Installation Guides

In this section, you will learn how to install Particl Marketplace, additional software, and how to backup your data.

Particl Marketplace

To get started with Particl Marketplace, you need to download and install the Particl Desktop client software. Its installation is very easy and won’t take you more than a few minutes!

Download

Choose the correct version to download.

Windows file version

Mostly you will be fine by downloading the particl-desktop-X.X.X-win.exe installer file. It supports any version of Windows.

Download sources

Attention

NEVER download Particl clients from 3rd party websites! Bad actors are constantly trying to distribute malware-infected versions of popular cryptocurrency wallets to steal your funds! So always download from official sources only.

Installation process

Windows installation

  1. Verify the checksum of the file.

  2. Open the downloaded particl-desktop-X.X.X-win.exe installer file.

  3. Follow the installation instructions

  4. An executable file will be added to your desktop and into the application launcher menu. Use this to start Particl Desktop.

  5. Assign allow-rules to your computer`s firewall and antivirus software. On a standard Windows installation, Microsoft Defender pops up.

Ignoring step 5 might cause a degraded blockchain sync experience and everything takes longer than expected or might cause communications problems. If you are unsure how to apply rules to your firewall and anti-virus software, please review the vendor’s documentation of your installed programs.

Congratulations! You have installed Particl Marketplace.

Hint

Loading and Syncing Times

Because the Particl Marketplace’s content is hosted on distributed Networks for payments and exchange, the marketplace may take a few minutes to sync. It may take even a few more minutes to load all marketplace listings fully. This is to be normally expected and will get much faster as the Particl team improves the marketplace.

Checksum verification

Obtain the checksum code from the official download sources for the downloaded file. Each file has its own checksum.

Being your own bank with blockchain-related products shifts some responsibilities to you. One of them is to take security seriously. Please make sure that the file you’ve downloaded isn’t compromised in any way by verifying its checksum.

Checksum verification command with terminal

  1. Open Windows Explorer

  2. Press SHIFT ⇧ + MOUSE-RIGHT ◳ on the Download folder and choose Open command window here or Open power shell here.

  3. Type the following command into the terminal while changing filename for the real and complete filename of the downloaded file and hit ENTER ↵.

    CertUtil -hashfile filename SHA256

Once that is done, compare the checksum output you’ve received in the step above with the checksum stated in the official download sources. The screenshot below shows you an example of this checksum highlighted from the GitHub release notes Verification section.

Particl Marketplace installation checksum highlighted image

Particl Marketplace installation checksum highlighted image

Troubleshooting checksum mismatch

If the output does not match, try to download the file again. Verify that you did not unzip or rename the file. In some cases, it might be possible that antivirus software may alter files, be sure to have a solution on your own in that case.

Attention

If all attempts fail to have a matching number, do not install Particl Desktop unless you know what you are doing and try to reach out to Particl Support for assistance.

Starting Particl Desktop

You have two options: startup with the launcher icon (recommended) or a terminal command.

Startup with Launcher

Launching Particl Desktop with Launcher

  1. Open your Start Menu by pressing WIN ⊞ Key

  2. Start typing Particl

  3. Click on the Particl Desktop launcher icon.

Startup from Terminal

Sometimes it is handy to start Particl Marketplace from the terminal, aka command line. It gives you plenty of output and information about what is happening in the background.

Launching Particl Desktop from terminal

  1. Open Windows Explorer

  2. Press SHIFT ⇧ + MOUSE-RIGHT ◳ on the Installation folder (e.g., C:/Program Files/Particl) and choose Open command window here or Open power shell here.

  3. Type the following command into the terminal and hit ENTER ↵.

    “Particl Desktop.exe”

Backup Account and Data

File locations

After a successful installation of Particl Desktop, the main application has been installed into the standard location of your operating system. Once the Particl Desktop is run the first time, it will create user-specific data within your user account. These include settings, log files, wallets, and the blockchain data itself. From time to time, it is a reasonable measure to backup these data to an encrypted external resource.

## Windows paths

"%UserProfile%\AppData\Roaming\Particl"
"%userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\particl-bot"
"%userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\particl-market"
"%userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\Particl Desktop"

See also

Other sources for useful or more in-depth information:

Install Tor (Network Privacy)

Attention

The only privacy setting not turned on by default is the ability to keep your IP address anonymous when using Particl. This is done by routing your client’s connection through Tor, a networking protocol designed to anonymize your IP address.

Danger

Always make sure your Tor is up-to-date with the latest version. This is a critical requirement that, if not followed, can heavily compromise your online privacy and potentially let other people spy on your online activity.

Tor isn’t enabled by default on Particl because it requires extra care from you to be truly safe. It’s a network that runs independently from Particl on your computer and needs you to keep critical security considerations in mind.

To make sure you don’t download a compromised version of Tor, always download it from their official website. What good would updating Tor do to you if it lets the door wide open to hackers? To avoid any man-in-the-middle-attack, always verify the cryptographic signature of the Tor files you download, even if it’s from Tor’s official website. To do so, follow this tutorial on how to verify Tor signatures written by the Tor team itself.

