Step 2: Unzip GETH
You need to unzip the GETH file and move it to a location on your hard drive. (Right click on the zipped file and select unpack.)
In this case we'll move it to the hard drive, usually (C:) - which will make the next step easier. All you need to do is copy the file you have downloaded and unzipped and move it to the hard drive folder.
Step 3: Start Command Prompt
Now you need to run the program you just downloaded. To do this you need to run Command Prompt. You can do this by searching in the search function in Windows for "CMD" and then clicking on it when it shows up.
Step 4: cd Into Root Directory
Command Prompt is now open. (It can look terrifying to people who aren't familiar with it!)
The Command Prompt box usually has
showing in it - where Username is your username - so if you log into your computer with the username cryptocompare, then the command prompt box will open with:
You need to tell the computer to look in another place. Into the newly opened command prompt, type:
You should now see:
You have just used the
cd
command or "change directory" command to make command prompt look at theC:/
drive.Step 5: Create Geth Account
You need to tell your Geth program to create a new account. As you have installed it in your user directory in Step 2, it is just a simple case of typing in:
and then pressing return/enter.
It should look like this:
Step 6: Create Password
After hitting the enter button in Step 5, you will be asked to enter a password. N.B. You will not be able to see what you are typing in, so type it carefully. This is the password that locks your account and keeps your Private key safe.
If you lose this password, you will lose all your Ether attached to the wallet held by that Private key!
Once you have entered your password, and confirmed it by entering it a second time, you will have created a new account. Congratulations, your about a third of the way there!
Step 7: Connect to Ethereum
You need to tell your Geth Program to start communicating with the rest of the Ethereum network. You do this by typing:
This should look like:
Press enter, and the screen should start downloading the blockchain for Ethereum. At this point, you are synchronising with the rest of the Ethereum network. Sometimes your fire wall can block this process. If so, just click "Allow access."
MINING
Step 8: Download Mining Software
Now you need to download Ethminer, which makes your GPU or CPU run the hashing algorithm that is integral to securing the Ethereum ??network through proof of work.?? You can download this here. (Be sure to scroll down to the bottom of the page to get the right version. The latest and most up to date one is right at the end.)
Step 9: Install Mining Software
Click on the downloaded file and select "Install". Your firewall can cause issues, but just click "Allow", if the firewall announces that a connection to the Internet has been blocked. The same is true if Windows doesn't recognise or approve the software. Tell windows it is OK, if asked. Click through the installation process, until Ethminer is installed.
Step 10: Start Command Prompt
You need to open up another command prompt, as in step 4. You are going to see two scary looking boxes! Simply right click on your already opened command prompt, in the taskbar at the bottom of the page,and click on the command prompt in the menu that appears.
A new command prompt should open, showing:
This is the wrong place to look for etherminer, so you need to tell it the right place to find it.
Step 11: Navigate to Etherminer directory
Into the newly opened command prompt, type:
It should look like this:
Then tap "Enter". You should now see:
You have just used the
cd
command, or "change directory" command, to make the command prompt look at theC:/
drive, not your user file.Step 12: cd Into "Program Files"
Type in:
Then tap the Tab. This should look like this:
Then tap Tab, which will automatically complete the phrase for the closest fit, found in the C: drive, just like autotext does on your iPhone.
After tapping Tab, you should see:
Tap "Enter", which should give you a new line saying:
Step 13: cd Into Ethereum Folder
Type in:
and then tap Tab, and then Enter. This will take you into the newly installed Ethereum Mining software folder.
It should look like this, after tapping Tab:
(Perhaps the version numbers a the end will differ.)
Tapping Enter should give you:
This will look slightly different depending on the version!
Step 14: cd Into Release Folder
Type in:
and tap "Enter". This should give you the line as follows:
Step 15: GPU mining
Type in:
and tap "Enter", and you should then start mining with your GPU (the best way), after building a DAG file, which can take around ten minutes.
There can be problems at this point. For example:
The program might say that you have insufficient memory on your Graphics card to mine Ether, with Ethereum's Ethash algorithm. If this is the case, you can still mine with your CPU, or go out and buy a new graphics card! If you get an error message like this, tap Ctrl+c, to cancel the process. Then you can either retry it, or alternatively, move onto step 16, and mine with your CPU, rather than your GPU.
Step 16 CPU mining
Type in:
and tap Enter, and you will start mining with your CPU. Again, you will need to create a DAG file, the first time you do this, which can take some time. But after that is complete, your "Geth" program downloaded in step 1 should start talking to your "ethminer" program, and you should start mining!
Please note if the above doesn't work. The real fun part starts - debugging =/ Good luck!