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Install-MMGen-Wallet-on-Microsoft-Windows
The MMGen Project edited this page 5 months ago

Table of Contents

Introduction

Install MSYS2 and MMGen Wallet

Keeping your installation up to date

Introduction

MMGen Wallet is supported on Microsoft Windows via MSYS2, which provides a Unix-like command-line environment within Windows. Windows 8.1 and later versions are supported.

MSYS2 is the successor project to MinGW-64 and the earlier MSYS, bringing many improvements such as package management and support for Python 3. The MSYS2 project page is located here and its wiki here.

Before you get started, just a reminder that MMGen Wallet must be installed on two computers, one online and one offline. All operations involving private data—wallet generation, address generation and transaction signing—are handled offline, while the online machine takes care of tracking balances and creating and sending transactions.

This means that once you’ve finished the install process, the computer you’ve designated for offline use must be taken offline permanently. Furthermore, its wifi and bluetooth interfaces must be disabled as well to safeguard against private data leakage.

With some extra steps, it’s possible to perform the installation on a machine that’s already offline. These steps will be additionally outlined in sections entitled Offline install. When doing an online install you will ignore these sections.

Install MSYS2 and MMGen Wallet

1. Install MSYS2

Download the MSYS2 executable installer for your architecture from the MSYS2 homepage, but ignore the installation instructions there.

Run the installer, accepting all defaults. When installation completes, uncheck ‘Run MSYS2 now’ and click ‘Finish’. From the Start menu, drag the ‘MSYS2 UCRT64’ icon to the desktop. You will use it to launch all MSYS2 terminal sessions from now on. Double-click the icon to launch the terminal.

Note that the root of your MSYS2 installation is located in C:\\msys64, so the following commands, for example, will produce a listing of the same directory:

$ ls /etc              # the path as seen within MSYS2
$ ls 'C:\\msys64\etc'  # the path as seen by Windows

2. Upgrade MSYS2

Online install:

Update the package database and core system packages:

> $ pacman -Syu
> ```
>
> Exit and restart the MSYS2 terminal.  Complete upgrading the system:
>
> ```text
> $ pacman -Su
> ```

#### <a id="a_ug2">Offline install:</a>

> You must now download the required database and package files on your online
> computer and then copy them to your offline box.  A USB flash drive works
> ideally for this.
>
> Begin by updating the pacman database.  The database files and their
> associated signatures can be listed by issuing the following command:
>
> ```text
> $ ls /var/lib/pacman/sync
> ```
>
> Download up-to-date versions of these files from the primary MSYS2 mirror:
>
>> <https://mirror.msys2.org/msys/x86_64/msys.db>  
>> <https://mirror.msys2.org/msys/x86_64/msys.db.sig>  
>> <https://mirror.msys2.org/mingw/x86_64/mingw64.db>  
>> <https://mirror.msys2.org/mingw/x86_64/mingw64.db.sig>  
>> <https://mirror.msys2.org/mingw/i686/mingw32.db>  
>> <https://mirror.msys2.org/mingw/i686/mingw32.db.sig>  
>> <https://mirror.msys2.org/mingw/clang64/clang64.db>  
>> <https://mirror.msys2.org/mingw/clang64/clang64.db.sig>  
>> <https://mirror.msys2.org/mingw/clang32/clang32.db>  
>> <https://mirror.msys2.org/mingw/clang32/clang32.db.sig>  
>> <https://mirror.msys2.org/mingw/clangarm64/clangarm64.db>  
>> <https://mirror.msys2.org/mingw/clangarm64/clangarm64.db.sig>  
>> <https://mirror.msys2.org/mingw/ucrt64/ucrt64.db>  
>> <https://mirror.msys2.org/mingw/ucrt64/ucrt64.db.sig>
>
> Copy the files to your offline machine, replacing the originals at
> `C:\msys64\var\lib\pacman\sync`.
>
> Now issue the following command:
>
> ```text
> $ pacman -Sup > urls.txt
> ```
>
> This command may cause your MSYS2 terminal window to close.  If so, just
> reopen another one.
>
> The command's output is now saved in the file `urls.txt` (this redirection
> trick using `>` works for most shell commands, by the way).  Copy `urls.txt`
> to your online machine and download the URLs listed in it.
>
> Create a new folder on your offline machine:
>
> ```text
> $ mkdir packages1
> ```
>
> Transfer the downloaded package files to the offline machine and place them in
> this folder.
>
> Now issue the following command to install the packages:
>
> ```text
> $ pacman -U packages1/*
> ```
>
> When the process is finished, close your terminal window and reopen another
> one.
>
> Now reissue the `pacman -Sup` command, which may or may not generate another
> list of URLs.  If it does, repeat the same download/copy/install procedure
> with the new URLs, only with a new `packages2` directory instead of
> `packages1`.
>
> Your system upgrade is now complete.

