How to mine Kaspa on Windows 11? (KAS Tutorial)

System Requirements and Prerequisites

1. A Windows 11 machine with at least 16 GB of RAM, a modern multi-core CPU (Intel Core i7 or AMD Ryzen 5 and above), and a stable broadband internet connection is essential.

2. Kaspa requires no GPU for mining — it is purely CPU-based using the kHeavyHash algorithm.

3. Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable packages must be installed; missing libraries often cause miner crashes or startup failures.

4. Administrator privileges are required to install services, bind to network ports, and access low-level CPU instructions.

5. Antivirus software may flag Kaspa miners as suspicious; users must add exceptions for the miner executable and configuration files.

Downloading and Configuring the Official Kaspa Miner

1. Navigate to the official Kaspa GitHub releases page and download the latest kaspad and kaspaminer binaries for Windows x64.

2. Extract both archives into separate folders — one for the node (kaspad) and another for the miner (kaspaminer).

3. Run kaspad.exe first to synchronize the full node; this may take several hours depending on disk I/O speed and bandwidth.

4. Create a kaspaminer.conf file in the miner directory with fields such as rpcserver=127.0.0.1:16111, username, and password matching kaspad’s kaspad.conf.

5. Ensure kaspad is running before launching kaspaminer.exe; otherwise, connection timeouts will occur immediately.

Optimizing CPU Utilization and Stability

1. Use Windows Task Manager to verify all logical processors are active; disable core parking via Power Options advanced settings to prevent throttling.

2. kaspaminer supports thread affinity flags — specify --threads=8 --affinity=0xFF to lock mining across eight cores without OS interference.

3. Disable Hyper-Threading in BIOS if stability issues arise; some motherboard firmware causes inconsistent kHeavyHash timing under simultaneous SMT threads.

4. Monitor CPU temperature closely using tools like HWiNFO64; sustained loads above 85°C may trigger thermal throttling and reduce hash rate consistency.

5. Avoid running background applications that consume memory bandwidth — especially browsers with many tabs or real-time antivirus scans.

Connecting to a Mining Pool

1. Choose a pool supporting Kaspa’s Stratum V2 protocol — examples include kaspapool.org, kaspa.farm, and kaspa-pool.com.

2. Replace local RPC settings in kaspaminer.conf with pool-specific values: pool=ssl://pool.kaspapool.org:50001, wallet=KASPA_WALLET_ADDRESS.

3. Pools require wallet registration; generate a new Kaspa address using kaspad’s getnewaddress RPC command before submitting work.

4. Some pools enforce minimum share difficulty — adjust --difficulty flag accordingly to avoid rejected shares due to low target thresholds.

5. Enable pool-side statistics by appending --user-agent='Windows11-KaspaMiner-1.0' to improve debugging visibility during connection drops.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can I mine Kaspa using WSL2 on Windows 11?A: No — WSL2 lacks direct access to CPU instruction sets required by kHeavyHash and cannot interface with kaspad’s native RPC server reliably.

Q: Why does kaspaminer show “connection refused” after kaspad starts?A: kaspad must fully sync its headers before accepting RPC connections; check logs for “RPC server started” and confirm port 16111 is not blocked by Windows Firewall.

Q: Is it safe to run kaspad and kaspaminer as Windows Services?A: Yes — both binaries support service installation via --install-service, but ensure the service account has read/write permissions to data directories.

Q: Does kaspad need to remain online while kaspaminer runs?A: Yes — kaspaminer depends entirely on kaspad’s local RPC endpoint for block templates and transaction inclusion logic; disconnecting halts mining instantly.