Purpose and Warning

Most people don’t need this. To use Monero, simply launch the software and it will sync with the peer-to-peer network. This is typically much faster than downloading and importing the blockchain as detailed in this guide. This is because you will be downloading from many peers instead of a single server, and the Monero daemon will verify each block as it is received, rather than verifying it separately after download.

This option is mainly useful for development, or possibly if some unusual problem prevents you from syncing as normal.

Never use the dangerous unverified import option, it is strictly for experts only. Especially, please do not use it with any blockchain that you download from the internet, including the official site. It is only safe to use if a) you are importing a file that you exported locally, yourself, and b) you are absolutely sure that it has already been fully and correctly checked before exporting.

Step 1

Download the current boot from https://downloads.getmonero.org/blockchain.raw; you can skip this step if you are importing the blockchain from another source.

Step 2

Find the path where the Monero software is installed. For example, mine is:

D:\monero-gui-0.10.3.1

Your path may be different depending on where you decided to install the Monero software and what version of the software you have.

Step 3

Find the path of your downloaded blockchain, for example mine was:

C:\Users\KeeJef\Downloads\blockchain.raw

Yours may be different depending on where you chose to save the downloaded blockchain.

Step 4

Open a command prompt window. You can do this by pressing Windows Key + R, and then typing in the CMD popup box and pressing Enter.

Step 5

Now you need to navigate using the CMD window to the path of your Monero software. You can do this by typing:

cd C:\YOUR\MONERO\PATH\HERE

It should look something like:

cd D:\monero-gui-0.10.3.1

If your Monero software is on another drive, you can use DriveLetter: for example if your Monero software Monero was on your D drive, before using the cd command you would do D:

Step 6

Now type in the command prompt window:

monero-blockchain-import –input-file C:\YOUR\BLOCKCHAIN\FILE\PATH\HERE

For example, you would type:

monero-blockchain-import –input-file C:\Users\KeeJef\Downloads\blockchain.raw

Step 7

After the blockchain has finished syncing, you can open your Monero wallet normally. Your downloaded blockchain.raw can be deleted.