Category Archives: Settings

How to modify Windows 11 Right Click Menu

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The information below was gleaned from this website:
https://www.guidingtech.com/how-to-customize-right-click-menu-windows-11/

Make a backup of your registry before modifying keys. Open “Registry Editor”, click Computer, then Export.

This is the key to add to get your old style right click menu back. So add this key, then reboot.

Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\CLSID
{86ca1aa0-34aa-4e8b-a509-50c905bae2a2}
InprocServer32

This is the key to modify if you want to add/remove things from the right click menu. Add new keys under shell that point to programs you want to call quickly.

Computer\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shell
  • Simple solution
    • Open CMD Window (as Administrator)
    • reg add HKCU\Software\Classes\CLSID{86ca1aa0-34aa-4e8b-a509-50c905bae2a2}\InprocServer32 /ve /d “” /f
    • Reboot or Restart Windows Explorer from Task Manager

How to change iTunes Backup location

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The default location is on the primary drive at:
C:\Users\YourUserName\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync

Let’s say you want to change it to:
G:\Backups\YourUserName\iTunesBackups

Run these commands in CMD window as Administrator:

c:
cd “C:\Users\YourUserName\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync”
mklink /d Backup “G:\Backups\YourUserName\iTunesBackups”

Setup HSTS and rewrite for IIS 8 and .NET

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For your .NET Website, this is the simple way below, just update your web.config with the following:


<system.webServer>
    <httpProtocol>
      <customHeaders>
        <add name="Strict-Transport-Security" value="max-age=31536000" />
      </customHeaders>
    </httpProtocol>
    <rewrite>
      <rules>
        <rule name="HTTPS force" enabled="true" stopProcessing="true">
          <match url="(.*)" />
          <conditions>
            <add input="{HTTPS}" pattern="^OFF$" />
          </conditions>
          <action type="Redirect" url="https://{HTTP_HOST}{REQUEST_URI}" redirectType="Permanent" />
        </rule>
      </rules>
    </rewrite>
  </system.webServer>
</system.webServer>

If you want to do it with IIS 8

  • Open IIS 8
  • Click “Add Rule(s)”
  • Blank rule
  • Name: HSTS Redirect
  • Requested URL: Matches the Pattern
  • Using: Regular Expressions
  • Pattern: (.*)
  • Ignore case: Checked

Conditions

  • Logical grouping: Match all
  • Click “Add”
  • Condition input: {HTTPS}
  • Check if input string: Matches the Pattern
  • Pattern: ^OFF$
  • Ignore case: Checked

Action

  • Action type: Redirect
  • Redirect URL: https://{HTTP_HOST}/{R:1}
  • Append query string: Checked
  • Redirect type: Permanent (301)

Connecting to SQL Server after installation

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After installing SQL Server, you will need to configure it so you can connect.

Open SQL Server Configuration Manager

SQL Server Network Configuration:

Protocols for YOURINSTANCENAME
TCP/IP: Enabled

Restart YOURINSTANCENAME

SQL Server Network Configuration:

Protocols
TCP/IP
IP Addresses
TCP Port: 9999 (your chosen port)

Create a Firewall Rule for the port:

Name it something like SQLServer 9999 TCP

Your connection to this new instance from SQL Server Management Studio will be:

yourdomain.com\YOURINSTANCENAME,9999

Setup VNC and RDP on Ubuntu 16.04

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If you need to setup VNC and/or RDP on your Ubuntu system, you can do it.

Original instructions came from hiroom2.com, but I modified these instructions to work for my setup:

https://www.hiroom2.com/2016/05/24/ubuntu-16-04-remote-connect-to-gnome-classic-desktop-with-vnc-xrdp/#sec-5

Download the libraries you need:

sudo apt remove -y vnc4server tightvncserver
sudo apt install -y git and devscripts
sudo apt install -y gnome-panel metacity

You will need to download and compile from source:
(yes, you need these double folders)

cd ~/source
mkdir tigervnc
cd tigervnc
git clone https://github.com/TigerVNC/tigervnc
cd tigervnc