### <a id="a_md">3. Install MMGen Wallet’s MSYS2 dependencies</a>

Now you’re ready to install the packages specifically required by MMGen.

#### <a id="a_md1">Offline install:</a>

> As you’ve probably noticed by now, the command `pacman -S <pgknames>`
> downloads and installs MSYS2 packages and their dependencies, while `pacman
> -Sp <pgknames>` prints a list of download URLs for those same packages and
> dependencies.  Accordingly, you must issue the command below with `-Sp`
> instead of `-S` to produce a URL list.  Then repeat the above
> download/copy/install steps once again with the new URLs, downloading into
> a new directory, say `packages3`.

Install the MMGen Wallet dependencies:

text pacman -S tar git vim autoconf automake-wrapper autogen libtool cygrunsrv \ mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-python-build \ mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-python-wheel \ mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-python-pip \ mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-libltdl \ mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-gcc \ mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-make \ mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-pcre \ mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-libsodium \ mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-python-pynacl \ mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-python-cryptography \ mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-python-pycryptodome \ mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-python-six \ mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-python-pexpect \ mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-python-gmpy2 \ mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-python-pysocks \ mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-python-requests \ mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-python-aiohttp \ mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-python-pyreadline3


### <a id="a_ev">4. Set up your shell environment</a>

Create the `/usr/local/bin` directory.  This is where you’ll place various
binaries required by MMGen:

text $ mkdir -p /usr/local/bin # seen by Windows as 'C:\msys64\usr\local\bin'


Open your shell’s runtime configuration file in a text editor:

text $ nano ~/.bashrc


Add the following lines to the end of the file (if this is a Bitcoin-only
installation, you may omit the non-Bitcoin components of `daemon_paths`):

bash win_home="/${HOMEDRIVE/:}${HOMEPATH//\//}" daemon_paths="/c/Program Files/Bitcoin/daemon:/c/Program Files/Litecoin/daemon:/c/Program Files/Bitcoin-Cash-Node/daemon:/c/Program Files/Geth" export PATH="$win_home/.local/bin:$PATH:$daemon_paths" export PYTHONUTF8=1


Save and exit.  Close and reopen the terminal window to update your working
environment.

### <a id="a_pev">5. Choose your Python environment</a>

If you have other Python packages installed under MSYS2, then you may wish to
use a [virtual environment][vv] to keep your MMGen Wallet installation isolated
from them.

If you choose not to use a virtual environment, then you should add `--user` to
the command line every time you run `pip install` as directed below.  This will
prevent pip from installing packages in the system directory.

### <a id="a_ec">6. Install the Python ECDSA library (offline install only)</a>

On your online machine:

text $ python3 -m pip download ecdsa


Copy the downloaded file to your offline machine and install:

text $ python3 -m pip install ecdsa-*.whl


### <a id="a_sc">7. Install the standalone scrypt package (required for strong password hashing)</a>

Due to a faulty implementation of the `scrypt` function included in Python’s
`hashlib`, the standalone `scrypt` module is required for stronger-than-default
password hashing (i.e. hash presets greater than `3`).  Installing the package is
therefore highly advisable.

On your online machine, clone the Py-Scrypt repository from Github:

text $ git clone https://github.com/holgern/py-scrypt.git


Offline install:

> Copy the cloned repo to your offline machine.

Build and install:

text $ cd py-scrypt $ python3 -m build --no-isolation $ python3 -m pip install dist/*.whl


### <a id="a_se">8. Clone and copy the secp256k1 library (offline install only)</a>

On your online machine, clone the secp256k1 repository from Github:

text $ git clone https://github.com/bitcoin-core/secp256k1.git


On your offline machine, create a magic location and copy the cloned secp256k1
directory to it:

text $ mkdir -p ~/.cache/mmgen # the magic location $ cp -a /path/to/secp256k1/repo/secp256k1 ~/.cache/mmgen $ ls ~/.cache/mmgen/secp256k1/autogen.sh # check that files were correctly copied


### <a id="a_mm">9. Install MMGen Wallet</a>

Now you’re ready to install MMGen Wallet itself.

