This guide is intended to help miners setup CPU solo mining of scrypt-based cryptos on Windows, and I am using CasinoCoin as an example. All other scrypt-based crypto currencies are free to point to this thread to help new miners get started, but please provide credit. For other cryptos, substitute the appropriate parameters (ie. RPC port, file names, etc) with those specific to to the crypto.
This tutorial is broken up into the following sections:
- Downloads
- File and Directory Setup
- CasinoCoin Configuration
- Solo Mining
DownloadsYou'll need to download the following applications:
NOTE: Most antivirus applications will identify cpuminer as a trojan horse -- however, this is a false positive, as noted
here,
here and
here.
File and Directory SetupIf you already have an unzip program, then you won't need to download 7zip. Else, download and install 7zip.
I like to keep all crypto related applications grouped into one folder, so create a folder called "crypto" on your C: drive (ie. C:\crypto).
- In Windows Explorer, create a new folder called "crypto" on your C: drive (ie. C:\crypto)
- Move the wallet and cpuminer files that you just downloaded into this directory.
- Extract the contents of the wallet using 7zip (right click on the file > 7-Zip > Extract Here)
- Extract the contents of cpuminer using 7zip (right click on the file > 7-Zip > Extract to "<some folder name>")
- Rename the CasinoCoin wallet folder (ie. casinocoin-1.0.0.3) to CasinoCoin.
- Rename the cpuminer wallet folder (ie. pooler-cpuminer-2.3.2-win32) to cpuminer. The folder should look like something below:
CasinoCoin Configuration- Open up the CasinoCoin folder and create a shortcut to casinocoin-qt.exe. To create a shortcut, click on casinocoin-qt.exe and right-click. A sub-menu is displayed -- click on Create shortcut . A shortcut is now listed called casinocoin-qt.exe - Shortcut.
- Right click on the shortcut and select Properties within the sub-menu.
- In the Target field, add -server to the end of the existing path and hit OK. This sets the wallet in server mode when you launch the shortcut.
- Drag this shortcut to your desktop for easy access when launching the wallet application.
- Run the wallet application by double clicking on the shortcut.
- An error message will be displayed. Click on OK. The wallet application will quit.
- Open up Windows Explorer. In the file path bar, type in %appdata% and hit Enter.
- Double click on the CasinoCoin folder.
- Create an empty CasinoCoin configuration file by right clicking within the directory > New > Text Document
- Name the file casinocoin.conf. Make sure the file doesn't end with a .txt extension. The file should be listed as casinocoin.conf
- Open casinocoin.conf using your preferred text editor such as Notepad.
- Copy and paste the following below:
rpcuser=yourusername
rpcpassword=yourpassword
rpcallowip=*
server=1
addnode=seed.casinoco.in
addnode=seed1.casinoco.in
addnode=seed2.casinoco.in
addnode=188.165.218.116
- Change yourusername and yourpassword accordingly and save the file.
Solo Mining- Open up the Command Prompt by clicking on the Windows Start button > All Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt
- Type the following below and press Enter. You'll need to changing the rpcport, rpcuser and rpcpassword fields to match what is in the casinocoin.conf that you previously created.
"C:\crypto\cpuminer\minerd.exe" -a scrypt -o http://127.0.0.1:<rpcport> -O <rpcuser>:<rpcpassword>
- NOTE: When running cpuminer (minerd.exe), your anti-virus software might stop the execution of the program. You'll need to add minerd.exe onto the safe list in order for it to execute. Refer to your anti-virus manual on how to do this.
- If everything goes well, you've begun hashing and should see a similar output:
- CPU mining is very slow compared to GPU, FPGA and ASIC mining. When a block is discovered, the block reward will immediately show up in your wallet alongside the pickax icon.
Happy hashing!
