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 3: / Line 3: @@
 This guide covers installing Bitcoin without needing a third party wallet service.
-== For Windows computers ==
+== 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://sourceforge.net/projects/bitcoin/ Download] and install Bitcoin.
-[[File:Install fin.png|frame|none|Complete installation wizard]]
+[[File:Bitcoin-qt-welcome-install.jpeg|frame|none|Welcome Wizard Screen]]
-=== Initialization ===
+Click Next to start installation.
-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 half to a few hours).
+[[File:Bitcoin-qt-location-install.jpg|frame|none|Destination Folder Screen]]
-[[File:First time run fin.png|frame|none|Bitcoin is initialising by establishing a connection to other clients and downloading the blocks.]]
+(Optional) Choose preferred directory then click Next.
-[[File:Bitcoin all blocks fin.png|frame|none|Completed download of block-chain.]]
+[[File:Bitcoin-qt-start-menu-folder.jpg|frame|none|Choose Start Menu Screen]]
-Your address (you can have as many as you want) is at the top. Below is your balance which will be zero. The list below shows your transactions.
+Click Install.
-== For Mac computers ==
+[[File:Bitcoin-qt-installation-complete.jpg|frame|none|Installation Screen]]
-Download the [http://sourceforge.net/projects/bitcoin/files/Bitcoin/bitcoin-0.3.19/bitcoin-0.3.19-macosx.zip/download OS X version] of Bitcoin and expand the archive.
+Wait until installation completes then click Next.
-[[File:BcOSX.png|thumb|none|Contents of the Bitcoin archive after expansion]]
+[[File:Bitcoin-qt-finish-install.jpg|frame|none|Finish Screen]]
-Drag the Bitcoin icon to the desired install location, and double-click or Cmd-O (⌘O) to run the application. The Bitcoin window will open and connections will start up in minutes. The blocks will begin downloading. Your address and balance are at the top of the window. Click "Copy to Clipboard" to copy your address. Transactions are displayed in the main window.
+Click Finish to start Bitcoin Wallet.
-[[File:BcOSXrunning.png|thumb|none|Main window]]
+[[File:Bitcoin-qt-data-directory.jpg|frame|none|Welcome Screen of Bitcoin Core Wallet]]
-As Bitcoin currently does not support hiding with Cmd-H (⌘H), it is recommended that users tick the "Minimize on close" option in the Preferences menu to prevent accidental program exits.
+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:BcOSXPreferences.png|thumb|none|Preferences window on OS X]]
+== For Mac OS Computers ==
+Download Mac Bitcoin Wallet at http://bitcoin.org/en/download and expand the disk image.
-== Getting my first coins ==
+[[File:BcOSX.png|frame|none|Contents of the Bitcoin disk image after expansion]]
-The  [[Bitcoin Faucet]] [https://freebitcoins.appspot.com/ website] currently hands out 0.001 BTC to new bitcoin users. Fill in the form with your bitcoin address. [http://www.wesmeredith.com/bitbybit/ Bit by Bit] is another website which provides.001 BTC for free and can be used daily.  It also offers weekly lottery drawings for beginners. When you wish to add more, view [[Buying bitcoins]].
+Drag the Bitcoin icon to the desired install location, and double-click the icon to run the application.
-[[File:Get some btc.png|frame|none|Getting free coins from the Faucet]]
+== Initialization ==
-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.
+The Bitcoin window will open and connections will start up in minutes. The blocks will begin downloading.
-The confirmation counter (like the block counter) will increase by one roughly every 10 minutes. Six confirmations are considered as 100% sure a transfer has been processed.
+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:First btc recv.png|frame|none]]
+[[File:Bitcoin-qt-main-window.jpg|frame|none|Main window]]
+[[File:Bitcoin-qt-preferences.jpg|frame|none|Preferences window on Windows]]
-[[File:Six confirms bitcoin client.png|frame|none]]
+Your wallet will automatically have your first bitcoin address.
-* The [[Trade]] article shows hundreds of merchants who accept bitcoins.
+[[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 ==
@@ Line 63: / Line 68: @@
 == Technical ==
 === Block chain ===
-The [[block chain]] is a neverending 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.
+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 to the recipient. Once they own the coin, they are free to transfer it to another person.
+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.
@@ Line 77: / Line 82: @@
 [[de:Erste Schritte]]
 [[zh-cn:入门]]
+{{Bitcoin Core documentation}}