Bitcoin mining on Windows

[FP91G]

I often see questions about mining Bitcoin on a laptop, but I want to understand whether a beginner can do this on Windows?

-ck says:
There is no legit link for any windows binary any more. The only legit ones were on my website, and antivirus scans falsely tagged them as malware and there was no way to appeal the tag so I've given up on windows binaries entirely and removed them all from my site. Anyone mining today should be mining with linux and most hardware is using a controller device that already runs linux.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=28402.msg47649805#msg47649805

I understand that this mining is unprofitable and useless on both a computer and a laptop, but is it possible to run mining on Windows for fun?

[philipma1957]

I often see questions about mining Bitcoin on a laptop, but I want to understand whether a beginner can do this on Windows?

-ck says:
There is no legit link for any windows binary any more. The only legit ones were on my website, and antivirus scans falsely tagged them as malware and there was no way to appeal the tag so I've given up on windows binaries entirely and removed them all from my site. Anyone mining today should be mining with linux and most hardware is using a controller device that already runs linux.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=28402.msg47649805#msg47649805

I understand that this mining is unprofitable and useless on both a computer and a laptop, but is it possible to run mining on Windows for fun?

you need a legit download and you maybe able to nest a folder in a usb stick with virus exceptions.

I used to make a stick eith a triple nested folder.

v1 with v2 in it with v3 in v2

all three folders were exception for virus.

it used to work. but windows keeps getting tougher on virus exceptions.

I have not done it in a while.

[BitMaxz]

Nowadays it's hard to find any software that can mine BTC on Windows any software that contains mining is detected as malware or virus even if you find one like others said it's not worth it but I think it's possible only if you can develop the same as a cgiminer that can support Windows devices.

However, it still not worth it because you will need to own a node and a pool allows a low hash rate to mine blocks from your own pool because most of the pools do not allow miners that hashing below 1GH/s and another thing is it is resource intensive that is why it's not worth mining with PC or laptop.

You might also be interested on mining BTC using Gameboy that's the only one I see possible posted years ago check the video below

- https://youtu.be/4ckjr9x214c?si=131-NqVzlVz4BRBS

[NotFuzzyWarm]

Actually, an up to date Windows binary of cgminer is available from Kano's site. https://kano.is/cgminer.php
Yes you will have to tell Defender and whatever else AV you use that cgminer is safe to run.
How to use it is here  https://kano.is/gekko.php

Of course in addition to that you need an ASIC miner to actually mine with it because support for CPU/GPU was removed long long ago as even the best GPU today is still >1000x slower then even the slowest ASIC-based miner. The best for that are Sidehack's stick or pod miners.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5355470.0 for the Compac-F
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5494124.0 for his latest A1

Of course the sticks REQUIRE a high current USB hub to power them, PC/laptop ports cannot directly supply enough power.

[nc50lc]

-snip-
I understand that this mining is unprofitable and useless on both a computer and a laptop, but is it possible to run mining on Windows for fun?

It's easy with your laptop's CPU:

• Launch your Bitcoin Core node (fully synced)
• Use the command generatetoaddress <number of blocks> <bitcoin address>

The command is designed for "RegTest" but it'll also work in mainnet, it's just your CPU (as you know) isn't enough to mine a block.
It will "mine" with 1000000 iterations by default which is easy to exhaust even with slow CPU.
So, add a third argument, e.g: generatetoaddress <number of blocks> <bitcoin address> 2147483647 to mine with the maximim possible number of iterations.

There'll be no result if it didn't succeed (returns the [block hash] if success, otherwise "[]") and there's no visible GUI element while mining;
So it's not "Fun" IMO, but it's definitely mining in the background if you check your Windows laptop's Task Manager.

Ref: https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/327f08bb0cd91a22249395adeb34549e3c86ca76/src/rpc/mining.cpp#L255-L294

[ABCbits]

I understand that this mining is unprofitable and useless on both a computer and a laptop, but is it possible to run mining on Windows for fun?

I think this guide meets your criteria, [Guide] Solo mine testnet bitcoins with bfgminer, Bitcoin Core, and a CPU/GPU. Although these days testnet blockchain size is rather big and you probably won't mine any block unless you use fast GPU or ASIC. While the guide use linux, bfgminer also support Windows according to it's GitHub page and build instruction.

[NeuroticFish]

but is it possible to run mining on Windows for fun?

Actual Bitcoin miners may not like this, but we're not talking about actual meaningful mining so....
I think that it'll be more fun to just find a worthless altcoin with low enough difficulty and mine that. At least you'll also have the feeling you mine, not only hashing; although, as I said from start, it will probably also be worthless/fun mining.

[FP91G]

Thank all for yours answers. I’m sure that if a beginner wants to mine bitcoins on a PC, as the first miners did, then he probably won’t be able to do it.

[Assface16678]

Well, its okay to try to mine in a laptop or PC and in a Windows OS, but of course, don't expect that it will be profitable, and of course, right now, I think there is no available software in order to mine bitcoin in a Windows OS, so either you will switch to a different OS or build a component that is for mining bitcoin, as it will also require high-end equipment, so you will also invest in the equipment you will use in order to mine a good amount of bitcoin. But the question right now is: is bitcoin mining still profitable if you have only the bare minimum set up? Because I think not anymore unless you really build high-end equipment, but it will cost a little too much, and of course you will wait for some specific amount in order to mine bitcoin, so consider the expenses for electricity and internet. What I'm saying is that bitcoin mining right now is not beginner-friendly anymore.

[den_lux]

I understand that this mining is unprofitable and useless on both a computer and a laptop, but is it possible to run mining on Windows for fun?

I think this guide meets your criteria, [Guide] Solo mine testnet bitcoins with bfgminer, Bitcoin Core, and a CPU/GPU. Although these days testnet blockchain size is rather big and you probably won't mine any block unless you use fast GPU or ASIC. While the guide use linux, bfgminer also support Windows according to it's GitHub page and build instruction.

Thanks for that!