#### <a id="a_mms">Stable version:</a>

Online install:

> ```text
> $ python3 -m pip install mmgen-wallet
> ```

Offline install:

> ```text
> $ python3 -m pip download mmgen-wallet
> ```
>
> Copy the downloaded tar.gz archive to your offline machine.
>
> ```text
> $ python3 -m pip install --no-build-isolation mmgen-wallet.*tar.gz
> ```

#### <a id="a_mmd">Development version:</a>

*Bear in mind that security vulnerabilities are more likely to be present in
development code than in a stable release.  In addition, while the tip of
`master` is always tested on Linux before being pushed to the public repository,
it’s not guaranteed to run or even install on MSYS2.  Installation or runtime
issues may also arise due to missing dependencies or installation steps not yet
covered in the documentation.*

On your online machine, clone the MMGen Wallet repository:

text $ git clone https://github.com/mmgen/mmgen-wallet Cloning into ’mmgen-wallet’...


Offline install:

> Copy the cloned mmgen-wallet directory to your offline machine.

Enter the repo directory, build and install:

text $ cd mmgen-wallet $ python3 -m build --no-isolation $ python3 -m pip install dist/*.whl ```

The --force and --no-deps options to pip install also come in handy on occasion.

Note that MMGen Wallet has a test suite. Refer to the Test Suite wiki page for details.

10. Install Python Ethereum dependencies (if applicable)

If you’ll be using MMGen Wallet with Ethereum, then you must install a few dependencies. From the MMGen repository root, type the following:

Online install:

$ python3 -m pip install --no-deps -r eth-requirements.txt

Offline install:

$ python3 -m pip download --no-deps -r eth-requirements.txt

Transfer the downloaded files to your offline machine, cd to the directory containing the files and install them:

$ python3 -m pip install --no-deps *.whl

11. Install and launch your coin daemons

At this point your installation will be able to generate wallets, along with keys and addresses for all supported coins. However, if you intend to do any transacting, as you probably do, you’ll need to install and launch a coin daemon or daemons. MMGen Wallet has full transaction support for BTC, BCH, LTC, ETH, ETC and ERC20 tokens.

Go to the Install Bitcoind and other supported coin daemons wiki page and follow the instructions for your coins of choice. You can skip the parts about adding to the Windows path, since your PATH variable was taken care of in Step 4. Note that the daemons must be installed on both your online and offline machines.

To transact ETH, ETC or ERC20 tokens you’ll need the latest Geth or Parity (for Ethereum Classic) binary. See the Altcoin-and-Forkcoin-Support page for information on downloading and launching these daemons. The parity.exe and ethkey.exe binaries should be copied to /usr/local/bin. For Geth, download and run the Windows installer and add /c/Program Files/Geth to the end of the PATH variable in your ~/.bashrc file:

Please note that Ethereum daemons perform rather poorly under Windows due to threading limitations. Unless you have very fast hardware, transacting and syncing the blockchain will be painfully slow.

12. You’re done!

Congratulations, your installation is now complete, and you can proceed to Getting Started with MMGen Wallet. Note that all features supported by MMGen Wallet on Linux, except for autosigning, are now supported on MSYS2 too. Please be aware of the following, however:

  • Non-ASCII filenames cannot be used with the mmgen-xmrwallet utility. This is an issue with the Monero wallet RPC daemon rather than MMGen.

  • The Bitcoin Cash Node daemon cannot handle non-ASCII pathnames. This is an issue with the Bitcoin Cash Node implementation for Windows, not MMGen.

Keeping your installation up to date

Upgrading MSYS2

You should periodically upgrade your MSYS2 installation, especially when new releases appear. The most reliable way to check your current MSYS2 version is to examine the date on the installation binary, which you’ve hopefully saved somewhere.

To perform the upgrade, just repeat Step 2 of this guide.

Note that Step 3 need not be performed, as the MMGen dependencies are already in pacman’s database.

Upgrading MMGen Wallet

You should periodically upgrade your MMGen Wallet installation from one of its public repositories, especially when new releases appear. You can check your currently installed version by executing mmgen-tool --version.

Upgrade to latest stable version:

Online upgrade:

$ python3 -m pip install --upgrade mmgen-wallet

Offline upgrade:

On your online machine:

$ python3 -m pip download mmgen-wallet

Copy the downloaded tar.gz archive to your offline machine and execute:

$ python3 -m pip install --no-build-isolation mmgen-wallet.*tar.gz

Upgrade to latest development version:

Enter the MMGen Wallet repository root on your online computer and issue the following commands:

Online upgrade:

$ git checkout master
$ git pull
$ rm -rf dist build *.egg-info
$ python3 -m build --no-isolation
$ python3 -m pip install dist/*.whl

Offline upgrade:

After the git pull step above, copy the updated repository to your offline machine, cd to the root of the copied repository and perform the remaining steps.

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