This seems to be the specific build that was working:

git checkout 044e2b87da7121ef6cbd59e88b101d7d8e282896 \
-b 044e2b87da7121ef6cbd59e88b101d7d8e282896

Now we do the build:

ln -s contrib/packages/deb/ubuntu-xenial/debian

sudo apt install -y $(grep Build-Depends: debian/control | \
sed -e 's/Build-Depends://g' -e 's/([^\)]*)//g' -e 's/,//g')

chmod a+x debian/rules
fakeroot debian/rules binary

Now install the deb packages:

cd ..
sudo dpkg -i *.deb || (sudo apt -f install -y; sudo dpkg -i *.deb)
cd ..

Install GNOME:

sudo DEBIAN_FRONTEND="noninteractive" apt install -y gnome

echo "gnome-session-classic" > ~/.xsession

mv ~/.vnc/xstartup ~/.vnc/xstartub.bak

vncpasswd

RDP Installation:

sudo apt install -y xrdp
sudo systemctl enable xrdp

If you are running this in a VirtualBox, you will need to do some port forwarding:

Default VNC port: 5901
VirtualBox port: 15901 (or whatever)

Default RDP port: 3389
VirtualBox port: 13389 (or whatever)

New Windows 10 Mining Rig Checklist

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I had this info scattered around in many posts, I thought I would put it all here for a generic checklist when setting up a new mining rig, no matter what you are mining.

Lets start with bios:

Set power to resume at latest state so if your electricity goes out, it will start up again.
Set boot beep on.

Install Windows 10 x64

Install the latest stable AMD Radeon Crimson Drivers:

http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/desktop?os=Windows+10+-+64

The latest stable version for me is 16.12.1

Install Awesome Miner, or rather the Remote Agent if this is a mining node:

http://www.awesomeminer.com/

Setup Virtual Memory to 16 or 32 GB:

16 GB: 16384 MB
32 GB: 32768 MB

Control Panel
System and Security/System
Advanced system settings
Advanced (Tab)/Performance/Settings (Button)
Advanced (Tab)/Virtual Memory/Change (Button)
Uncheck "Automatically manage paging file size for all drives"
Click "Custom Size"

If you can do 32, do it, otherweise 16 would be ok:
Min: 32768
Max: 32768

Click "Set" and get out of all the dialogs...

You may have to reboot.

Reboot straight into mining:

Auto login:

netplwiz

Set Awesome Miner to start on reboot.
Set your managed miner to start on reboot.

Lock after login: (Optional if your rigs are secure)

rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation

Other Software you may want to install:

Chrome

https://www.google.com/chrome/browser/desktop/index.html

Notepad++

https://notepad-plus-plus.org/

TortoiseSVN

https://tortoisesvn.net/downloads.html

Other Settings you may want to adjust:

Give your computer a name

Allow Remote Access

Power Options
    Turn off display: Never
    Put Computer to sleep: Never

Windows Folder defaults:
    Unhide known extensions
    Unhide system folders

Set your time zone

Never get stuck after a windows crash. Run this as administrator: (This removes the prompt and always reboots normally into windows)

bcdedit /set {current} bootstatuspolicy ignoreallfailures

Remove the popup after a crash: (Sometimes a mining crash has a modal alert waiting for you to hit “OK”)

gpedit.msc

Navigate to:
  Computer Configuration
  Administrative Templates
  Windows Components
  Windows Error Reporting

Double click on "Prevent display of the user interface for critical errors"

Set to Enabled

Exclude your Mining Software folders from Windows Defender. Don’t let Defender take down your whole mining operation by quarantining your mining software:

C:\common\apps (or wherever)
C:\Users\YourUserName\AppData\Roaming\AwesomeMinerService

Overclocking the RX 480 for the Claymore Ethereum-Decred Miner

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Using Wattman, your values may have to be tweaked depending on the silicone lottery:

Memory: 2200mhz (overclocked), 975mv (underclocked)
Power Limit: +15%

This will draw 825w from the wall with 3 cards.

