How to Mine Ether A guide by Michael Crouch

Downloading Software

In order to mine Ether, you will first need to download some software to work with the Ethereum Blockchain as well software to actually mine

Our first software download will be GETH

GETH is the software that is used to download or call the Ethereum blockchain. Without it, our miner wouldn't know what block it is supposed to be mining

Running GETH on your computer will cause you to download the Ethereum Blockchain. Due to the ever increasing size of the chain, this is only a good idea if your computer contains a very large amount of memory. Most mining rigs do not contain enough memory to download the entire chain.

This is okay because your miner should use GETH to query the information it needs, therefore, running GETH and downloading the entire blockchain is not necessary.

Our second software download will be Genoil's Miner

There are several kinds of mining software available for use such as software that mines two currencies at once. However, Genoil's miner is most widely used Ether miners and it offer ease of use.

Different miners should generally produce the same results, however, different miners charge different fees. So if you find a miner that gives you a better hashrate than Genoil's, just be careful that they aren't charging a higher fee that eats into your profits

CPU Mining

The first choice you have for ethereum mining is CPU mining. This is simply mining with your computers CPU. Since Ethereum has grown in popularity, CPU mining in generally considered to be a waste because most mining rigs are made using Graphics Processing Units or GPUs. While it may not offer much of a return, CPU mining is a good way to start because it is easier to get running than a rig that uses GPUs.

Follows these instructions to start mining on your CPU:

1. First thing to do is run GETH and create a new account which will covered in the next step. If you have already done this skip to step 3
2. To create a new account with the GETH command-prompt open you need to type "geth account new" without the quotations. Then enter a passphrase
3. Now, open a new command-prompt and navigate to the folder where you have the ethminer application
4. In the command-prompt, type "ethminer -M" without the quotations
5. You should be mining with your CPU now!!!

GPU Mining

You're second, and frankly better, choice for mining is GPU mining. GPU stands for Graphics Processing Unit and currently mining is dominated by GPUs.

Many desktop computers come with a GPU already installed or there is at least an option to install a graphics card yourself which is actually pretty easy. This tutorial assumes that your GPU has already been fully installed and is operating correctly.

1. Again, first thing to do is run GETH and create a new account which will covered in the next step. If you have already done this skip to step 3
2. To create a new account with the GETH command-prompt open you need to type "geth account new" without the quotations. Then enter a passphrase
3. Now, open a new command-prompt and navigate to the folder where you have the ethminer application
4. In the command-prompt, type "ethminer -G" without the quotations
5. You should be mining with your GPU now!!!

GPU mining can be tricky at times. If you run into issues get you GPU to mine see the trouble-shooting page for help!

What to do now???

The best answer to that is find something to do with your time! You are now mining Ether with your computer and that is making you some extra cash, if you so chose to use it that way

Other thought you may have is, how do I get my computer to give me more hashing power with what I have? Great question! Check out the overclocking section to learn what you can do!

You can also make running your miner simpler by using Batch Files instead of the command prompt to start your miner. See the section on Batches Files for help on this