Thread is now closed. New replacement thread is here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=721045This thread is to host a community-built FAQ for Monero [XMR].
Post questions and answers in new replies and I'll edit them into the FAQ.
Controversial changes will be held back in a separate controversial section until there is reasonable consensus.
Have at it.
Monero FAQ (collaborative draft)
Official software, wallets, etc.Q: Where is the official Monero thread?
A:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=583449.0Q: What are the minimum requirements for a computer to run the wallet?
A: A 64-bit OS is highly recommended. At the time of writing (July 2014), 4 GB of RAM should be sufficient, and 2 GB of disk space is required to store the block chain (currently growing at about 10 MB per day).
Q: How do I use Monero with 32-bit Windows?
A: The official 32-bit binaries have been reported to work only with PAE enabled. More info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_Address_Extension#Microsoft_WindowsQ: What are the best installation instructions to use, where do I get more information, etc.?
A: Be sure to rely only resources linked from the original post on the official Monero thread.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=583449.0Q: When trying to send coins I get an error stating that transaction is too large.
A: This is due to many small inputs (dust) to the address such as from mining to it. The solution is to split up the transaction and send smaller amounts. This problem has mainly been mitigated by the pools updating their software to not payout dust amounts.
Q: Why is Monero not user friendly like most other cryptocurrencies? Why is there no official GUI wallet?
A: Monero is not a Bitcoin clone, and so it's code is entirely new (originally derived from Cryptonote). Similarly to the early Bitcoin days, a lot of pieces have just not been built yet - the puzzle is largely incomplete. There's good and bad that comes with this fact, amongst other things: there is certainly some additional risk as the code is a lot more experimental than that of Bitcoin, while on the other hand, there is also a lot of potential, as Monero is just in it's infancy. A GUI Wallet is certainly an important part of this puzzle, and there are unofficial GUI wallets that can be used (recognizing that they are test-quality software) -- see the next question.
Q: Where is the GUI wallet ?
A: The official release does not yet include a GUI wallet. Information about several available GUI wallets can be found on the GUI wallet bounty thread here :
Bounty for open source ByteCoin/Monero GUIThe Jojatekok GUI wallet thread is here :
[XMR] Monero Client .NET - A GUI wallet made for WindowsQ: Do I have to run a full node to keep a personal/offline wallet?
A: Yes. Note that at the present state of development, running a full node & using the wallet is not a particularly friendly venture, so it is wise to really go through the setup instructions available and see if your computer skills will tolerate the effort. Experienced/Advanced users will have no trouble setting up a node & wallet.
Q: Can I have multiple Monero addresses in my local node?
A: Short version - yes. Long version - Each wallet currently holds a single address. To have multiple addresses, you'll be creating and executing multiple wallets (one per address). Note: Multiple wallets cannot be running concurrently on a given system. Non-experienced users are strongly advised to not attempt running multiple wallets.
Q: Monero blockchain uses too much RAM, is filling up my hard drive, etc. / What's up with all the bloat?
A: The privacy features in Monero do come at a certain cost of an increased blockchain size. That said, the codebase is very much alpha stage at the moment, and currently, there is absolutely no compression of the blockchain data. This is one of the main priorities for the dev team - to implement a robust & scalable database platform. The team is very active on this, but it is pointless to ask/spam '
are we there yet?' on the forums or IRC, since the task is non-trivial and will take whatever is the necessary amount of time to be
done right(tm). When this is complete, bells and whistles will be heard on
the Interwebs. Q: How do I use the view key?
A:
tbdQ: How do I restore the wallet from the mnemonic seed?
A: Use the --restore-deterministic-wallet flag when running your simplewallet, it will ask you for a NEW wallet name, a NEW wallet password, and then the previous 24 word string that was given to you when the original wallet file was created.
Q: How do I change my wallet password/name?
A: Restore the wallet from the mnemonic seed
Q: How do I generate a new wallet address for a transaction, like in Bitcoin?
A: This is not necessary with Monero, you only ever need one receiving address. A new receiving address is created automatically for every transaction, inside the program.
Q: How long does it take to send a transaction?
A: Block time is one minute. On average it will only take a one minute a transaction to first appear in the block chain; however, exchanges usually will require at least 18 confirmations (blocks) before adding funds to your account, and the standard wallet requires
tbd confirmations before considering received coins to be available for use. A time of 10-20 minutes is generally the longest length of time you should consider waiting if your transaction isn't confirmed in a couple of minutes.
