A complete guide to downloading, installing, and configuring the official KaspaMiner (Windows and Linux). Step-by-step instructions, NVIDIA/AMD driver tips, and solutions to common Kaspa mining errors.

🚀 What is KaspaMiner and why is it needed?

 Kaspa is a decentralized, first-level cryptocurrency with an innovative DAG block architecture, ensuring high transaction processing speeds. Kaspa’s network uses the kHeavyHash algorithm (a modification of HeavyHash), optimized for GPUs. The official KaspaMiner (also known as the “community” miner) is an open-source GPU/CPU miner developed by the Kaspa developers. It can be used to mine KAS coins on Nvidia/AMD graphics cards or CPUs. Below, we’ll cover how to download and configure KaspaMiner on Windows and Linux.

🖥️ Downloading and installing KaspaMiner on Windows

Download the latest Windows version of KaspaMiner from GitHub (KaspaMiner releases page). Unzip the ZIP archive to a convenient folder. Inside, find the file mine.bat. Right-click it and edit it: replace the example wallet address (the line with kaspa:...) with your own Kaspa wallet address. Save the changes and double-click mine.bat– the miner will launch and begin mining to your address.

Before launching, make sure you have the latest GPU drivers installed on your computer. NVIDIA cards on Windows require driver version 495 or higher (CUDA 11.5+). If using AMD graphics cards, install the official AMD drivers with OpenCL support. If the miner displays CUDA or OpenCL errors after launch, update the corresponding drivers.

🐧 Downloading and installing KaspaMiner on Linux

For Linux, also download the KaspaMiner release from the same GitHub page / wiki.kaspa.org .

Unzip the archive to a folder on your PC. Then create a file in that folder mine.shwith the following contents (example):

while true; do ./kaspa-miner* -a kaspa:<ваш_адрес> -s n.seeder1.kaspad.net; done

Replace <ваш_адрес><address> with your Kaspa wallet address. Grant the script execution permissions ( chmod +x mine.sh), then run it with the command ./mine.sh. This script automatically restarts the miner if it crashes. This option -s n.seeder1.kaspad.netspecifies the address of the public Kaspa “seeder” – this is how the miner connects to a working network node if you don’t have a local node running.

Also, on Linux, make sure the required CUDA/OpenCL libraries are installed. NVIDIA GPUs require drivers that support CUDA 11.2+ (on Linux, at least v460.32.03). For AMD, install ocl-icdthe AMDGPU-Pro or ROCm packages and drivers, which include OpenCL. Without the correct drivers, the miner won’t detect your GPU.

⚙️ Miner setup and launch nuances

After unpacking and configuring the files, launch the Kaspa node ( kaspad) and wait for it to sync with the Kaspa network. By default, KaspaMiner attempts to connect to a local node ( 127.0.0.1:16110), so the node must be running and up-to-date with the blockchain. If you prefer pool mining, KaspaMiner supports Stratum mode: add the option -s stratum+tcp://<адрес_пула>:<порт> . For example, these parameters -a kaspa:ВАШАДРЕС -s stratum+tcp://kaspa-pool.org:4444will allow you to connect to a Kaspa pool.

In addition to the wallet address ( -aor --mining-address), you can set the number of CPU threads ( --threads), disable CUDA/AMD usage using the --cuda-disableor flags --opencl-amd-disable, adjust the GPU and memory frequencies, and more (for more details, see the GitHub documentation). However, in most cases, the basic settings are sufficient to get started.

❌ Common mistakes and their solutions

PTX JIT error or “No CUDA device found” : Typically occurs with outdated NVIDIA drivers. Solution: Update your driver to version 495 or later (Windows) or 460 or later (Linux). Make sure CUDA 11.5+ is installed on Windows (for Nvidia Turing/Ampere) and CUDA 11.2+ on Linux (for Pascal/Turing cards).
“NO AMD OPENCL found” error : This means the system doesn’t see the OpenCL driver for AMD. Reinstall the entire AMD driver, including OpenCL ICD, or install the package ocl-icdon Linux. Then reboot the system.
KaspaMiner says “Not synced” or doesn’t do anything at all : Check if the kaspad node is running and fully synchronized. If the node isn’t synchronized, the miner will refuse to mine blocks (or display a warning). If you need a quick start, you can use the key --mine-when-not-synced, but it’s best to wait until it’s fully synchronized. For pool mining, specify a Stratum pool (see above) instead of a local node.
Low hashrate or constant freezing : Try adjusting your GPU core and memory parameters using the --cuda-lock-core-clocks/ flag --cuda-lock-mem-clocks(for NVIDIA) or mclk/ flag cclk(for AMD in other miners). Also, ensure that the CPU load isn’t excessive – if necessary, limit the number of threads using the flag --threads.

Following these recommendations, the official KaspaMiner is usually sufficient for a stable operation. If problems persist, ensure the software versions match (major miner updates sometimes require a new Kaspa node) and contact the project documentation or the Kaspa community for support.

Sources:

kaspa.org Kaspa: Home – Official Kaspa website (Kaspa description)
kaspa.org Mining – Kaspa WIKI (kHeavyHash mining algorithm)
wiki.kaspa.org Mining | Kaspa WIKI (information about KaspaMiner)
wiki.kaspa.org Mining | Kaspa WIKI (KaspaMiner download guide for Windows)
wiki.kaspa.org Mining | Kaspa WIKI (instructions for downloading and running KaspaMiner for Linux)
github.com GitHub: Kaspa-miner README (running and using kaspad --mining-address)
github.com GitHub: Kaspa-miner releases (Stratum pool support)
github.com GitHub Discussions (CUDA 11.5+ on Windows, 11.2+ on Linux)