Bitcoin Forum

Here is the latest electrum portable client for windows.
No installation required, can be run on a thumb drive.
Questions from newbies are welcome.

Download: http://ge.tt/9YXEDNV/v/0
  http://electrum.ecdsa.org/media/litegui.png

:o If you were a newbie I'd have deleted the post already. Posting executables without signing it is taboo.
The official Electrum download page is here: http://electrum.ecdsa.org/download.html
PS: I know you're posting a portable version, but do please provide the source to reassure others.

Oh sorry! This is the source of the portable version: http://electrum.bitcoin.cz/download/nightly_builds/

does this sport a connection through port 80 / 8080?
if not, it's useless to me (or anyone behind a firewall).

I think it does: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=50936.msg622707#msg622707

I have been meaning to give this a try, it looks a lot easier to use than the main client. Nice work!

Thanks :)
The core is still the main client, the only difference is the portable mode.
Dont forget to safe a copy of your wallet (electrum.dat). You can put it in a Truecrypt container or similar.

I've heard about it but have been hesistant to try out new clients, but the fact that you mentioned
you can easily store it in a Truecrypt container makes it a winner in my eyes.

I'll give it a shot, but just wondering does it have any built-in security features like
you have to enter a password or something everytime you send btc.

I like that feature the most from the main bitcoin-qt client.

You can use e.g. TCP, http, https (443) and Tor. It also depends on the server you choose.
A good choice is electrum.bitcoin.cz

I always run Electrum-portable from a thumb drive. I open a Truecrypt container, start the client <> close the client, close the container, and the wallet is safe!  You should always keep a copy of the container on a second drive in case it gets corrupted.

Download: http://ge.tt/3CppLwT/v/0

This is cool thanks!

Nice client, exactly what i was looking for! Now i can store the wallet on my usb flash drive.
Thanks for making it portable  :)

Note: In the settings, only select "Lite" or "Classic" as the default GUI. Do not select GTK or Text - its not (yet) compatible!

I do appreciate the work you do to promote Electrum.
However, I am very concerned by binaries distributed by third parties, because this is a potential vector for malware.

I guess this binary uses the --portable flag on startup, and this (hopefully) is the only difference.
why don't you ask slush to create an official "portable" executable file with this option?

I took the latest official slush build and made it portable using a batch file, quite simple. You can download and test it.
Yes, I would appreciate an "official" portable build from slush, like the previous builds from flatfly :)
I also would appreciate a slim client for everyday use with only the core features.  

I am using electrum 1.6.0
I tried going to a free bitcoin website to see if my wallet address was working (one of the five that electrum gave me)
Seemed to work since I tried another address and "it said" you already have a deposit in your wallet.

The problem is the electrum client
When I first started it out, it was the expanded GUI client interface ,
Unfortunately now all I see is the small skin interface without the usual commands

After searching for the last two hours, I still don't know how to go back to that larger GUI screen as there are no buttons to indicate how to do that.

Any ideas ?
I'm using Ubuntu 12.04 (32bit)  and I am just starting my knowledge of linux and Ubuntu
but learn quickly.

argh, frustrating when all i see our posts about the code etc. which is above my head

it is in the menu, 'classic gui'

in the menu ?
classic gui ?

ahh, I don't know have a clue what/where that is,
in my client i have only two buttons Receive and Send

where / how can I get this classic gui which was I originally wanted to know

if you can give exact simple instructions like I am a fucking retard, that would be appreciated

thanks

Above the BitCoinCount and Receive there should be Fields called Bitcoin View Extra and Help. You click on View then Classic View.

I wouldn't trust any other bitcoin client other than the original genuine, uptodate bitcoin client.... The normal, client.

ahh, thanks ?

No dude there is no such menu which is why I am confused.
No menu, no other buttons etc.

I keep saying that, somehow my client is only showing the Receive/Send buttons and that "hide used addresses" at the bottom
that is it (on Ubuntu 32bit)

No other options.
I even tried maximizing to see if a menu bar would come up.
It does not

WTH man ?
can't even give a screenshot here
i click image and try to post a screenshot, but don't know how, is there an XML tag I have to use to post within my post here ?

God dam, this is ridiculous

Not sure why you don't get the menu bar... What version of ubuntu?

Try this: close electrum, type "electrum set gui classic" in a terminal and restart electrum.

Yes, open a terminal and try this! It should open a normal interface.
You can take a screenshot, save it, and upload it here: http://tinypic.com/
After the upload you get a link that you can post here.

I realize it was a mistake to introduce a button to switch GUI without an easy way back.
I will either remove it, or add a similar reverse button to the lite GUI.

Thanks for changing that  :)

If you are using the Unity desktop in newer Ubuntu versions then this could be the issue. I think they strip the menu from the app window and stick it up top of the desktop. So try looking up there for a menu and click View->Classic Gui.

