How to Mine Ghostrider on Windows with CPUs and GPUs
(If you want to skip ahead to the section on how to actually mine, scroll down to find details for both CPU and GPU)
Intro
This guide will be a simple and basic walk-through for new or inexperienced window users to begin mining for the first time with their CPU or GPUs for the coin YERBAS using the Ghostrider algorithm on the crypto mining service, ZergPool.
Mining is a fun and important way to participate in decentralized cryptocurrencies. Miners, node owners, holders, traders and users together contribute to the network without the need for a central authority. The blockchain can be trusted by its combined users without fear of coins being double spent, or anyone being cheated.
Proof of work cryptocurrencies are valued because they use a distributed system of network participants to ensure coins are valid and not doubled spent or cheated. This system is decentralized and trustless, meaning it can operate without the need for a single central authority. Any individual can contribute to the network by mining, holding the coin or even by keeping their wallet online (called a node) and connected to the network.
Ghostrider is an efficient and low power usage mining algorithm which can be mined with CPUs and GPUs. The algorithm itself is ASIC resistant. This ensures more rewards may only go to users with non-specialized hardware, such as beginner miners. CPU mining will yield the highest efficiencies, with Ryzen CPUs ranking on top of the Ghostrider charts.
It’s beneficial for most miners to connect to a pool for mining rewards. It is possible to solo mine or to establish your own pool, but typically this requires advance knowledge and a fleet of hardware to do successfully. Instead, individual home miners may use the services of a pool, which collects the shares of each individual and uses that to find block rewards. Then, each miner is given their fair share of the reward based on their percentage of share contributions during the round.
Getting a Wallet
If you have not already, you should setup your YERBAS wallet.
The fastest way to get started is using a hot wallet with an exchange,
Like XeggeX
https://xeggex.com
Though that is easy, it would be better to run a node for the health of the network. Because cryptocurrencies are a peer to peer operation, wallets require peers to connect. The more wallet nodes online, the better. In the long term you will also want to secure you own keys, which is best practice — you can find the official wallet release below:
https://github.com/The-Yerbas-Endeavor/yerbas
(Download and setup the windows file)
For the best security and to avoid loss of funds due to scripts and attacks — you should consider running a separate virtual machine for each crypto wallet you own. Especially if they are new or untested altcoins! You can easily create and manage virtual machines using:
https://www.virtualbox.org/
Once you start the QT wallet file — it will need to synchronize with the network, connect to peers and establish the ledger of the block history. This may take some time, allow it to run overnight or while away. This is where you can get your “receiving” wallet address — copy and paste this somewhere as you will need this later.
As a wallet owner, you are the sole custodian of your own funds, if you fail to secure your seed words properly you will lose access to your funds. That means If they are lost or stolen, no one can help you restore your funds! They will be lost forever!
If you need detailed assistance securing your funds with a wallet, be sure to locate the discord links at the end of this guide. If you are unable or unwilling to run your own node wallet, you may use your wallet generated on XeggeX to continue the guide.
Preparing Windows to Mine
If you are new to mining and want to try on a windows operating system, please keep in mind that windows anti-virus is incredibly hostile to all forms of mining and will always flag miners as malicious software, even if you have downloaded it from a trusted source such as github. If you find that you are having trouble getting mining software to run on windows, try this workaround:
Press the “windows” key on the taskbar or on your keyboard. Once the menu pulls up, start typing in “exclusions” on your keyboard. The tab will automatically recognize your typing and a page to the windows settings for anti-virus exclusions will appear. Click on this option.
This will take you to the “virus and threat protection” options menu. Under “Virus and threat protection settings” there is a blue link which says “manage settings.” Click this and then scroll down until you find “Exclusions.” Click on the blue link which says “add or remove exclusions”
This will bring up another tab, which has a box with a plus arrow stating “+ add an exclusion” Clicking this gives a drop down selection. Please select the option “Folder.” Now a pop up appears which shows you the entire computer directory. Navigate to the “documents” directory and create a new folder by right clicking in the inside area and choosing “new folder.” Name this new folder anything like “mining” and then choose “Select folder” with the option on the bottom right until you have chosen this new folder.
Once you are done you will return to the windows security tab which we were in before and you should now see the new exclusion folder directory path appear. This will allow any program running from this folder to avoid antivirus scans which may affect mining, but not affect the security of the rest of your system.
Another thing to consider doing at this point is taking advantage of a tool known as “O+O Windows Shutup.” This removes certain tasks which windows uses to track you. This adds security to your computer, as well as freeing up a bit of your processor to mine more efficiently that would otherwise be running these tasks.
O+O Windows Shutup:
https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10
Windows 10 Debloater
https://github.com/Sycnex/Windows10Debloater
Now that you have created an area within your files to safely store and run mining software, download xmrig for CPU mining as well as wildrig if you are interested in GPU mining.
