The reasons I'm leaving armory for another wallet

[thethirdtwin]

The reason I started using Armory in the first place was the security it boasted, but the troubles I've had over the two years of using it have finally put me off to the point where this is the end.

I had Armory installed on my main machine which was fine until I upgraded to an SSD and thought it might be better to install it on a external HDD, also a product of this was greater security, which is where the issues began.

Making Armory portable is the worst experience.
If the developers care to read this, I would encourage making a portable version or incorporate the making of armory portable in the installer.

An issue I have seen is that if the HDD is not plugged in (or isn't mounted) or, for what ever reason, the settings file needs to be reset Armory will start reinstalling the blockchain in the default location, WHICH NEEDS TO BE MANUALLY CLEARED, AND CAN RESULT IN GIGABYTES OF DATA BEING LEFT UNUSED!

Another issue I had in the past was that if the external HDD is removed while Armory is running it completely broke the software and after about a week trying to fix it, I finally had to uninstall the whole damn thing even re-downloading the blockchain, which, as you all know takes a fucking age!

Seriously guys, Export Transactions STILL doesn't work
What is the deal? Like I said I've been using Armory for years so I have quite a few (hundred) transactions, and still, in 2015, I can't export them... This makes Armory an absolute no-go for commercial purposes, I'm using a different service for that.
As a result of the crash it took hours to rescan databases and whatever, which I really didn't appreciate.
I have considered manually taking note of my transactions but I don't think I hate myself that much.

The bootstrap, it works! Sometimes...
I've had to reinstall Armory too many times and the bootstrap on 2 occasions had made it significantly faster but it currently isn't working, it gets to 2-6 percent then throws an error, I can't remember exactly what the error is but the suggested action, in my opinion is ridiculous, "turn it off torrent download and restart", WHICH BY THE WAY LEAVES THE (SOME GIGABYTES BIG) BOOTSTRAP FILE SITTING ON THE DRIVE DOING NOTHING!

So why have you given up now you ask?
Well, all of the above have sort of been a result of human error or a result of the set-up I had.
Until a few days ago I got the pop-up telling me of the new version, so I obliged. Closed Armory, updated Armory, opened Armory, three days later it still says Initialising bitcoin engine.
So I'm sorry to say good bye but there it is.
Maybe I'll come back when the stable versions are actually stable.

[goatpig]

Making Armory portable is the worst experience.
If the developers care to read this, I would encourage making a portable version or incorporate the making of armory portable in the installer.

I'm not sure what you mean by portable. Portable binaries usually implies they do not depend on registry/hive settings to run, nor do they have to install other packages on your machine. This is true for Armory in Windows. You can copy paste the install dir to any compatible machine and Armory will run. On Linux, you can copy the installed lib folder to another machine, and as long as you have the proper Python packages and libstd, it will run too. Granted, on Linux you should just build your own binaries if you want to operate this way. I don't know about OSX, I don't use it.

If you mean something else when you say portable, you should present that.

issue I have seen is that if the HDD is not plugged in (or isn't mounted) or, for what ever reason, the settings file needs to be reset Armory will start reinstalling the blockchain in the default location, WHICH NEEDS TO BE MANUALLY CLEARED, AND CAN RESULT IN GIGABYTES OF DATA BEING LEFT UNUSED!

If you want to use Armory on partitions that aren't always available to your system or move the entire Core + DB around, you should be manually running BitcoinQt instead of using auto managed bitcoind. That's a default setting, easy to use, press one button and let it do its thing option made available to our users. You can't expect to customize your setup and get a good experience with the default behavior, that's contradictory.

You can disable both torrent download and auto manage bitcoind from the File -> Settings menu. In your case, failing to connect the drive in as you start Armory would result in Armory simply being offline, and no bootstrap would be downloaded.

Another issue I had in the past was that if the external HDD is removed while Armory is running it completely broke the software and after about a week trying to fix it, I finally had to uninstall the whole damn thing even re-downloading the blockchain, which, as you all know takes a fucking age!

While the new DB is resilient to this kind of abuse (LevelDB is terribly weak on that front), this is outright bad practice. If you're going to run any process against files on removable media, you should respect the remove procedure provided by your OS, which will clearly warn you the media is in use and shouldn't be removed at the moment. Blaming that on us is uncalled for. If you run your car into a wall, are you going to blame the manufacturer because it doesn't run anymore?