Stock for these cards are:

Memory: 2000mhz, 1000mv
Power Limit: 0

In the Claymore Miner config.txt:

-ethi 8
-dcri 60

I left the Core clock at stock which is defaulted to 1266 or 1288 (XFX version)

More can be done with tweaking the Core Clock, but my 850w power supply was already at 825w with 3 cards and motherboard/fans.

Installing another power supply for 3 more cards will let me tweak the numbers some more.

With the settings above, I was able to get:

ETH/ETC: 27 Mh/s (26 Mh/s on one of the cards)
DCR: 810 Mh/s (790 Mh/s on one of the cards)

Heat and Fans:

Max: 80 C
Target: 75 C

Windows 10 Claymore ETH/DCR Mining Rig using the RX 480 GPU

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This build deals with setting up Windows 10 to mine Ethereum and Decred, using the RX 480 GPU.

Install Windows 10 x64
—-
Install the latest AMD Radeon Crimson Drivers

http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/desktop?os=Windows+10+-+64

Crimson Edition 16.7.3 (Main installer, run this.)

After Crimson is installed, then do an update within Crimson. You will then be at “Crimson Edition 16.8.3” (or later)
—-
Install AwesomeMiner

http://www.awesomeminer.com/

—-
Configure Claymore ETH/DCR

New Miner Wizard
—-
Example of config.txt for mining ETC (Ethereum Classic)

-r 1
-ethi 8
-dcri 60

-etha 0
-mode 0

-gser 2

### ETC ########################################
-epool us1-etc.ethermine.org:4444
-ewal 0xBAf5706B333F709211Ab5A2A5669970A55385934.YourMinerName
-esm 0
-epsw x
-allpools 1
-allcoins 1

### DCR ########################################
-dpool stratum+tcp://dcr.suprnova.cc:2252
-dwal YourUserName.YourMinerName
-dpsw YourPassword

Example of config.txt for mining ETH (Ethereum)

-r 1
-ethi 8
-dcri 60

-etha 0
-mode 0

-gser 2

### ETH ########################################
-epool us1.ethermine.org:4444
-ewal 0x7563A2D88F2151B659F22FAd213E3A0E6fedE943.YourMinerName
-esm 0
-epsw x
-allpools 1
-allcoins 1

### DCR ########################################
-dpool stratum+tcp://dcr.suprnova.cc:2252
-dwal YourUserName.YourMinerName
-dpsw YourPassword

Example of epools.txt

POOL: etc-eu.suprnova.cc:3333, PSW: YourPassword, WORKER: YourUser.YourMiner, ESM: 0, ALLPOOLS: 1
POOL: us1.ethermine.org:4444, PSW: YourPassword, WORKER: 0x57f57167a82da3de4e69de73d1bc9c731cdcbaf8.YourMiner, ESM: 0, ALLPOOLS: 1
POOL: us1.ethpool.org:3333, PSW: YourPassword, WORKER: 0x57f57167a82da3de4e69de73d1bc9c731cdcbaf8.YourMiner, ESM: 0, ALLPOOLS: 1

Example of dpools.txt

POOL: dcr.suprnova.cc:2252, PSW: YourPassword, WORKER: YourUser.YourMiner, ESM: 0, ALLPOOLS: 1
POOL: dcr.coinmine.pl:2222, PSW: YourPassword, WORKER: YourUser.YourMiner, ESM: 0, ALLPOOLS: 1
POOL: dcr.pool.mn:4722, PSW: YourPassword, WORKER: YourUser.YourMiner, ESM: 0, ALLPOOLS: 1

—-
How to reboot straight into mining:

Setup Autologin In Windows.

