Help:Installing Bitcoin Core: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 07:48, 10 June 2022

An account can effortlessly be created using an eWallet service. eWallet services provide an online wallet to hold your bitcoins.

This guide covers installing Bitcoin without needing a third party wallet service.

For Windows Computers

Download Windows Bitcoin Wallet at http://bitcoin.org/en/download available in 64bit and 32bit.

Click Next to start installation.

(Optional) Choose preferred directory then click Next.

Click Install.

Wait until installation completes then click Next.

Click Finish to start Bitcoin Wallet.

On the first load, Bitcoin Qt will ask you to choose directory where your Bitcoin block chain and wallet.dat will be stored. Click OK when done.

For Mac OS Computers

Download Mac Bitcoin Wallet at http://bitcoin.org/en/download and expand the disk image.

Contents of the Bitcoin disk image after expansion

Drag the Bitcoin icon to the desired install location, and double-click the icon to run the application.

Initialization

The Bitcoin window will open and connections will start up in minutes. The blocks will begin downloading.

At this point, it is recommended to encrypt your wallet before receiving any bitcoins. Encrypting later may leave earlier addresses vulnerable to theft in the case that the system is compromised. This can be done from the Settings menu using the Encrypt Wallet function.

Your wallet will automatically have your first bitcoin address.

Buying Bitcoins

Bitcoins can be bought from individuals, on trading exchanges or from other online services. See the main page about Buying Bitcoins for more information.

Points to remember

You don't need to be online to receive BTC.
You can create as many new addresses as you like. Using a different address each time helps keep you anonymous.
You can be anonymous with adequate precautions.
You cannot send BTC to an invalid address. Typos are not a worry as the payment will refuse to send.
The wallet file holds the keys that allow spending and thus the computer should be protected from the risk of loss and theft.
Leaving Bitcoin open improves connectivity for the network and ensures that you don't fall behind on the block chain. Also see the FAQ about port forwarding

Proceed to the introduction

Technical

Block chain

The block chain is a never-ending story of every transaction throughout the network from day 1 (genesis). The first time you run Bitcoin, it is downloaded and verified on your computer. Every new transaction is added to the end of this chain and verified by the network to be valid.

Addresses

Whenever you send a coin, you are actually sending a cryptographically signed message, associating your coin with the recipient's address. This effectively transfers ownership to the recipient. Once they own the coin, they are free to transfer it to another person.

A wallet is a collection of addresses. You can create as many new addresses as you wish; having more addresses makes you more anonymous, because then people cannot see how much BTC you received. Your wallet contains the secret keys used for spending that money, and must be backed-up regularly. If you lose the wallet then you no longer possess the money.