You can't expect to use a custom setup and have it convenient at the same time. Also, convenience and security are on the opposite end of a same line. You can place the cursor wherever you see fit, but don't think you can get an extremely secure system that works at the flick of a button. That's called web wallets, and it isn't secure at all.

Seriously guys, Export Transactions STILL doesn't work

Works in 0.93 afaik

The bootstrap, it works! Sometimes...

I fixed some major bugs pertaining to bitcoind failures a few days ago, and some more are in the works. Why were these fixed only now? Because we were not aware of them until this moment in time. Why? Because users like you didn't report they were having issues, and we don't experience these on our dev environments.

This is FOSS. You don't pay us and we don't throw user satisfaction surveys are you either. If you want stuff to get better, you have to present us with the issues and help us isolate the bugs. That's the nature of things. Don't expect to get treated any better elsewhere if your approach is to silently endure bugs until you can't take them anymore.

[thethirdtwin]

I'm not sure what you mean by portable.

By portable I mean an app that works out of one folder, that can be moved from one computer in a working state to a portable media, and work off of that media, then be transported to another media or computer and works again just fine.

Currently Armory has its default installation location (in my case) set to C:\Program Files (x86) and on top of that bitcoin-qt installation is set to C:\Program Files AND on top of that it stores all it's data in TWO folders in C:\Users\User\AppData\Roaming Bitcoin and Armory

All of these I have moved and got it working but is pain in the ass.

If you want to use Armory on partitions that aren't always available to your system or move the entire Core + DB around, you should be manually running BitcoinQt instead of using auto managed bitcoind. That's a default setting, easy to use, press one button and let it do its thing option made available to our users.

Are you talking about this:
https://bitcoinarmory.com/troubleshooting/#q5

Because this is what I do to set up Armory & bitcoin-qt and I really wish it wasn't a 13 step process that takes moving gigabytes of data around and putting arguments in shortcuts.

You can't expect to use a custom setup and have it convenient at the same time.

But if you make the customization part easy it can be more convenient, I have a degree in computer science I'm not new to computers I know that if a person wants something to work for them they have to put some work in too, I just think the process could be easier is all I'm saying.

If you're going to run any process against files on removable media, you should respect the remove procedure provided by your OS

I do that when ever I can. However, in my case the usb cable that connects extHDD to the computer is Chinese tier technology and a bit wobbly and has been known to just disconnect itself when the desk is bumped.

Blaming that on us is uncalled for. If you run your car into a wall, are you going to blame the manufacturer because it doesn't run anymore?

Don't get me wrong I'm not playing the blame game here, it was completely my fault. I'm just saying it was a bit shit that I had to start from scratch when something went wrong.

That's called web wallets, and it isn't secure at all.

Fuck web wallets, I wouldn't store more than a few dollars on those, they're a good way to get your money GOXed.

Works in 0.93 afaik

I hope so.

Another suggestion I have is changing the way the UI displays what it's doing. This "Initialising Bitcoin Engine" with an empty progress bar and a six stage spinning icon* isn't great IMO, more detail into what it's doing and maybe an ETA, something to show me that it hasn't just given up and stopped.

*I'm putting Armory on a VM and I'm currently looking at that, and the spinning icon has actually stopped spinning and I'm pretty sure it's stopped writing data (or reading, who knows what it's doing) as well.


Anyway, I'll stop there before I write any more.
I really hope Armory becomes more versatile and reliable in the future, it really is the better of the BTC wallets!

[goatpig]

Because this is what I do to set up Armory & bitcoin-qt and I really wish it wasn't a 13 step process that takes moving gigabytes of data around and putting arguments in shortcuts.

If you want to run BitcoinQt without arguments you should look at bitcoin.conf. Your installation will be dependent on your /User/AppData folder however. Armory has no .conf and we should remedy that, I agree. We also had internal discussions about possibly adding a GUI feature to relocate the data folders. This is all extra work and not a priority as long as users don't voice their opinion on the matter.

Consider that all these options are available through command line arguments because we prefer the less tech savvy users don't shoot themselves in the foot until we have a strong GUI option (if we ever do that is). Keep in mind that CLI args are really quick to implement, GUI equivalents, not so.

But if you make the customization part easy it can be more convenient, I have a degree in computer science I'm not new to computers I know that if a person wants something to work for them they have to put some work in too, I just think the process could be easier is all I'm saying.

