To PotCoiners everywhere,
We want you to know that we’ve heard all the feedback about the long waits to sync your desktop wallets and we are working on a number of improvements. Until such time when the more permanent solutions get implemented, we will provide updated bootstrap.dat files to render your wallet virtually up to date, thus greatly reducing the wait time. Let’s break this down into two methods, one being more “basic” and one more “advanced”. Whichever you choose…
YOU MUST FOLLOW ALL THE STEPS FOR IT TO WORK!
*** IMPORTANT! DO NOT SEND ANY COINS TO YOUR DESKTOP WALLET UNTIL SYNCING PROCESS IS COMPLETE ***
Downloading and syncing your desktop wallet could be done in two separate ways, taking either a few minutes or several hours. The difference between the two methods depends on how comfortable you are with performing the steps. One way requires changing multiple files, the other only one. Either way, we provide you with the steps to follow for each operating system.
Method 1: Replacing three files: Zipped Blocks, Chainstate and Peers.dat file
While this is the more complex of the two (not by much), it is the one that produces the fastest results, syncing you in a matter of minutes.
- Download the Windows desktop wallet.
- Launch the wallet and you will see that it is many many weeks behind (this is normal). Usually this would take several days to sync but you’ll be greatly accelerating this process by manually adding the blockchain rather then letting it sync on its own.
- Next, make sure you close the desktop client before the next few steps.
- Open the folder located in the following path: C:users > admin (or your user account) > AppData > Roaming > PotCoin
Note: If you cannot locate the AppData folder, it’s because it’s hidden so you need to show hidden files and folders.
Here’s a helpful link that provides the instructions to display hidden files: (https://support.microsoft.com/en-ca/help/14201/windows-show-hidden-files) - Download the zip file here which contains:
– Blocks folder
– Chainstate folder
– Peers.dat file - Extract the contents of the zipped file you just downloaded and look for the folders that match the ones you’ll be replacing.
- Replace any files that currently exist in the PotCoin folder with those from the zipped file, as shown below:
- Launch the PotCoin desktop wallet and wait! The splash screen will show for at least 10 minutes, which is normal (depending on the speed of you computer it can take up to 30 mins). It will appear as if the program has crashed on the splash screen but don’t worry, it hasn’t and it just needs time to process the block info you just added. Please be patient. Walk away from you computer and go roll one up while you wait.
- Once the splash screen goes away and the client has fully loaded you will notice that the blockchain is a couple of days behind instead of 190+ weeks. It should now only take less than an hour to complete the sync instead of several days.
- Download the Linux desktop wallet.
- Install the PotCoin wallet using the command:
$ ./potcoind - Download zip file here which contains:
– Blocks folder
– Chainstate folder
– Peers.dat file - Extract the contents of the downloaded file:
$ unzip potcoin-date.zip - Copy the downloaded folders (Blocks and Chainstate) and file (peers.dat) into the hidden folder of PotCoin:
$ cp -rf /home/user/Download/potcoin-date/* /home/user/.potcoin/ - If asked, overwrite all existing files
- Launch the PotCoin Wallet and let it complete the sync process:
$ ./potcoin-qt - Once the wallet is fully synced the red “(out of sync)” error message will disappear and your wallet is ready to use!
- Download the Apple desktop wallet.
- Launch the wallet and you will see that it is many many weeks behind (this is normal). Usually this would take several days to sync but you’ll be greatly accelerating this process by manually adding the blockchain rather then letting it sync on its own.
- Next, make sure you close the desktop client before the next few steps.
- Open the folder located in the following path: /Users/username/Library/Application Support/PotCoin/
Note: If you cannot locate the above folder, it’s because it’s hidden so you need to show hidden files and folders.
Here’s a helpful link that provides the instructions to display hidden files: (http://ianlunn.co.uk/articles/quickly-showhide-hidden-files-mac-os-x-mavericks/) - Download the zip file here which contains:
– Blocks folder
– Chainstate folder
– Peers.dat file - Extract the contents of the zipped file you just downloaded and look for the folders that match the ones you’ll be replacing.
- Replace any files that currently exist in the PotCoin folder with those from the zipped file, as shown below:
- Launch the PotCoin desktop wallet and wait! The splash screen will show for at least 10 minutes, which is normal (depending on the speed of you computer it can take up to 30 mins). It will appear as if the program has crashed on the splash screen but don’t worry, it hasn’t and it just needs time to process the block info you just added. Please be patient. Walk away from you computer and go roll one up while you wait.
- Once the splash screen goes away and the client has fully loaded you will notice that the blockchain is a couple of days behind instead of 190+ weeks. It should now only take less than an hour to complete the sync instead of several days.
Method 2: Replacing only one file – bootstrap.dat
While this is the simpler of the two methods to implement, it will likely take much longer to sync, albeit much still less time than the current process.
- Download the Windows desktop wallet.
- Launch the wallet and you will see that it is over 185 weeks behind. Normally this can take several days to sync, you will be accelerating this process by manually adding the blockchain rather then letting it sync.
- Download bootstrap.dat file here which contains the blockchain files.
- Make sure desktop client is closed.
- Move the bootstrap.dat file to: C:users > admin (or your user account) > AppData > Roaming > PotCoin
- Note: If you cannot locate the AppData folder you need to show hidden files and folders.
(https://support.microsoft.com/en-ca/help/14201/windows-show-hidden-files) - Launch PotCoin desktop wallet and wait! Splash screen will show for a couple minutes (depending on the speed of you computer it can take longer).
- Once the splash screen goes away and the client has fully loaded you will notice that the client is “Importing blocks from disk”. This process can several days to complete.
- Once the wallet is fully synced the red “(out of sync)” error message will disappear and your wallet is ready to use!
- Download the Linux desktop wallet.
- Install the PotCoin wallet using the command:
$ ./potcoind - Download bootstrap.dat file which contains the blockchain files.
- Copy bootstrap.dat into the hidden folder of PotCoin:
$ cp -rf /home/user/Download/bootstrap.dat /home/user/.potcoin/ - If asked, overwrite all existing files
- Launch the PotCoin Wallet with the command below and let it complete the sync process:
$ ./potcoin-qt - Once the wallet is fully synced the red “(out of sync)” error message will disappear and your wallet is ready to use!
- Download the Apple desktop wallet.
- Launch the wallet and you will see that it is over 185 weeks behind. Normally this can take several days to sync, you will be accelerating this process by manually adding the blockchain rather then letting it sync.
- Download bootstrap.dat file which contains the blockchain files.
- Make sure desktop client is closed.
- Move the bootsrap.dat file to: /Users/username/Library/Application Support/PotCoin/
- Note: If you cannot locate the Application Support folder you need to show hidden files and folders.
(http://ianlunn.co.uk/articles/quickly-showhide-hidden-files-mac-os-x-mavericks/) - Launch PotCoin desktop wallet and wait! Splash screen will show for a couple minutes (depending on the speed of you computer it can take longer).
- Once the splash screen goes away and the client has fully loaded you will notice that the client is “Importing blocks from disk”. This process can several days to complete.
- Once the wallet is fully synced the red “(out of sync)” error message will disappear and your wallet is ready to use!