That's done: the lite gui has the same switch button now.
I will make a 1.6.1 release this week end.

Cool!

Hours later,

Thank you   FlatFly, Bitcoins, thank you thank you

Finally, some sage and straightforward advice for fucking retards like me.
That worked fine.

Your welcome. Great that your client finally works.
(My name is bitcats, not bitcoins ;))

Dear bitcats,

Seems I couldn't even get your name right.
Sorry about that.

Once again, thank you, thank you !

thanks Dude,
I guess my stupidity and ignorance was useful after all...:)

+1, is there an option for a portable build on the official site?

Good news: The new release is ready to download  :)
http://ge.tt/4xwlU5V/v/0 (http://ge.tt/4xwlU5V/v/0)


Various improvements have been added to the GUI
This version fully supports compressed keys (the new key format from bitcoind).
It is now possible to import keys and delete them in the GUI

Electrum version 1.6.1 has not been released yet.
Of course you have the right to name your build as you wish, but it really complicates the task of developers who try to diagnose
bugs if you distribute binary builds that use version numbers that are not consistent with the official version.

In addition, please note that Electrum is free software, released under the GNU GPL Licence.
This means that third parties who distribute builds must publish the source code they used to create the build, the compiling instructions for the build, and any modification they made to the code.

Thanks for pointing it out. I should have named it 1.6.01

I really think it's better to only build from git tagged sources. That way you know no creepy bugs end up in your builds. Do you have your source fork available on github somewhere?

I fully trust in slush's electrum builds! I made it portable using a batch file, quite simple.
I will update the portable client to 1.6.1 with the next release - coming soon, as announced.

Seems like I am destined to make every mistake possible.

I have forgotten my wallet password.
Wasn't much in there to begin with.
So, I've read pretty much impossible to recover it.
Fine I can live with that and my mistake.

the REAL QUESTION IS:

How do I uninstall , reinstall electrum so that I can have a chance of entering a NEW password and then making sure I don't forget it ?
Else if I delete it, and restart it, it would just ask for the old password which I forgot...
Thanks again.

Did you forget the password or the "seed". The password protects you from someone spending funds and is asked for when you want to send money. The seed is generated when you created the wallet and were told to write it down (12 words). With the seed you can restore the wallet even when you have forgotten the password. But if you didn't write down the seed then your wallet cannot be recovered.

Either way you don't need to uninstall and reinstall. You either need to "restore" if you know your seed, or "create" a new wallet if you don't. Both can be done as commands on the cmd line, and it will work from the desktop too.

You can do a restore or create by starting electrum with a new wallet option,
electrum -w my_new_wallet
(use whatever new name you like)
And then selecting Restore in the dialog. It will ask for your seed, and after that a new password. If you don't know the seed then you'll have no option but to select Create instead of Restore, which will generate a completely new wallet.

On Unity desktop I think you can do this command by typing Alt-F2 and then typing command as above. After restored you probably want to backup your old electrum.dat file and rename the my_new_wallet to elctrum.dat so that it is the default wallet.

Please don't use 3rd party provided Electrum binaries. Only use binaries downloaded from electrum.org (http://electrum.org).

If you want to provide extra binaries, come to IRC and discuss this with ThomasV.

Has anyone given blockchain a try?

+1

New version released: Electrum 1.6.1 portable (http://ge.tt/9YXEDNV/v/0)
A switch button now allows to easily switch between Lite and Classic GUI.
Various improvements (see changelog).

Really? Deleting your old post and then posting the same exact thing as last post?

Please don't use 3rd party provided Electrum binaries. Only use binaries downloaded from electrum.org.

If you want to provide extra binaries, come to IRC and discuss this with ThomasV.

I don't understand what is the benefit of downloading this if on the official site there's already a portable app to be downloaded. Are you re-hosting it? building it yourself?

There is a standalone executable on the official site, but no portable client. Thats why I've made this portable version of the client. It contains the official standalone executable from slush. You can download and compare both versions.
I made this version for my own use, as I like the electrum client and I prefer portable apps. As there is no other portable client available yet, I decided to share it  :)

Which executable did you use precisely. I compared the exe inside your ported version with the current 1.6.1 on the side and the md5 did not match.

  The nightly build: electrum-20130114-e0cf89a794.exe  
 http://i50.tinypic.com/nwewk8.jpg http://i45.tinypic.com/6hnoyb.jpg

   Thanks for checking it  :)

Nightly builds are not considered stable... At least note this somewhere...

Just get on IRC and help the developers instead of distributing potentially unsafe binaries via unofficial ways...

"Opinions are like assholes, everybody has one!" Clint Eastwood

"That's not an opinion, that's a fact." -Me

A not so sure fact?

I'm sure of that fact :) Do you trust a 3rd party generated/compiled/whatever binary downloaded via an URL shortener service and not via the official site (electrum.org (http://electrum.org))?