I understand your point entirely, but again there is a time and priority factor, and while this setup process is convoluted, our expert users rarely complain about it, and considering the accessibility, these are expect features. We don't have the man hours to throw at this currently. Maybe I'll abuse the prospect newbie with that stuff (if he signs with us).

Don't get me wrong I'm not playing the blame game here, it was completely my fault. I'm just saying it was a bit shit that I had to start from scratch when something went wrong.

You're stuck between a rock and a hard place on this one. We moved to LMDB so Armory will handle that kind of abuse from 0.93 onward. Core is still using LevelDB and there are no plans to change that.

Another suggestion I have is changing the way the UI displays what it's doing. This "Initialising Bitcoin Engine" with an empty progress bar and a six stage spinning icon* isn't great IMO, more detail into what it's doing and maybe an ETA, something to show me that it hasn't just given up and stopped.

*I'm putting Armory on a VM and I'm currently looking at that, and the spinning icon has actually stopped spinning and I'm pretty sure it's stopped writing data (or reading, who knows what it's doing) as well.

That's a band-aid fix. Ideally nothing should gets stuck, so the ugly progress bars are enough. From the sound of it, your Armory is stuck. If you want to help, gimme details about your VM setup and attach your log files.

[thethirdtwin]

That's a band-aid fix. Ideally nothing should gets stuck, so the ugly progress bars are enough. From the sound of it, your Armory is stuck. If you want to help, gimme details about your VM setup and attach your log files.

The VM:
2gb memory
1 processor 2 cores
Windows 10 tech preview*

ArmoryLog:
http://pastebin.com/yRMDMZJP

Note that armory has crashed a few times today, and was outputting this error at yesterday.

Code:

2015-03-11 00:14 (INFO) -- announcefetch.pyc:271 - Fetching: https://bitcoinarmory.com/announce.txt
2015-03-11 00:14 (ERROR) -- announcefetch.pyc:283 - Specified URL was inaccessible
2015-03-11 00:14 (ERROR) -- announcefetch.pyc:284 - Tried: https://bitcoinarmory.com/announce.txt
2015-03-11 00:14 (INFO) -- announcefetch.pyc:271 - Fetching: https://s3.amazonaws.com/bitcoinarmory-media/announce.txt
2015-03-11 00:14 (ERROR) -- announcefetch.pyc:283 - Specified URL was inaccessible
2015-03-11 00:14 (ERROR) -- announcefetch.pyc:284 - Tried: https://s3.amazonaws.com/bitcoinarmory-media/announce.txt

*Because I didn't want to install another version of windows, I run windows 8 natively.

[goatpig]

That's a band-aid fix. Ideally nothing should gets stuck, so the ugly progress bars are enough. From the sound of it, your Armory is stuck. If you want to help, gimme details about your VM setup and attach your log files.

The VM:
2gb memory
1 processor 2 cores
Windows 10 tech preview*

ArmoryLog:
http://pastebin.com/yRMDMZJP

Note that armory has crashed a few times today, and was outputting this error at yesterday.

Code:

2015-03-11 00:14 (INFO) -- announcefetch.pyc:271 - Fetching: https://bitcoinarmory.com/announce.txt
2015-03-11 00:14 (ERROR) -- announcefetch.pyc:283 - Specified URL was inaccessible
2015-03-11 00:14 (ERROR) -- announcefetch.pyc:284 - Tried: https://bitcoinarmory.com/announce.txt
2015-03-11 00:14 (INFO) -- announcefetch.pyc:271 - Fetching: https://s3.amazonaws.com/bitcoinarmory-media/announce.txt
2015-03-11 00:14 (ERROR) -- announcefetch.pyc:283 - Specified URL was inaccessible
2015-03-11 00:14 (ERROR) -- announcefetch.pyc:284 - Tried: https://s3.amazonaws.com/bitcoinarmory-media/announce.txt

*Because I didn't want to install another version of windows, I run windows 8 natively.

The log file says it's running in Win8, did you give me the right one? Is BitcoinQt running fine and sync'ed fully? Also, get me armorycpplog.txt please.

[thethirdtwin]

Yeah, I installed win10 under the win8 option in VMware that might be it, or windows 10 is retarded, I willing to except either to be true.

CppLog:
http://pastebin.com/qHdqsGxg

Yeah Bitcoin-qt works fine.

