Beginner: Using Armory / start-up - not going online

[magueq]

Dear All,

I am a beginner who is interested in starting to trade bitcoins.

Apparrently "Armory" is a safe and secure programme that I can use as a wallet.

I believe I followed all of the instructions but somehow Armory is not going 'online' and remains offline.

This is the screen that I currently have:

https://image.ibb.co/hYM8EF/help2.jpg

Could someone help me out??

Thanks in advance.

Chris

[achow101]

Have you downloaded and installed Bitcoin Core? If not, do that.

Is Bitcoin Core synced? If not, let it sync before starting Armory.

[magueq]

Oops. I did not install Bitcoin core yet, will do so now and keep you updated.

[magueq]

Aha.

So Bitcoin core is the programme who retains the big data file of transactions. Is it ok to keep it on an external hard disk?

I am running armory/bitcoin core on my laptop which only has one 128GB SSD (obviously not enough for the data file).

[achow101]

Aha.

So Bitcoin core is the programme who retains the big data file of transactions. Is it ok to keep it on an external hard disk?

I am running armory/bitcoin core on my laptop which only has one 128GB SSD (obviously not enough for the data file).

You will need to have that disk plugged in whenever Bitcoin Core or Armory (or both) are running. Armory will also need to have the --satoshi-datadir option set so that it knows where those files are.

[magueq]

Hi All,

It took me over a week to fully sync the bitcoin core.. 144 GB of data! (Do I really need this to trade coins??)

Anyway, my Armory app is still in the same modus as described in my first post. Where can I find this satoshi datadir?

Thanks in advance and have a great weekend!
Chris

[achow101]

It took me over a week to fully sync the bitcoin core.. 144 GB of data! (Do I really need this to trade coins??)

You need all of that data in order to use the wallet software that you have chosen to use.

Anyway, my Armory app is still in the same modus as described in my first post. Where can I find this satoshi datadir?

The satoshi datadir is Bitcoin Core's datadir. It is where the 144+ GB of data is stored.

[magueq]

Hi Achow101!

Thanks for your response, but where can I find this datadir? I'm far from being an expert in these kind of technical things.


My settings in Armory are as follows:
the C: drive is where bitcoin core is installed and F: drive is the external hard disk where the data is stored.
https://image.ibb.co/mot6Jk/bitcoin.jpg

[achow101]

Hi Achow101!

Thanks for your response, but where can I find this datadir? I'm far from being an expert in these kind of technical things.


My settings in Armory are as follows:
the C: drive is where bitcoin core is installed and F: drive is the external hard disk where the data is stored.

The satoshi datadir is the folder on your F:\ drive that has all of the blockchain data. You can check to see what Bitcoin Core is using as its datadir by opening Bitcoin Core and going to Help > Debug Window > Information. The datadir is listed there.

[magueq]

Thanks! It's F:/Bitcoin core. Does this mean I filled the home dir on armory correctly?

[achow101]

Thanks! It's F:/Bitcoin core. Does this mean I filled the home dir on armory correctly?

Yes, that should be correct.

[HCP]

Due to the "space" character in the directory names... Will Armory require the path to be enclosed in quote marks? Ie. "F:\Bitcoin Core"...  Or will it work without them?

I've not tried, because my custom directory is just: E:\Bitcoin

[magueq]

Any ideas? With the space out it still does not work. 

[HCP]

Note: I wasn't suggesting that you should take the space out... I was merely asking if that works or not. I apologise if I caused any confusion.

In Bitcoin Core, have a look at "Help -> debug window -> Information" and see what is listed as the "datadir":


Armory needs to have the Bitcoin home dir set to the same value.

So, if you tried with F:\Bitcoin Core and it didn't work... try using "F:\Bitcoin Core"... or 'F:\Bitcoin Core'

[walletman]

On the Bitcoin Home Dir Shouldn't you be typing F:\user\Name\AppDate\roaming\Bitcoin to get the wallet.data and blocks that are stored there. But I might not need to give advice I been using Armory since 0.91 and it all worked great but old computer died with 0.95 on it working fine but I tried 0.96 can't get it to work and 0.96.2 same problem unchecked run bitcoind auto and pen armory then bitcoin core it worked but not like it should sync all the blockchains up to the point I open armory and it says connected at the bottom left but its purple so I don't know when it finally syncs will I be able to send and receive coins.

[HCP]

On the Bitcoin Home Dir Shouldn't you be typing F:\user\Name\AppDate\roaming\Bitcoin to get the wallet.data and blocks that are stored there.

No.

OP explicitly stated that he moved his Bitcoin data directory because his laptop only had a 128Gig SSD and he didn't have room for the blockchain, so shifted everything to F: drive and into a folder called F:\Bitcoin Core.

If you're getting the "Purple" text in Armory, it sounds like it isn't able to connect to your Bitcoin Core using RPC properly. Did you try setting up a bitcoin.conf file in your Bitcoin Core datadir and adding in the following lines:

Code:

addnode=127.0.0.1
server=1

Personally, I'd recommend shutting Bitcoin Core down and letting Armory run it in the background... it just doesn't seem to work for me if I open Bitcoin Core and then start Armory.