Start Mining
Potential miners with a CPU should consider the “xmrig” (win64) software: https://github.com/xmrig/xmrig/releases
Those with GPUs who want to participate in mining can utilize the “wildrig” software: https://github.com/andru-kun/wildrig-multi/releases
You may need “7-zip” to extract the file, found here: https://www.7-zip.org/. (Remember to extract to the exclusion folder you created earlier in the guide.)
It is entirely possible to mine with both xmrig and wildrig at the same time, taking full advantage of all hardware available on your machine. Compared to mining Monero on the CPU or Ravencoin on the GPU, the Ghostrider algorithm uses less watts and creates less heat.
This means beginners can start mining much easier with less worries. You don’t even have to tune your graphics cards or processor, it operates on stock settings! (However an under-volt is still suggested for maximum efficiency)
Once you have downloaded the appropriate software and extracted it to the exclusion folder we created earlier, slight adjustments will need to be made to the software’s configuration files to correctly mine to your address and the appropriate pool.
This is a good point to mention that you should absolutely NOT mine directly to an exchange wallet. This practice is against the policy of the exchanges, as well as possibly resulting in the loss of coins.
Once you have started mining there are some things to note. Your hardware will have an associated “hashrate” reported by the miner and the pool This can be used to determine the power of your individual cards.
It’s important to know that ghostrider is unique compared to other algorithms, because it is actually using a collection of other algorithms in a rotating cycle. It operates by continuously changing through a series of algorithms.
This unique feature makes it resistant to ASIC and FPGAs, meaning people with home computers or gaming rigs have an advantage and get to keep more of the mining rewards. It also makes the algorithm less intensive and typically results in lower power usage and heat generation than other comparable mining algorithms.
This cycling operation of the ghostrider algorithm also affects hashrate reporting. Your hardware uses hashrate as a way to communicate how effective it is at solving the algorithm. Since ghostrider operates on a rotation, you will get varied level of hashrate reporting at any given time. To accurately model how much hashrate your specific hardware has, you should allow it to run for 24 hours and use the average hashrate as the actual number.
Ghostrider also requires no memory to use, meaning gpus can lower their memory clock rates to save power — and cpus can hash just as efficiency with only one single stick of ram versus two or more, even on a ryzen cpu where normally you would expect a loss in performance with single channel ram.
Remember that with ghostrider, memory clock and ram are not a factor, so you can save power by fine tuning your hardware. This means to have a working ghostrider rig, the only thing you need is a CPU. Any laptop or old PC, even a phone — will work.
(phones can use https://termux.dev/en/)
Dont forget to setup your account on the exchange XeggeX and get a wallet to sell your coins:
https://xeggex.com/
Xmrig (for CPUs)
Official release:
https://github.com/xmrig/xmrig/releases
After downloading and extracting the windows version of xmrig, right click on the xmrig application (with the orange and grey logo) and click “properties.” After the box pops up, navigate to the “Compatibility” tab and check mark the “Run this program as an administrator” box. Then click “apply” and “ok” to finish. This is needed for Xmrig to run at maximum efficiency.
Next we need to right click the “start” batch file, which is a windows command script. Select “edit” and a notepad will pop up with the contents of the batch file. Clear out and empty what is already written inside of the batch file you opened. Copy and paste the following code into the batch file:
@echo off
xmrig.exe -a ghostrider -o stratum+tcp://ghostrider.mine.zergpool.com:5354 -u YOUR_WALLET_ADDRESS -p c=YERB,mc=YERB,refcode=newminerbonus,id=RIGNAME
pause
You should change the YOUR_WALLET_ADDRESS string to an inbound address which you generated from the wallet from which currency you wish to be paid in. This is how the pool knows where to send your rewards for mining.
You may also want to change the RIGNAME field to a specific name if you have more than one rig. The c=YERB field is used to designate the payout currency, which is defaulted to Bitcoin Cash. Be sure to change YERB to the coin you want to mine.
The ,refcode=newminerbonus string is an exclusive code used to save 40% on your pool fees (0.3%), as a first time new miner of ZergPool!
Note: Do not mine directly to an exchange!
Once you have pasted the above script and changed YOUR_WALLET_ADDRESS to your wallet address — hit “File” and “Save as.” Notepad will default the batchfile as a text file, which will not run and instead will just open as a text file. To correct this you must change the “save as type” from .txt to “All files” or the batchfile will not work. (see the example image below)
You can name it whatever you want, just remember to save it as a batch file not a txt file. This will save the batch file, allowing you to easily mine. Right click on the “start” file again, click “send to” and “desktop(shortcut)” to add a copy of a shortcut to your desktop, making it easy to access your miner at anytime. Once you are ready to begin head to your desktop and run the shortcut!