The Tor network can be installed using three different methods. Always make sure that, regardless of the installation method you choose, Tor is running the latest version before using it.

Using the Tor browser

  1. Download the Tor Browser and install it on your computer.

  2. Launch the Tor browser.

  3. Connect to the Tor network by clicking on Connect or configure your connection parameters by clicking on Configure.

  4. Once connected, leave the Tor Browser running in the background of your computer.

Using the Tor daemon

  1. Download the Tor Browser and install it on your computer.

  2. Open Windows Explorer and navigate to the Tor installation directory (e.g., C:/Program Files/Tor Browser).

  3. Go into the Tor directory, hold down SHIFT ⇧ and click with MOUSE-RIGHT ◳.

  4. Open Open command window here from the menu.

  5. In the terminal that pops up, type:

    tor.exe –service install

  6. Verify that Tor service is running, type:

    sc query "Tor" | find "RUNNING"

Enable Tor on Particl Desktop

Enable Tor support for Particl Desktop with the proper proxy instructions. Either you add a special argument to the command you use to launch Particl Desktop, or you make it a permanent setting.

Enable by default from GUI

  1. Open Particl Desktop and click on Particl Desktop Settings in the bottom left corner

  2. Go to Core network connection and put into the Connect via Proxy field 127.0.0.1:9150 if you are using the Tor Browser OR 127.0.0.1:9050 if you are using the Tor daemon

  3. Hit Save changes and restart Particl Desktop

Enable by default from commandline

  1. Open the configuration file:

    nano ~/.particl/particl.conf

  2. If you are using Tor Browser add this line to the configuration file:

    proxy=127.0.0.1:9150

    If you are using Tor daemon add this line to the configuration file:

    proxy=127.0.0.1:9050

Note

From now on, Particl Desktop will try to connect with the settings you made. That means if Tor is not running on your machine, then Particl Desktop has no access to the internet.

Enable with terminal startup

Launching Particl With Tor

  1. Open Windows Explorer and press SHIFT ⇧ + MOUSE-RIGHT ◳ on the Installation folder (e.g., C:/Program Files/Particl) and choose Open command window here or Open power shell here.

  2. If you are using Tor Browser, type following commands into the terminal and hit ENTER ↵.

    “Particl Desktop.exe” -proxy=127.0.0.1:9150

    If you are using Tor daemon, type following commands into the terminal and hit ENTER ↵.

    “Particl Desktop.exe” -proxy=127.0.0.1:9050

Using Tor as a Hidden Service

On Linux, you can also run Tor as a hidden service and connect your Particl Desktop to it. This allows other people to use your node as an entry or exit point, making the Tor network more decentralized and private.

  1. Open a Terminal and install the Tor network by typing:

    sudo apt-get install tor

  2. Define that you want to use Tor as a hidden service by modifying the Tor config file. To do so, type:

    sudo nano /etc/tor/torrc

    In the config file, add these two lines:

    HiddenServiceDir /var/lib/tor/particl-service/
HiddenServicePort 51738 127.0.0.1:51738

    Save and exit the nano file editor by pressing CTRL+c, then type y followed by ENTER ↵ to save the changes.

  3. Restart Tor by typing into the terminal

    sudo service tor restart

  4. Find your hidden service’s IP address (.onion) by typing (For the purpose of this tutorial, we’ll refer to this address as [yourexternalip].onion):

    sudo cat /var/lib/tor/particl-service/hostname

  5. Modify your Particl config file to route its connection through your hidden service by typing:

    touch ~/.particl/particl.conf && nano ~/.particl/particl.conf

    Then add these lines to the file and don`t forget to set yourexternalip.onion

    externalip=[yourexternalip].onion
onion=127.0.0.1:9050
addnode=7vusex6gv5eerqi2.onion
addnode=quf7tm4gk3xn3aee.onion
addnode=46fvsrrq75dx5vq4.onion
addnode=ciikdjtoop7l6p6h.onion
addnode=frlfghlielxq2ncy.onion
addnode=partusq5qad6jd2c.onion
addnode=x6fxdwpq2krxzmr3.onion
addnode=amu2ck7lyw26fiqs.onion
addnode=kfyopkn3shigcneh.onion
onlynet=tor
listen=1
bind=127.0.0.1:51738
maxconnections=30

    Save and exit the nano file editor by pressing CTRL + c, then type y followed by ENTER ↵ to save the changes.

Important Considerations

Keep Tor up-to-date

Tor needs to always be updated to the latest version. This is a critical requirement that, if not followed, can heavily compromise your online privacy. Tor updates contain very important security fixes to keep your identity confidential.

As the network itself is widely targeted by hackers due to the privacy it provides, unpatched versions of Tor are considered unsafe to use. If exploited, a compromised version of Tor may leak your true identity and even let others spy on your online activity.

Updating Tor

  1. Open the Tor Browser

  2. Check if the browser prompts you to update the a newer version.