Edit:
I'm getting this error again

Code:

2015-03-11 20:38 (INFO) -- announcefetch.pyc:271 - Fetching: https://bitcoinarmory.com/announce.txt
2015-03-11 20:38 (ERROR) -- announcefetch.pyc:283 - Specified URL was inaccessible

Edit:
Found that when 'Loading Database Headers' has finished loading and gets to 100% the time to the right of the percentage goes really high.
http://s2.postimg.org/reqn4o809/Armory_Loading_Db_Headers103_Years.png

[goatpig]

Did you make sure there is enough disk space available?

[thethirdtwin]

Did you make sure there is enough disk space available?

Yeah I have 50 gigs free

[thethirdtwin]

Code:

2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1074 - C++ block utilities loaded successfully
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1184 - 
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1185 - 
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1186 - 
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1187 - ************************************************************
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1188 - Invoked: C:\Program Files (x86)\Armory\ArmoryQt.exe
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1189 - ************************************************************
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1190 - Loading Armory Engine:
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1191 -    Armory Version        : 0.93
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1192 -    Armory Build:         : 84a5897ec2
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1193 -    PyBtcWallet  Version  : 1.35
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1194 - Detected Operating system: Windows
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1195 -    OS Variant            : 8-6.2.9200--Multiprocessor Free
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1196 -    User home-directory   : C:\Users\thethirdtwin\AppData\Roaming
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1197 -    Satoshi BTC directory : C:\Users\thethirdtwin\AppData\Roaming\Bitcoin\
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1198 -    Armory home dir       : C:\Users\thethirdtwin\AppData\Roaming\Armory\
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1199 - Detected System Specs    : 
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1200 -    Total Available RAM   : 3.00 GB
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1201 -    CPU ID string         : Intel64 Family 6 Model 60 Stepping 3, GenuineIntel
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1202 -    Number of CPU cores   : 2 cores
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1203 -    System is 64-bit      : True
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1204 -    Preferred Encoding    : cp1252
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1205 -    Machine Arch          : amd64
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1206 -    Available HDD (ARM)   : 48 GB
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1207 -    Available HDD (BTC)   : 48 GB
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1208 - 
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1209 - Network Name: Main Network
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1210 - Satoshi Port: 8333
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1211 - Do wlt check: True
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1212 - Named options/arguments to armoryengine.py:
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1214 -     nettimeout      : 2
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1214 -     rescan          : False
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1214 -     ignoreAllZC     : False
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1214 -     enableSupernode : False
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1214 -     disableModules  : False
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1214 -     port            : None
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1214 -     interport       : 8223
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1214 -     skipStatsReport : False
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1214 -     forceWalletCheck: False
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1214 -     rebuild         : False
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1214 -     datadir         : DEFAULT
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1214 -     clearMempool    : False
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1214 -     offline         : False
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1214 -     coverageOutputDir: None
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1214 -     armoryDBDir     : DEFAULT
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1214 -     satoshiPort     : DEFAULT
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1214 -     useTorSettings  : False
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1214 -     netlog          : False
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1214 -     keypool         : 100
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1214 -     coverageInclude : None
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1214 -     forceOnline     : False
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1214 -     skipAnnounceCheck: False
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1214 -     redownload      : False
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1214 -     multisigFile    : DEFAULT
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1214 -     disableTorrent  : False
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1214 -     testAnnounceCode: False
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1214 -     mtdebug         : False
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1214 -     logDisable      : False
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1214 -     settingsPath    : C:\Users\thethirdtwin\AppData\Roaming\Armory\ArmorySettings.txt
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1214 -     verbosity       : None
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1214 -     doDebug         : False
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1214 -     enableDetSign   : False
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1214 -     testnet         : False
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1214 -     rpcport         : DEFAULT
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1214 -     satoshiHome     : DEFAULT
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1214 -     satoshiRpcport  : DEFAULT
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1214 -     logFile         : C:\Users\thethirdtwin\AppData\Roaming\Armory\ArmoryQt.exe.log.txt
