[Ethereum] the simplest and fastest way to mine Testnet Ether on a Windows Machine

Here is a guide you may find useful:

• Download Ethereum Software
• Setup Ethereum Software
• Download Mining Software
• Setup Mining Software
• Mine

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

C:\Users\Username>

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:

C:\Users\cryptocompare

You need to tell the computer to look in another place. Into the newly opened command prompt, type:

cd /

You should now see:

C:\>

You have just used the cd command or "change directory" command to make command prompt look at the C:/ 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:

geth account new

and then pressing return/enter.

It should look like this:

C:\>geth account new

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:

geth --rpc

This should look like:

C:\> geth --rpc

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:

C:\users\username

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:

cd /

It should look like this:

C:\users\username>cd /

Then tap "Enter". You should now see:

C:\>

You have just used the cd command, or "change directory" command, to make the command prompt look at the C:/ drive, not your user file.

Step 12: cd Into "Program Files"

Type in:

cd prog

Then tap the Tab. This should look like this:

C:\>cd prog

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:

C:/> cd "Program Files"

Tap "Enter", which should give you a new line saying:

C:\Program Files>

Step 13: cd Into Ethereum Folder

Type in:

cd eth

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:

C:\Program Files>cd "Ethereum (++) 0.9.39

(Perhaps the version numbers a the end will differ.)

Tapping Enter should give you:

C:\Program Files\Ethereum (++) 0.9.39>

This will look slightly different depending on the version!

Step 14: cd Into Release Folder

Type in:

cd release

and tap "Enter". This should give you the line as follows:

C:\Program Files\Ethereum (++) 0.9.39\Release>

Step 15: GPU mining

Type in:

ethminer -G

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:

• Insufficient Memory

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:

ethminer

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!

If you are on a private net/chain you actually don't need to mine to get ethers, but just to confirm transactions.

You can fund your account(s) by specifying the amount in wei you want that account to start with, in your genesis json file:

"alloc": {
    "<your account address e.g. 0xaaabd38c8f1a188a0b8bbf93bdca420cfdd760aa>": {
        "balance": "10000000000000000000"
    }
}

---

Another thing you can do if you still want to mine to get ethers is lower the difficulty, again in the genesis block, a value of "0x400" or `"0x200" will let you mine faster the first blocks. If your geth is stuck and doesn't mine anymore (on osx I found it common when you put the computer in sleep), simply kill it with Crtl-C and restart it.

---

To specify your genesis block you can pass these parameters to the geth command:

$ geth --genesis <genesis json file path> --datadir <some path to an empty folder> 

A sample genesis block is:

{
  "nonce": "0x000000000000002a",
  "timestamp": "0x0",
  "parentHash": "0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000",
  "extraData": "0x0",
  "gasLimit": "0x8000000",
  "difficulty": "0x400",
  "mixhash":  "0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000",
  "coinbase": "0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000",
  "alloc": {
  }
}

You can find a more complete guide here