Q: What is the net hashrate/difficulty/coins in circulation?
A: Check
this siteQ: I can't send XMR because simplewallet or bitmonerod reports something like 'failed to send ...." How do I solve this?
A: Delete poolstate.bin, your compiled version is probably from the one before tx expiry was added. So also recompile with the latest commits (or download the latest official binaries).
Q: I've heard that mixins can be unmasked if outputs are spent with mixin=0. Is this true?
A: (From tacotime) It refers to a well known privacy issue on CN coins. We've had a fix for this in the development for weeks now after corresponding with a Bitcoin core devs that should be more effective than the solution for Boolberry, we're just waiting until the core of the software is more mature before we roll it out.
Development teamQ: Who are the official development team members:
A: (in no particular order) - tacotime, eizh, smooth, fluffypony, othe, davidlatapie, NoodleDoodle
Q: Monero dev team seems to be too sluggish, does not?
A: (From fluffypony) We are far from sluggish. All 7 of the core team members have to earn a living. Each of us can spend 14 hours a day on Monero, but then we need to draw an hourly payment to cover our time. Thus far we have received well under 1 BTC in donations, a trivial amount. That means that all of our time and energy and effort is completely self-funded. We are not sitting on mountains of XMR, this is a cryptocurrency that had an absolutely 100% fair launch. Given the current size of the cryptocurrency market I would argue that it had an even fairer launch than Bitcoin, because tons of people jumped on and mined it from day one. We had no opportunity to amass any sizeable amount of XMR. Thus, our entire effort is a labour of love and completely because we want to see XMR become useful. If we get no donations, we are unable to spend large amounts of time on it, and we will have to peck away at it in our spare time. If you want to see less "sluggishness" (i.e. more time allocated), then donate. If you haven't donated you have absolutely no room to manoeuvre in this discussion.
ExchangesQ: What on earth are these 'PaymentIDs' I keep hearing about?
A: The way that Monero works today, causes the exchanges to have a single address to where all customer Moneros get deposited. Given the intrinsic privacy features built into Monero, the exchange is unable to verify the source of any incoming transaction. Enter 'PaymentIDs'. Each exchange user get's a unique PaymentID assigned, so that by tracking PaymentIDs on incoming transactions, the exchanges can identify the user account that is to be credited.
Q: I have send to an exchange without using the payment id? What do I do now?
A: Contact support. You have to be the first to claim that specific amount with a rough timeframe and normally they will credit it to your account
Price speculationQ: Why is the price going down?
A: Because more people are selling more XMR than there are people buying XMR.
Q: Why is the price going up?
A: Because more people are buying more XMR than there are people selling XMR.
Q: Will the price go back up?
A: No one can predict future prices with certainty however it is likely that prices will fluctuate both up and down.
Mining/PoolsQ: Can I mine directly to my exchange address, or do I need to setup a local wallet?
A: Mining to exchange addresses is not possible at this time, as the pool will not attribute a PaymentID to your mining proceeds, resulting in the exchange not being able to find out who said proceeds belong to. Mining to an exchange address will almost certainly cause your funds to be lost. Note: There is one exception, as one pool (MinerGate) has advertised that they have implemented PaymentIDs in mining withdrawals. This has not been independently verified yet (to the best of my knowledge), and the pool in question is 'closed source', thus generally not recommended.
Q:Anything to do with pools ; Connectivity, payouts etc.
A:Contact the pool dev via their support methods (the Monero core team has nothing to do with operating the pools and won't be able to help). Many pool operators can be found on the IRC channels if immediate help is required.
Q: I'm mining with 'x' hashes/second. How much can I mine per day?
A: Use this formula, which will give you how much of a block you can mine in 24 hours: (x)/(net hashrate) * 60 * 24
Terms/Vocabulary Key image - encoded version of a private key that does not reveal the private key, but reveals if the private key is used to attempt double spending
One time key (address?) - Monero public addresses are not the addresses to which coins are actually sent, instead they are used to create a unique address for each transaction.
Cryptonote - The protocol which Monero is built on.
Cryptonight - The mining algorithm which Monero uses. CPU/GPU friendly algorithm.
Mix in count - Number of outputs you would like to mix your transaction with
Payment ID - Code which distinguishes your payment for people who use single addresses (usually exchanges)
