Multiple installations and dormant wallets

[rahl]

Hi,

I have some questions.

Is it possible to run multiple bitcoin client installations simultaneously on the same machine (windows 7) or will it corrupt something because of like memory and port conflicts? They would be running with tor and different data directories ofc.

Also I have a question if there is some downside to having a wallet that very rarely gets connected to the network? Like if you have separate data directory for a savings/vault account that you barley ever launch the client with?

[TheVirus]

Wouldn't it be easier to just use the Address Book to generate new receiving addresses? The main Bitcoin program uses %AppData%\Bitcoin to store the wallet. If you tried to make a new wallet, the previous one would either get overwritten or open up with the program.

If you have a dormant wallet then nothing happens. The network doesn't know/care about the wallets. If someone sends BTC to an address, it just does it. The network doesn't know if coins are lost or missing, it's up to the people to make sure their wallets are safe and secure. Many people have a 'savings' wallet that they transfer their money to and then backup/secure.

[rahl]

Wouldn't it be easier to just use the Address Book to generate new receiving addresses? The main Bitcoin program uses %AppData%\Bitcoin to store the wallet. If you tried to make a new wallet, the previous one would either get overwritten or open up with the program.

But you can't send to your own addresses. Rotating coin that has been used in a transaction that can be liked to you should be nice for plausible deniability on other transactions in the chain if a wallet is compromised. Makes it more difficult to follow the cash flow and identify what addresses in the chain corresponds to the same actual person.
Also it might be good for running different versions. I thought you could use bitcoin.conf to put the wallet and data directory anywhere you like? edit: the datadir flag i meant to say not .conf
The staying anonymous part of the wiki talks about multiple installations (because you can't do anything to the sending address otherwise) but nothing about if they are meant to run simultaneously or not. Some programs don't do multiple instances well...

If you have a dormant wallet then nothing happens. The network doesn't know/care about the wallets. If someone sends BTC to an address, it just does it. The network doesn't know if coins are lost or missing, it's up to the people to make sure their wallets are safe and secure. Many people have a 'savings' wallet that they transfer their money to and then backup/secure.

Thanks, so it doesn't get outdated or easier to hijack because all of the transaction data is in the entire network...

[rahl]

So apparently the client seems to refuse running multiple instances. Well it starts multiple processes but only give one GUI to the first one started.

But creating different shortcuts with different datadir paths worked fine to get fresh wallets and stuff. So I guess just have to alternate between them as needed.

Anyone know which files store the blockchain so I don't have to download it all over again?

[kseistrup]

I thought you could use bitcoin.conf to put the wallet and data directory anywhere you like?

I was looking for the same today, and it seems that bitcoin/bitcoind insists om listening on all addresses on a machine (would be nice with a -host= or a -bind-address= option) and on listening on port 8333 (would be nice with a -port= option).

Other potential nice options are: -config= and -datadir= …

Cheers,