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 graphics cards, 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.
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.
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
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. 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)
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
Below are detailed guides for both software. It is possible to mine with your CPU and GPU at the same time!
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.
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 algos 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
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=BCH,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=BCH field is used to designate the payout currency, which is defaulted to Bitcoin Cash. Be sure to change BCH to the coin you want to mine.
The ,refcode=newminerbonus string is an exclusive code used to save 40% on your pool fees, 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=BCH,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=BCH field is used to designate the payout currency, which is defaulted to Bitcoin Cash. Be sure to change BCH to the coin you want to mine.
The ,refcode=newminerbonus string is an exclusive code used to save 40% on your pool fees, 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 zergpool and type in your wallet address under the “wallet” tab. You will see a verity 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
Wildrig Discord: https://discord.gg/tSjWCGSUWr
Zergpool Discord: https://discord.gg/2xuTT3Xm3G
Where to trade your accumulated coins?
XeggeX Exchange
NonKYC Exchange
Consider following me on social media to find more or ask me questions!
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RealSetvin
Want to learn more about CPU Mining?
CPU Mining Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/cpumining/
CPU Mining Discord: https://discord.gg/vk5zmkAHkY
Need a reliable service to host your altcoin smartnodes / masternodes?
Some of the products referenced in this guide may contain affiliate links. Thank you for your support! The information contained within this article is designed to be for educational purposes only. Many proof of work cryptocurrencies can be earned with home computer and this guide is meant to teach individuals how to mine — this is not to be taken as a specific endorsement or recommendation to purchase any crypto currencies. Trading crypto currencies can involve a significant risk, so learning and education is advised. Always do your own research!
(This article was written for 2022, you can find a more up to date version here)