The question here isn't if I trust or not the download, but the fact that based on nothing you are saying that you don't know if his download can be trusted, and is claiming to be a fact.

Ok, you don't seem to get the message and that's fine, I'll spell it out for you.

Consider this a fact: Do not ever, in your life, trust unsigned binaries, provided via an URL shortener service by a 3rd party when there are official binaries available from the official page of the project (especially when dealing with a currency like Bitcoin)... Granted, the official binaries do not contain all features (the portable aspect) of this binary (yet), but the author could have chosen to work with the developers. He choose not to...

Btw, where is the full source of your binary?

If I can add, it may not be "you" that is doing something naughty, but it's imperative that we ensure people who aren't so technical that they only install trusted binaries. If someone installs your app and "gets in the habit" of just trusting someone on an internet forum and installing their software, we could suffer a whole world of pain should a not-so-nice individual inject a private key sniffer in another version.

I'm not dumb, I know those things, I'm just saying that you can't simply say that only because that this binany isn't the official linked on a tinyurl that this means a scam or a way to steal coins.

He provided it on the 2º post(3rd counting with the OP)

Please reread everything I said... I didn't say you were dumb (sorry if you thought that's what I meant) & I didn't say his binary is a scam. End of discussion :)

Wow. Drama up in here.  ::) Anyway! Electrum is awesome. I have it running on my rooted motoactv. bitcoin wallet on my wrist! yeah! Now I need a bluetooth camera or figure out how to get usb OTG support in the kernel so I can attach a usb camera, that way I can send coins as well as receive them.

I totally agree that bitcats should be working closer with the electrum people and stop dropping bins in the wild like that tho. Not really cool IMHO. I mean, yeah, providing something that once was not is good.
Maybe if it was a video game or something that was not dealing with MONEY! The possibility of someone giving you a cool new wallet with a hidden worm-hole that can suck all your funds at any point in time is just to heavy for me to trust anything like that from 'bill's upload service'. you know?

Ideally there needs to be some kind of bitcoin software source/checksum volunteer auditing board.

Chrome says it's malicious. Never said it before.

I would recommend users to just get the binary from electrum.org and add the batch files themselves.

Is there a more easy to remember download link to your app than in an obscured newbie thread (with not even Electrum in the title)? Can you get a mention (a link) from the official site?

Are there any plans for a release in the PortableApps format? http://portableapps.com/development/portableapps.com_format

I just loaded and launched the client on Windows. It works but I really confused where is the wallet file located? Searched all the disk no avail. Documentation states: "Your default wallet is located in your user account." What is the heck "user account"?

Isn't it located in your Electrum directory?

This was the first place I'd expect to find it. But none. Just lonely electrum-1.6.1.exe file.

The portable client creates a subfolder in the parent folder - its called SubDirectory. There you should find the electrum.dat.
When you start the client the first time, it asks you to create or restore a wallet - you have to be online for that. Once the wallet is created, you can go offline and use all the functions, incl importing and removing own addresses.

Note: Firewall configurations may interfere with the client.

I want to move wallet to the certain location. I even found parameters how to specify my custom location. But where the bloody wallet was created at the first place?

I'm talking about official standalone application.

This is the portable electrum thread.

Sorry, newbie here. What should I do if I wanted to transfer my data from the Official Bitcoin wallet to this one?

Its easy: Start the portable client offline. It creates a "SubDirectory" with a few files in it. Close the client. Copy your electrum.dat (=wallet) in that subfolder. Voilà :)

is it open source?

You should start by using an official Electrum client :)

electrum.org (http://electrum.org)

Good to see people who cares about Open Source software.

How about a brief tutorial how to make your own portable version. Then people can download from the official page and patch it portable themselves.

I will build an official portable version later this week.

Many thanks, been looking for an offline/usb client for a while.

Maybe I'm missing something, but I ran Electrum-1.7.2-portable.exe and it created some (settings?) files inside C:\Users...
That's not what I expect from a portable app, it should be all contained in the same folder as the executable.

Could you please create an issue here (https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum/issues) and supply as much information as possible. Which files it created and such.

You are probably talkin about the blockchain header and the electrum.dat

If that's the case and the reporter does not want that use the -w flag. 

I think so, yes. I've deleted them already.

All I want is a folder with the executable and all other (settings...) files in it. That's what a portable program should be like.

We are thinking of ways to safely do that. For now just boot with -w or create a bat-file that does it for you automatically and it will work as you expect.

How is the security on a portable client like that?

Can anyone have a cursory look over the source code and point out the changes that were needed for the portable version? Is the official celctrum portable build ready yet? (can't see in the main download dir)

It's only available for windows:
http://electrum.org/download.html

On any other system you can just use the -p flag.


The codebase is the same; it just encourages using Electrum on a computer that might not be your own. Which is a bad practice for all the obvious reasons.