Lock after login:
rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation

Set Awesome Miner to start on reboot.
Set your managed miner to start on reboot.
—-

Other Software you may want to install:
—-
Install Chrome
—-
Install Notepad++
https://notepad-plus-plus.org/
—-
Install TortoiseSVN
https://tortoisesvn.net/downloads.html
—-

Other Settings you may want to adjust:

Allow Remote Access
Power Options
    Turn off display: Never
    Put Computer to sleep: Never
Auto login: netplwiz
Windows Folder defaults:
    Unhide known extensions
    Unhide system folders

Never get stuck after a windows crash. Run this as administrator:

bcdedit /set {current} bootstatuspolicy ignoreallfailures

Remove the popup after a crash

gpedit.msc

Navigate to:
Computer Configuration/Administrative Templates/Windows Components/Windows Error Reporting

Double click on "Prevent display of the user interface for critical errors"

Set to Enabled

Running Your Own Decred PoS (Proof of Stake) Wallet

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Running Your Own Decred PoS (Proof of Stake) Wallet

If you have hundreds or thousands of DCR (or just want to experiment), you may consider running your own Decred PoS Wallet.

Summary of things to consider:

  • Each ticket costs a certain amount of DCR to purchase.
  • Your DCR funds may be locked for an average of 1 month and up to 4 months.
  • You have a 99% chance that you will earn a reward before the 4 month expiration.
  • If your ticket gets picked, you will get the reward, plus the cost of the ticket, minus the transaction fee.
  • If your ticket does NOT get picked or if it gets picked while your wallet is offline or locked, you will get the cost of the ticket back minus the transaction fee.

More detailed info will follow, but let’s start with how to enable your current wallet to start Decred PoS mining.

Here is a standard enablestaking command:

dcrwallet -u YourUserName -P YourUserPassword --enablestakemining --ticketmaxprice=10

A good place to check what you should set the ticketmaxprice would be at: https://dcrstats.com/

Now unlock your wallet without a time limit:

dcrctl -u YourUserName -P YourUserPassword --wallet walletpassphrase "Your TOP SECRET Passphrase Here" 0

To see your current stake info:

dcrctl -u YourUserName -P YourUserPassword --wallet getstakeinfo

Here you will also see the difficulty, which is how many DCR each ticket currently costs.

Install opencl and drivers for Radeon R9 280x on Ubuntu

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To get the drivers set up for your AMD card do the following.

System Settings/Software & Updates/Additional Drivers
Select fglrx-updates

If you have multiple GPU’s but only the first is being recognized, you may need to disable the GPU Manager. You will need to edit this file:

sudo nano /etc/default/grub

Change this line to:

#GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="nogpumanager"

Now update grub and reboot:

sudo update-grub
sudo reboot

To list your GPU’s:

lspci | grep VGA
amdconfig --list-adapters

Now initialize your GPU’s:

sudo amdconfig --initial --adapter=all
sudo reboot

Now run clinfo:

clinfo

You should see your version of opencl:

Device OpenCL C version: OpenCL C 1.2

Now go ahead and set up cgminer, instructions are here:
http://www.reynoldtech.com/mining-decred-on-ubuntu-with-cgminer/

Notice: The info below is outdated, I’m now using the Ubuntu GUI to grab the additional drivers.

Find the drivers on the official AMD website:
http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/linux

Click on your version of Ubuntu (ex: Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 64-bit)

Download all the fglrx files for your version. There should be 4 of them.

Get to your download directory and copy them somewhere safe like:

mkdir ~/AMD_Driver_packages
cd ~/Downloads
cp *.deb ~/AMD_Driver_packages
cd ~/AMD_Driver_packages

I had to make sure my system had the dependencies

sudo apt-get -f install

Now that you are in the folder you will be doing all your installing from, go ahead and install:

sudo dpkg -i fglrx-core_15.302-0ubuntu1_amd64_ub_14.01.deb
sudo dpkg -i fglrx_15.302-0ubuntu1_amd64_ub_14.01.deb
sudo dpkg -i fglrx-dev_15.302-0ubuntu1_amd64_ub_14.01.deb
sudo dpkg -i fglrx-amdcccle_15.302-0ubuntu1_amd64_ub_14.01.deb

Now reboot

sudo reboot

Check that everything is installed correctly:

sudo dpkg -l fglrx fglrx-core fglrx-amdcccle fglrx-dev

Now run clinfo:

clinfo

You should see your version of opencl:

Device OpenCL C version: OpenCL C 1.2

Now go ahead and set up cgminer, instructions are here:
http://www.reynoldtech.com/mining-decred-on-ubuntu-with-cgminer/