Generating

New coins are mined through generating hashes. These generators are rewarded with a small fee for the computationally intensive task of incorporating your transactions into the block-chain. This fee halves each time 210000 blocks are added to the block chain, or approximately every 4 years. The fee will keep halving until it effectively reaches zero, at which point 21 million coins will be in circulation.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-You can start exchanging bitcoins within a few minutes.
+An account can effortlessly be created using an [[eWallet]] service. eWallet services provide an online wallet to hold your bitcoins.
-=Online Wallet=
-[[Securing_your_wallet#eWallet|Ewallet]] services are available and may provide the quickest path to getting started with Bitcoin.  In just minutes an account can be created and [[Getting_started#Getting_my_first_coins|funded]].
-=Local Wallet=
+This guide covers installing Bitcoin without needing a third party wallet service.
-Those who run the Bitcoin software on a computer have their wallet stored locally on their hard drive.
-== On Windows ==
+== For Windows Computers ==
-=== Installation ===
+Download Windows Bitcoin Wallet at [https://bitcoin.org/en/download http://bitcoin.org/en/download] available in 64bit and 32bit.
-[http://bitcoin.org Download] and install Bitcoin.
-[[File:Download it fin.png|frame|none|Download the "Windows (exe)" version]]
+[[File:Bitcoin-qt-welcome-install.jpeg|frame|none|Welcome Wizard Screen]]
-[[File:Install fin.png|frame|none|Complete installation wizard]]
+Click Next to start installation.
-=== Initialisation ===
+[[File:Bitcoin-qt-location-install.jpg|frame|none|Destination Folder Screen]]
-The first time you run Bitcoin, it needs to download all the blocks to setup. You already have your bitcoin address at this point, but you won't see any transactions before the initialisation is complete (it can take from an hour to a few hours).
+(Optional) Choose preferred directory then click Next.
-[[File:First time run fin.png|frame|none|Bitcoin is initialising by establishing a connection to other clients and downloading the blocks.]]
+[[File:Bitcoin-qt-start-menu-folder.jpg|frame|none|Choose Start Menu Screen]]
-[[File:Bitcoin all blocks fin.png|frame|none|Completed download of block-chain.]]
+Click Install.
-=== Getting my first coins ===
+[[File:Bitcoin-qt-installation-complete.jpg|frame|none|Installation Screen]]
-The  [[Bitcoin Faucet]] [https://freebitcoins.appspot.com/ website] currently hands out 0.05 BTC to new bitcoin users. Fill in the form with your bitcoin address.
+Wait until installation completes then click Next.
-[[File:Get some btc.png|frame|none|Getting free coins from the Faucet]]
+[[File:Bitcoin-qt-finish-install.jpg|frame|none|Finish Screen]]
-A new entry should appear in Bitcoin. The network hasn't yet confirmed it, but you know it's being processed. After about one hour it should get 6 confirmations. You are able to spend the coins when there is only one confirmation.
+Click Finish to start Bitcoin Wallet.
-The confirmation counter will, just like the block counter, increase by one every 10 minutes approximately. Six confirmations are considered as 100% sure a transfer has been processed.
+[[File:Bitcoin-qt-data-directory.jpg|frame|none|Welcome Screen of Bitcoin Core Wallet]]
-[[File:First btc recv.png|frame|none]]
+On the first load, Bitcoin Qt will ask you to choose directory where your Bitcoin block chain and wallet.dat will be stored. Click OK when done.
-[[File:Six confirms bitcoin client.png|frame|none]]
+== For Mac OS Computers ==
+Download Mac Bitcoin Wallet at http://bitcoin.org/en/download and expand the disk image.
+[[File:BcOSX.png|frame|none|Contents of the Bitcoin disk image after expansion]]
+Drag the Bitcoin icon to the desired install location, and double-click the icon to run the application.
+== Initialization ==
+The Bitcoin window will open and connections will start up in minutes. The blocks will begin downloading.
+At this point, it is recommended to encrypt your wallet before receiving any bitcoins. Encrypting later may leave earlier addresses vulnerable to theft in the case that the system is compromised. This can be done from the Settings menu using the Encrypt Wallet function.
+[[File:Bitcoin-qt-main-window.jpg|frame|none|Main window]]
+[[File:Bitcoin-qt-preferences.jpg|frame|none|Preferences window on Windows]]
+Your wallet will automatically have your first bitcoin address.
+[[File:Bitcoin-qt-receiving-address.jpg|frame|none|Receive coins window]]
+== Buying Bitcoins ==
+Bitcoins can be bought from individuals, on trading exchanges or from other online services. See the main page about [[Buying bitcoins|Buying Bitcoins]] for more information.
 == Points to remember ==
-* You don't need to be online for receiving BTC.
+* You don't need to be online to receive BTC.
 * You can create as many new addresses as you like. Using a different address each time helps keep you [[Anonymity|anonymous]].
-* You can be anonymous with adequate precautions.
+* You can be [[Anonymity|anonymous]] with adequate precautions.
 * You cannot send BTC to an invalid address. Typos are not a worry as the payment will refuse to send.
-* The wallet.dat file holds the keys that allow spending and thus the wallet should be [[Securing_your_wallet|secured]].
+* The [[Wallet|wallet]] file holds the keys that allow spending and thus the computer should be [[Securing_your_wallet|protected]] from the risk of loss and theft.
+* Leaving Bitcoin open improves connectivity for the network and ensures that you don't fall behind on the block chain. Also see [[FAQ#Do_I_need_to_configure_my_firewall_to_run_bitcoin?|the FAQ about port forwarding]]
+Proceed to the [[Introduction|introduction]]
+== Technical ==
+=== Block chain ===
+The [[block chain]] is a never-ending story of every transaction throughout the network from day 1 (genesis). The first time you run Bitcoin, it is downloaded and verified on your computer. Every new transaction is added to the end of this chain and verified by the network to be valid.
+=== Addresses ===
+Whenever you send a coin, you are actually sending a cryptographically signed message, associating your coin with the recipient's address. This effectively transfers ownership to the recipient. Once they own the coin, they are free to transfer it to another person.
+A wallet is a collection of addresses. You can create as many new addresses as you wish; having more addresses makes you more anonymous, because then people cannot see how much BTC you received. Your wallet contains the secret keys used for spending that money, and must be [[Securing your wallet|backed-up regularly]]. If you lose the wallet then you no longer possess the money.
+=== Generating ===
+New coins are mined through generating hashes. These generators are rewarded with a small fee for the computationally intensive task of incorporating your transactions into the block-chain. This fee halves each time 210000 blocks are added to the block chain, or approximately every 4 years. The fee will keep halving until it effectively reaches zero, at which point 21 million coins will be in circulation.
+[[Category:Introduction]]
+[[de:Erste Schritte]]
+[[zh-cn:入门]]
+{{Bitcoin Core documentation}}