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Best Windows Setup, Configuration, Tweaks For Mining

Last updated December 04, 2020

Since i received lots of question about my windows configuration , version or drivers, i decided to make post about it.

Although there is not that much to talk about, but i think those settings are very important and a must for each mining rig, if you do other things that are not found here, post them in comments and ill update!

This windows configuration can be applied on any type of altcoin mining like Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, ZCash, Zclassic, Monero, PascalCoin, Expanse, Ubiq, Decred etc.. Make sure you have an account on Binance, if not, signup here!

Here is how i tweak my windows for a mining rig!

Windows Installation & Configuration for Mining Rig

Important:

  • Do not plug the Ethernet cable to your mining rig while windows installation or after that
  • Plug only ONE GPU in the PCI Express 16x slot with usb riser
  • I have always used 120GB SSD drives (you can use bigger, there is no restriction)
  • Always used just one partition C: (if you have a bigger SSD like 240 then you can create additional partition and use it to “mine” Storj)

Windows version for Mining Rig

Motherboard and Bios

Depending on what motherboard you will be using, some of them needs some BIOS modifications to make it work properly with USB Risers or anything else. For this, i will take as example “Biostar TB85” and “Z170A  Gaming Pro Carbon

For Biostar TB85 i had to do the following BIOS modifications :

  • Set CPU fan control to auto, it was 100% all the time
  • Set PCIe Speed from Auto to Gen1
  • Last thing was to modify “Restore on AC/Power Loss“, set it to “Power On” or “Last State” (if power goes off and after a while is back on, the rig will start automatically)

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Windows 10 Registry Tweaks For Mining

  • While windows is installed disable the following services: click to enlarge image
  • Once windows is full installed and booted for the first time i always run the Windows 10 Registry tweaks for mining.bat file https://mega.nz/#!8gZzjQaa!Dt4wE0WEo8nZkui_-cAAXL4mb4YlO6CJgFZTXKq9pnQ (i am not disabling everything, just things that i think wont be needed, windows update, cortana, crash reports etc..)
  • Back Up Your Registry or create a restore point
  • Run in administrator mode
  • Once everything is applied, restart the rig
List of Tweaks
Replace Utilman with CMD
Disable Cortana, Bing Search and Searchbar
Disable automatic Windows Updates
Disable Hibernation
Disable tracking services
Disable WAP Push Message Routing Service
Disable Windows Search
Disable Superfetch
Disable Windows Defender
Disable OneDrive
Disable Quick Access as default view in Explorer
show computer shortcut on desktop
Show file extensions
Disable lockscreen
Enable classic control panel view
Hide indication for compressed NTFS files
Disable Windows Update sharing
Remove Pin to start
Classic vertical icon spacing
Remove versioning tab from properties
Disable jump lists
Remove telemetry and data collection
Change Logon screen background with accent color
Disable Windows Error Reporting
Removing Windows default apps
Blocking Telemetry Servers

Stop Windows Update #DoubleCheck

  • In RUN type “services.msc“, the services page will be open
  • Search for “Windows Update
  • Click “Stop” if status is “Live” or “Checking/Running
  • Select “Disabled” on “Startup type
  • Apply & Restart
  • Do it again and make sure that it is disabled
  • Also if you want you can disable more services..

Lately microsoft somehow forced windows updates and that made the rigs to not work properly, to make sure this wont happen again i had to find a better solution to stop the updates completely

  • go to RUN and type gpedit.msc, click on "Administrative Templates" then "Windows Components" and last "Windows Updates" disable the services like in this image
  • in start write "Task Scheduler" then go to "Task Scheduler Library" -> "Microsoft" -> "Windows" and "UpdateOrchestror" right click on service and click disable like in this image
  • same on "Task Scheduler" scroll down a bit and click on "WindowsUpdate" disable the services like in this image

Prevent your mining rig being hacked

  • go to “START” and type “Control Panel” then access “Programs and Features“, on top left side click “Turn Windows features on or off” and uncheck “SMB 1.0/CIFS File Sharing Support

Increase Virtual Memory

  • In search type “This PC“, right click on it and choose “Properties
  • Then click on “Advanced System Settings
  • On “Advanced” tab where it says “Performance” click on “Settings
  • Click “Advanced” tab
  • At the bottom you will see “Virtual memory“, click on “Change
  • 1. Uncheck “Automatically manage paging file size for all drives
  • 2. Check “Custom size
  • 3. In the “Initial size (MB)” type: 3000 (or directly 16000)
  • 4. In the “Maximum size (MB)” type: 16000 (or more like 20k)
  • 5. Click “Set” , then “OK” and “Apply
  • Restart the rig

Power Plan and Options

  • In search type “Power Options
  • Click on “Show additional plans
  • Select “High Performance” plan
  • Then still on “High Performance” plan, click “Change plan settings
  • Select “Never” on all four selections for “Turn off the display” and “Put the computer to sleep
  • Click “Change advanced power settings” and look for “PCI Express” -> “Link State Power Management“, make sure it is set to “OFF“, usually it is but better to check on that
  • Restart the rig

Before to continue further, please share this 🙂 thanks!

AMD Driver Version and Install/Uninstall

I usually test the rig with this two driver versions!

VERY IMPORTANT: When you want to try a different driver version, use Display Driver Uninstaller in safe mode to uninstall the current driver, it will erase every track of previous video driver, download here: http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html

UPDATED January 14, 2018

Use the official mining driver: https://1stminingrig.com/ethereum-dag-hashrate-drop-fix-amd-official-mining-drivers-are-now-out/

Nvidia Drivers

You can use latest drivers 🙂

Sofware and apps that i use on most of my rigs

Basically this is it.. ill update this post once i have new configurations! 🙂

Happy mining!

Disclaimer: This is not financial advise, I am not a financial advisor, this is for educational purposes only. If you want to invest in cryptocurrency please do your own research and invest at your own risk, 1stMiningRig is never liable for any decisions you make. 1stMiningRig may receive donations or sponsorships in association with certain content creation. 1stMiningRig may receive compensation when affiliate/referral links are used.
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