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1214 -     disableConfPermis: False
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1215 - Other arguments:
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1218 - ************************************************************
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:1613 - C++ block utilities loaded successfully
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- BDM.pyc:408 - Using the asynchronous/multi-threaded BlockDataManager.
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- BDM.pyc:409 - Blockchain operations will happen in the background.  
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- BDM.pyc:410 - Devs: check TheBDM.getState() before asking for data.
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- BDM.pyc:411 - Registering addresses during rescans will queue them for 
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- BDM.pyc:412 - inclusion after the current scan is completed.
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:3517 - Using settings file: C:\Users\thethirdtwin\AppData\Roaming\Armory\ArmorySettings.txt
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- announcefetch.pyc:95 - Reading files in fetcher directory:
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- announcefetch.pyc:104 -    announce         : 29c57aeb9f72afc257181db65d881ff26e9223c9f222ecbf6ec015a881d80261
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- announcefetch.pyc:104 -    bootstrap        : b62c08932668ce162d51226135940724e90f4c71704ac936f74cc153b34cc251
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- announcefetch.pyc:104 -    changelog        : 030b30c577bd2ecc90ce12c073011d49bb5dec777625b6cd5053958c55c891cb
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- announcefetch.pyc:104 -    downloads        : 3ff83b9a2c79ee84a0983afbddae5a9a09451346efbd3cdf6a46300f254eb5f5
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- announcefetch.pyc:104 -    notify           : 3313b9a7ff26782e674fa2a782035b1174c679833807083cd81f3e7a4d55b041
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- announcefetch.pyc:271 - Fetching: https://bitcoinarmory.com/announce.txt?osvar=8&os=win&ver=0.93&id=1a68caf1
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryQt.py:2723 - loadWalletsAndSettings
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryQt.py:2777 - Loading wallets...
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryQt.py:2836 - Number of wallets read in: 0
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryQt.py:2285 - Setting up networking...
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryQt.py:2314 - Internet status: 0
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryQt.py:2429 - startBitcoindIfNecessary
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryQt.py:2478 - setSatoshiPaths
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- SDM.pyc:282 - Total size of files in C:\Users\thethirdtwin\AppData\Roaming\Bitcoin\blocks is 30.2 GB
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- SDM.pyc:321 - Found bitcoind in the following places:
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- SDM.pyc:323 -    C:\Program Files\Bitcoin\daemon\bitcoind.exe
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- SDM.pyc:325 - Using: C:\Program Files\Bitcoin\daemon\bitcoind.exe
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- SDM.pyc:496 - Reading bitcoin.conf file
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- SDM.pyc:515 - Setting permissions on bitcoin.conf
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- SDM.pyc:524 - Setting permissions on bitcoin.conf
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:598 - Executing popen: [u'icacls', u'C:\\Users\\thethirdtwin\\AppData\\Roaming\\Bitcoin\\bitcoin.conf', u'/inheritance:r', u'/grant:r', u'thethirdtwin:F']
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- SDM.pyc:530 - icacls returned: 
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- SDM.pyc:597 - Called startBitcoind
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- SDM.pyc:282 - Total size of files in C:\Users\thethirdtwin\AppData\Roaming\Bitcoin\blocks is 30.2 GB
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:598 - Executing popen: ['C:\\Program Files\\Bitcoin\\daemon\\bitcoind.exe', u'-datadir=C:\\Users\\thethirdtwin\\AppData\\Roaming\\Bitcoin\\']
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- SDM.pyc:669 - PID of bitcoind: 5180
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- SDM.pyc:670 - PID of armory:   4428
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryUtils.pyc:598 - Executing popen: ['.\\guardian.exe', '4428', '5180']
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- SDM.pyc:834 - Creating proxy in SDM: host=127.0.0.1, port=8332
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryQt.py:1514 - setupUriRegistration
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryQt.py:1582 - Armory already registered for current user.  Done!
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryQt.py:664 - Usermode: Standard
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryQt.py:1809 - Changing usermode:
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryQt.py:1810 -    From: Standard
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryQt.py:1818 -      To: Standard
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- ArmoryQt.py:5882 - Dashboard switched to auto-InitSync
2015-03-12 13:24 (INFO) -- Networking.pyc:65 - Connection initiated.  Start handshake
2015-03-12 13:46 (INFO) -- Networking.pyc:156 - Received version message from peer:
2015-03-12 13:46 (INFO) -- Networking.pyc:157 -    Version:     70002
2015-03-12 13:46 (INFO) -- Networking.pyc:158 -    SubVersion:  /Satoshi:0.9.3/
2015-03-12 13:46 (INFO) -- Networking.pyc:159 -    TimeStamp:   1426168002
2015-03-12 13:46 (INFO) -- Networking.pyc:160 -    StartHeight: 347300
2015-03-12 13:46 (INFO) -- Networking.pyc:356 - Handshake finished, connection open!
2015-03-12 13:46 (WARNING) -- SDM.pyc:754 - Overriding not-available state. This should happen 0-5 times
2015-03-12 13:47 (INFO) -- Networking.pyc:215 - Received new block.  0000000000000000104407c693decc0f4d0b67d63669cba341bb45fc10f0992e
2015-03-12 13:47 (INFO) -- Networking.pyc:215 - Received new block.  00000000000000000e37d3d057e06671e38c7b183db3e80de7b2f15842978ea7
2015-03-12 13:47 (INFO) -- ArmoryQt.py:2512 - loadBlockchainIfNecessary
2015-03-12 13:47 (ERROR) -- ArmoryQt.py:1323 - 13 attempts to load blockchain failed.  Remove mempool.bin.
2015-03-12 13:47 (ERROR) -- ArmoryQt.py:1328 - File mempool.bin does not exist. Nothing deleted.
2015-03-12 13:47 (INFO) -- ArmoryQt.py:2533 - Setting netmode: 1
2015-03-12 13:47 (INFO) -- ArmoryQt.py:6005 - Dashboard switched to "Scanning" mode

