Windows users guide¶

This guide runs a node on Windows, on Ethereum Classic or on the Mordor test network, from geth.exe to a node that starts when you sign in. Running a node covers what every platform shares.

The commands are for PowerShell. They keep geth.exe in C:\core-geth; if you keep it in another folder, use that one.

1. Install¶

Download and check the archive as Installation, Windows shows, and unpack geth.exe into C:\core-geth. Then:

1
2

cd C:\core-geth
.\geth.exe version        # Core-Geth 1.13.0-stable

2. Choose the network¶

With no flag, the node runs Ethereum Classic. This guide passes --classic anyway, so that every command says which network it is for. If an AppData\Roaming\Ethereum folder in your user folder already exists and is not empty, the node uses the classic or mordor folder inside it instead.

3. Start the node¶

1
2

.\geth.exe --classic      # Ethereum Classic
.\geth.exe --mordor       # Mordor

The node runs in the window and logs to it. Its first line names the network: Starting Core-Geth on Ethereum Classic... or Starting Core-Geth on Mordor testnet.... What a healthy first sync looks like explains the lines that follow.

The first start can raise a Windows Security alert asking whether to allow geth.exe through the firewall. It shows the publisher as unknown, because the release binaries are not code-signed (If Windows warns about the publisher). Allow it, so other nodes can connect to yours on port 30303. If you do not, the node still syncs, through the connections it makes itself.

A click in the window can pause the node. In a classic console window, clicking starts a text selection. While the selection lasts, the node waits to write its log and stops syncing. Press Esc to end the selection.

For a configuration, add its flags after the network flag, such as .\geth.exe --classic --http --http.api eth,net,web3. In step 6, add them to the end of the command file’s geth.exe line.

To keep the chain on another drive, add --datadir, such as --datadir D:\core-geth\mordor.

4. Check that it syncs¶

Open a second PowerShell window:

1
2
3
4

cd C:\core-geth
.\geth.exe attach --exec 'eth.syncing'       # an object while it syncs, false once synced
.\geth.exe attach --exec 'net.peerCount'     # above 0 within minutes
.\geth.exe attach --exec 'eth.blockNumber'   # once synced, compare with a block explorer

These commands are the same on both networks. On Windows, attach connects to the named pipe \\.\pipe\geth.ipc, which the running node opens whatever its network and data directory. A second node on the same machine needs a pipe of its own: start it with --ipcpath geth-mordor.ipc, and attach to it with .\geth.exe attach \\.\pipe\geth-mordor.ipc. It needs its own ports too (Mordor beside Ethereum Classic on one host).

How to tell it is done lists every sign of a finished sync.

5. Use it¶

attach without --exec opens an interactive console on the node. Type exit to leave it; the node keeps running.

1

.\geth.exe attach

For wallets and programs, start the node with --http, such as .\geth.exe --mordor --http. It serves JSON-RPC on 127.0.0.1:8545. From a second PowerShell window:

1

Invoke-RestMethod http://127.0.0.1:8545 -Method Post -ContentType 'application/json' -Body '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"eth_chainId","params":[]}'

The result is 0x3d on Ethereum Classic and 0x3f on Mordor. Read RPC exposure before you serve it beyond 127.0.0.1.

6. Keep it running: start it when you sign in¶

Core-Geth does not install itself as a Windows service. This step starts the node in its own window each time you sign in, where Ctrl+C still stops it cleanly. It writes a command file to your Startup folder:

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

$startup = [Environment]::GetFolderPath('Startup')

# Ethereum Classic
Set-Content "$startup\core-geth-classic.cmd" '@title Core-Geth: Ethereum Classic', '"C:\core-geth\geth.exe" --classic'

# Mordor
Set-Content "$startup\core-geth-mordor.cmd" '@title Core-Geth: Mordor', '"C:\core-geth\geth.exe" --mordor'

To start it now without signing out, open the file, such as Start-Process "$startup\core-geth-mordor.cmd". To stop it starting at sign-in, delete the file: Remove-Item "$startup\core-geth-mordor.cmd".

The node runs while you are signed in. To run a node with no one signed in, run it under a service wrapper that stops it by sending Ctrl+C and then waits for it to exit. Core-Geth ships no wrapper.

7. Stop it cleanly¶

Press Ctrl+C once in the node’s window, then wait for Blockchain stopped and for the node to exit. A window opened from the Startup folder then asks Terminate batch job (Y/N)?; type Y.

Stop the node before you close its window, sign out, or shut Windows down. Each of those gives the node only a short time before Windows ends it, and a node still stopping at that point is ended without finishing (After an unclean stop). Stop it safely shows what a clean stop logs, and why a stop during the first sync takes longer.

8. Update it¶

Stop the node, replace C:\core-geth\geth.exe with the new release’s, and start the node again. Upgrading within v1.13.x lists what to read and check. A node on a v1.12.x release follows the Windows migration guide instead.