How to enable and mine Testnet (Morden)?

Question

I have installed Ethereum Wallet on Ubuntu 14.04. After the installation was completed, I realized that my Testnet (Morden) mode was disabled. Looking in the Develop -> Network menu, the Main network is selected and I cannot change it to Testnet. The mining function on Testnet is also disabled.

I tried to update the blockchain by running the command:

geth --testnet

I then ran Ethereum Wallet. The banned besides the "send button" has now changed to "TEST-NET" with a red color. But the mining function is still disabled.

When I tried to use the hotkey "ctrl+shift+2" to change to Testnet, a popup to input new password appeared. But after I entered the password, Ethereum Wallet automatically shut down.

Please help me get back the Testnet & Mining functions.

Thanks a lot.

Answer 1

(Hi @phuong, please reply on your progress by adding comments below).

Lets go through the steps to get your environment working. We will use the command line geth so we can trace through the issues.

1. To mine the Testnet, you will need to have downloaded the whole Testnet blockchain and have set up your coinbase. Your coinbase is by default the first Ethereum account ( or address) created on your computer.

2. Run the following command:

   geth --testnet console
   

3. Do you see a message with "coinbase" as shown below?

    datadir: /home/user/.ethereum/testnet
   coinbase: 0xaaaa9dfd7c15c60a45ce1d401b5a1a6081d2bbbb
   at block: 207951 (Wed, 30 Dec 2015 09:17:55 AEDT)
   

   If you do, then you have already created your first account - go to step 4. If not, then shutdown geth by pressing Control-D. When geth has exited, type in the following command:

   geth --testnet account new
   

   You will be prompted with the following message where you enter in a password twice. Don't forget this password.

   Your new account is locked with a password. Please give a password. Do not forget this password.
   Passphrase: 
   Repeat Passphrase: 
   Address: {aaaa9dfd7c15c60a45ce1d401b5a1a6081d2bbbb}
   

   After creating your account, start geth again using the command:

   geth --testnet console
   

4. Is your blockchain up to date? To mine the Testnet, you need your blockchain to be synced up to other peers on the network.

   In your geth console, type the following:

   > eth.blockNumber
   285161
   

   This block number should be very close to the block number you find on the Ethereum TESTNET Morden Block Chain Explorer. This is 831257 currently.

   If this block number is way below the current block number, you will have to leave geth running for a period of time while geth syncs the blockchain. As this may take hours, you may run eth.blockNumber (deprecated & only works on earlier versions of Geth) or eth.syncing to view the progress of the sync.

5. Once your blockchain is synced up, exit geth by pressing Control-D.

6. Start Ethereum Wallet. Select the menu Develop -> Network -> Testnet (Morden). Click on Develop -> Start Mining (Testnet only). You should see the balance in your "MAIN ACCOUNT (ETHERBASE)" increase by 5 ethers for every block you mine.

---

Notes

1. If you have only downloaded the Ethereum Wallet and not the normal geth installation package, you will find a copy of geth executable in the following directory relative to your Ethreum Wallet installation directory - lets call this Ethereum Wallet installation directory {EWINSTALLDIR}. I note that you are running Ubuntu, but for completeness, here are the executables for the different environments:

   • Linux

     • {EWINSTALLDIR}/resources/node/geth/geth

   • Mac

     • {EWINSTALLDIR}/resources/node/geth/geth

   • Windows

     • {EWINSTALLDIR}\resources\node\geth\geth.exe

   
   Use the full pathnames for your operating system where you see geth in the commands above.