monero-site/_i18n/en/resources/user-guides/mine-to-pool.md

{% include disclaimer.html translated="no" translationOutdated="no" %}

## Wallet

Before starting, you already need to have a wallet configured and
working. The pool needs to know your wallet address to be able to send
payments there. See the [Accepting Monero guide]({{ site.baseurl
}}/get-started/accepting) for more information.

## Profitability

Before mining, you should decide if it is worth it or not for you. You
have to decide this for yourself, based on your power costs and the
hardware that you have available. There are many sites, such as
[CryptoCompare](https://www.cryptocompare.com/mining/calculator/xmr)
that allow you to enter your miner's speed and power draw, and it will
show you the profit (or loss) per week/month.

## Download Miner

The first step is to download mining software onto your computer.

### Windows

The XMRig developer provides pre-built binaries for Windows
users. They are available on the [GitHub release
page](https://github.com/xmrig/xmrig/releases/latest).

Scroll down until you see `xmrig-VERSION-msvc-win64.zip`. Download
this file and extract the archive somewhere memorable, like your desktop.

### Ubuntu Linux

The XMRig developer provides pre-built binaries for Ubuntu Xenial
Xerus (16.04). They may work on other Ubuntu versions, and on other
distributions, but this is not guaranteed.

These binaries are available on the [GitHub release
page](https://github.com/xmrig/xmrig/releases/latest).

Scroll down until you see `xmrig-VERSION-xenial-x64.tar.gz`. Download
this file, extract the archive somewhere memorable, like your desktop.

### Other Linux

Users of other Linux distributions can compile XMRig from
source. Firstly, install the dependencies:

```
# For Debian-based distros
sudo apt install \
	build-essential \
	cmake \
	git \
	libhwloc-dev \
	libssl-dev \
	libuv1-dev
```

Download the XMRig source code:

```
git clone https://github.com/xmrig/xmrig.git
cd xmrig
```

Configure and compile XMRig:

```
cmake -Bbuild
make -Cbuild -j$(nproc)
```

Copy binary and example configuration to your home directory:

```
cp build/xmrig ~/
cp src/config.json ~/
```

### macOS Build

Firstly, install XCode and [Homebrew](https://brew.sh).

Use Homebrew to install dependencies:

```
brew install \
	cmake \
	hwloc \
	libmicrohttpd \
	libuv \
	openssl
```

Download XMRig sources:

```
git clone https://github.com/xmrig/xmrig.git
cd xmrig
```

Configure and compile XMRig:

```
cmake -Bbuild -DOPENSSL_ROOT_DIR=/usr/local/opt/openssl
make -Cbuild -j$(nproc)
```

Copy binary and example configuration to your home directory:

```
cp build/xmrig ~/
cp src/config.json ~/
```

## Selecting a pool

There are lots of pools to choose from. You can find a list at
[miningpoolstats.stream/monero](https://miningpoolstats.stream/monero).

Choosing a larger pool means that you will see more frequent (but
smaller) payouts, but choosing a smaller pools helps keep the network
decentralised. [Miners will not lose any revenue by mining on a
smaller pool](https://redd.it/g6uh2l).

## Configuring the miner

Navigate to your chosen pool's webpage and read their
documentation. They should mention an address and port for you to
enter into your miner. For example, `pool.xmr.pt:3333`.

Next, open up the config.json you copied or extracted earlier in your
favourite text editor. Scroll down to the line that says
`donate.v2.xmrig.com:3333` and change the text inside the quotes to
the address of your pool. The line below should contain
`YOUR_WALLET_ADDRESS`. Change that to your actual wallet address.

After these modifications, your configuration should look something like this:

```
{
	// [...]
	"pools": [
		{
			"url": "pool.xmr.pt:3333",
			"user": "43YjW8SZov..."
		}
	],
	// [...]
}
```

## Starting the miner

Windows users can double click on xmrig.exe. Users of other operating
systems should `cd` into the directory that contains XMRig and then
type `./xmrig` and press return.

If you see green messages saying that shares have been accepted,
congratulations, everything is working!

## Troubleshooting

### Anti-virus keeps removing XMRig

Some anti-viruses flag XMRig as malware because it is often deployed
to infected computers to mine without the owner's consent. As it is
your computer and you are configuring the miner to mine for you, it is
safe to add XMRig to your anti-virus whitelist.

### Cannot read/set MSR

On some CPUs, XMRig tries to increase performance by disabling certain
features like your CPU's instruction prefetcher. These operations
require root/administrator, so try right clicking xmrig.exe and
running it as administrator, or running `sudo ./xmrig` on other
systems.

### Algo not known

Find the line in config.json that says `algo: null` and change it to
`algo: "rx/0"`. By default, XMRig expects the pool to tell it which
hashing algorithm to use.

### Huge Pages 0%

#### Allowing large pages on Windows

Taken from [the MSDN](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/database-engine/configure-windows/enable-the-lock-pages-in-memory-option-windows?view=sql-server-ver15):

>1. On the Start menu, click Run. In the Open box, type gpedit.msc.
2. On the Local Group Policy Editor console, expand Computer Configuration, and then expand Windows Settings.
3. Expand Security Settings, and then expand Local Policies.
4. Select the User Rights Assignment folder.
5. The policies will be displayed in the details pane.
6. In the pane, double-click Lock pages in memory.
7. In the Local Security Setting – Lock pages in memory dialog box, click Add User or Group.
8. In the Select Users, Service Accounts, or Groups dialog box, add an account that you will run the miner on
9. Reboot for change to take effect.

You may also need to launch the miner as administrator.

#### Allowing large pages on Linux

Firstly stop the miner (if it's running), run the following commands to enable
large pages and then start the miner as root:

	sudo sysctl -w vm.nr_hugepages=1168
	sudo ./xmrig

You may have to increase 1168 depending on how many NUMA nodes your
CPU(s) have.

#### Allowing large pages on macOS

Huge pages are not supported on macOS.

### Balance Not Increasing

Most pools are <abbr title="Pay Per Last N Shares">PPLNS</abbr> pools,
which means that you only get paid when a miner on the pool finds a
block. If the pool you are mining on is small, this can take a few
days to weeks.

Additionally, any blocks found must mature before they can be paid
out. This takes 60 blocks (approx. 2 hours).

## Getting Help

An active Monero mining community on Reddit is
[/r/MoneroSupport](https://www.reddit.com/r/MoneroSupport/). You can
also join [#monero-pools on
freenode](https://webchat.freenode.net/?channel=#monero-pools).

## Going Futher

* Consider using a subaddress just for mining, to prevent your address
  being linked to different services.
* [Consider using Tor to connect to the
  pool](https://xmrig.com/docs/miner/tor) (or to a hidden service pool
  like HashVault, RespectXMR and MoneroOcean). This hides mining
  activity from your ISP, and prevents the pool from knowing who you
  are.