Consistently crashes while "Organising Blockchain"

Edit:
ArmoryCppLog
http://pastebin.com/H0FWQje1

[goatpig]

you should stop using auto bitcoind till your setup is stable. Again, the cpplog is more significant.

[thethirdtwin]

I Rebuilt and Rescanned databases, which now means I'm up and running.

[goatpig]

I Rebuilt and Rescanned databases, which now means I'm up and running.

Again I urge you to not use auto-bitcoind, at least till it gets stable. Last testing build introduced a stupid bug, and your custom setup could do without auto-bitcoind, for the added control. Every log file you have submitted so far suggest you are letting Armory manage Core.

[HeadsOrTails]

Currently Armory has its default installation location (in my case) set to C:\Program Files (x86) and on top of that bitcoin-qt installation is set to C:\Program Files AND on top of that it stores all it's data in TWO folders in C:\Users\User\AppData\Roaming Bitcoin and Armory

Wait, is Armory using the %appdata%\Armory directory and also putting stuff into the %appdata%\bitcoin directory too?
If so, even in advanced mode with the "let armory manage..." setting turned off?

I have the same problem described here, namely that Armory is getting stuck on a block, won't confirm incoming Txs, and deleting the datadirs and starting fresh just isn't working.

[SebastianJu]

It sounds a bit like you dont make backups of everything. I hope thats a wrong impression since your experience could have been way way worse then.

I had my fair trouble when trying to make armory portable. I had to do it for both, armory and bitcoinqt. At the end i had troubles starting it, it worked at the end but only by manually starting both softwares: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=56424.msg6978729#msg6978729

The pages before i tried to make it portable and that was the result.

Is this changed now already?

I wonder i armory will change someday to being a standalone wallet. For me it sounds a bit like having bitcoinqt involved like having a second security risk on top. Might be wrong though.

[GoingAround]

I can relate to this issues, my cousin and I started using armory like 8 months ago and we had really bad experience with older versions (<0.93), armory has lots of features, its beautiful, I even donated to the devs, but you need to move on from bitcoin-qt; 2 times the blockchain was messed up and I had to move my self to lighter wallet (electrum multibit for my non big transactions) was thinking to use armory for my cold wallet storage on a raspberry pi but then I realized the need of an Armory running on a hot environment to broadcast the transaction (I might be wrong on this one).

TL;DR

Any plans on moving from bitcoin-qt?

[goatpig]

I can relate to this issues, my cousin and I started using armory like 8 months ago and we had really bad experience with older versions (<0.93), armory has lots of features, its beautiful, I even donated to the devs, but you need to move on from bitcoin-qt; 2 times the blockchain was messed up and I had to move my self to lighter wallet (electrum multibit for my non big transactions) was thinking to use armory for my cold wallet storage on a raspberry pi but then I realized the need of an Armory running on a hot environment to broadcast the transaction (I might be wrong on this one).

TL;DR

Any plans on moving from bitcoin-qt?

We have plans to move to blocks over P2P.