You will know it worked if the xmrig software pops up. The software will spit out a lot of information, so take a few minutes to observe. If everything was configured correctly you should see that your miner has connected to the pool, is hashing and is also sometimes finding shares. Be aware that the ghostrider algorithm cycles through a set of smaller algorithms, so the hashrate can range widely at any given time. Over the course of a few hours, it averages out.
On windows, if you have a “Ryzen” CPU you can use a tool known as “Ryzen Master” to adjust your CPU voltage. You are able to reduce voltage down to 1.1 volts on the CPU and the core clock to 3550, you will greatly reduce the power consumed and heat generated. If you do not have an AMD Ryzen CPU you will need to adjust your settings in the BIOs.
Ryzen Master:
https://www.amd.com/en/technologies/ryzen-master
Ram is also negligible for the ghostrider mining algorithm. You can use a very inexpensive, low memory RAM to allow the system to start with little to no negative effect on hashrate. Overclocking your ram may lead to excess heat being generated and power consumed for little to no added mining benefit.
Wildrig (for GPUs)
Official release:
https://github.com/andru-kun/wildrig-multi/releases
You may need “7-zip” to extract the file, found here: https://www.7-zip.org/. (Remember to extract to the exclusion folder you created earlier in the guide.)
Now that you have your CPU online and mining, you may also have one or more GPUs which you which to use as well. This requires another software called Wildrig, please see above for the official release versions. You may need “7-zip” to extract the file, found here: https://www.7-zip.org/. Remember to extract to the exclusion folder you created earlier in the guide.
Rename one of the available example batch files and then right click and “Edit” it after renaming. Erase the example text and Copy and Paste from the below code settings instead. Remember to again change YOUR_WALLET_NAME to your wallet address
@echo off
:loop
wildrig.exe — print-full — algo ghostrider — url stratum+tcp://ghostrider.mine.zergpool.com:5354 — user YOUR_WALLET_ADDRESS — pass c=YERB,mc=YERB,refcode=newminerbonus,id=RIGNAME
if ERRORLEVEL 1000 goto custom
timeout /t 5
goto loop
Remember to change the YOUR_WALLET_ADDRESS string to an inbound address which you generated from the wallet from which currency you wish to be paid in. This is how the pool knows where to send your rewards for mining.
You will also want to change the RIGNAME field to a specific name if you have more than one rig. The c=YERB field is used to designate the payout currency, which is defaulted to Bitcoin Cash. Be sure to change YERB to the coin you want to mine.
The ,refcode=newminerbonus string is an exclusive code used to save 40% on your pool fees (0.3%), as a first time new miner of ZergPool!
Once this is complete, hit “File” and “Save as.” Notepad will default the batchfile as a text file, which will not run and instead will just open as a text file. To correct this you must change the “save as type” from .txt to “All files” or the batchfile will not work. (see the example image below)
Once you have completed the save, you can right click on the created batch file, send to desktop (shortcut) again to create another desktop link to your GPU mining software. Close out of everything and attempt to start the shortcut batch file on your desktop. It should start the Wildrig software and give you information about the pool, hashing and accepted shares.
Conclusion:
Once you find your first accepted share, Congratulations! You are now officially mining with your CPU and/or GPU! You made it to the end, great job! You are now mining with your CPU and even your GPU, maximizing the profitability of your computer’s hardware!
Head over to ZerPool and type in your wallet address under the “wallet” tab. You will see a variety of detailed information, primarily your workers and your percentage of shares submitted. Once the pool has found a block, you will earn a share of the rewards!
Need additional help getting started? Join the discussion on discord
Yerbas Discord: https://discord.gg/UD4gPRMn2h
Wildrig Discord: https://discord.gg/tSjWCGSUWr
Zergpool Discord: https://discord.gg/2xuTT3Xm3G
How to sell your accumulated coins? Try XeggeX
https://xeggex.com?ref=64a1904880f795c0d59a288b
XeggeX Discord: https://discord.gg/dEAyJEHdHR
Did you find this article to be informative? Consider supporting decentralized initiatives by rewarding those who contribute to the ecosystem. By using the referrals in this guide or even sending a small donation — you would give me a big smile!
yerbas: yUZ39zs96bwSeY78zGWv4ceeSiDYKPGfwZ
bitcoin: bc1q5elx437hnz0l9qau8afxj9l234ps6lj60tr35s
litecoin: ltc1qdyt7augpzdkk4fzvaerrj3ren8pvvjhvy8cyz6
bitcoincash: qr609gkq7mnjqzh9j0nwjgy3xl4l6ezzmq7xj43mm4
dogecoin: DCnXGACgdYoNngjoufPTQ1DDNk71qGBW9D
monero: 86nye5vAP182z5tcDcmmapKsiFSNHnbyeGb7cDPnC4z4Bx1nfkVtAdEZwKy4Mde1TfNAaLuxc944kFA8QAXuE7gsHJkDefL
