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authorMatt Corallo <matt@bluematt.me>2011-07-02 23:08:35 +0200
committerMatt Corallo <matt@bluematt.me>2011-07-13 02:11:25 +0200
commitb6b039d84ed3d1616cb97ee45ff24ec343efbed0 (patch)
tree277af9533c00e144fb2abe59b750a213654ab2cf /doc
parentfbeb5fb4835b9c58baec3e6331b0dd5bbdca67f1 (diff)
Add Wallet Encryption section to README
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@@ -24,6 +24,44 @@ Unpack the files into a directory and run:
bin/64/bitcoin (GUI, 64-bit)
bin/64/bitcoind (headless, 64-bit)
+
+Wallet Encryption
+-----------------
+Bitcoin supports native wallet encryption so that people who steal your wallet
+file don't automatically get access to all of your Bitcoins. In order to enable
+this feature, chose "Encrypt Wallet" from the Options menu. You will be prompted
+to enter a passphrase, which will be used as the key to encrypt your wallet and
+will be needed every time you wish to send Bitcoins. If you lose this passphrase,
+you will lose access to spend all of the bitcoins in your wallet, no one, not even
+the Bitcoin developers can recover your Bitcoins. This means you are responsible
+for your own security, store your password in a secure location and do not forget
+it.
+
+Remember that the encryption built into bitcoin only encrypts the actual keys
+which are required to send your bitcoins, not the full wallet. This means that
+someone who steals your wallet file will be able to see all the addresses which
+belong to you, as well as the relevant transactions, you are only protected from
+someone spending your coins.
+
+It is recommended that you backup your wallet file before you encrypt your wallet.
+To do this, close the Bitcoin client and copy the wallet.dat file from ~/.bitcoin/
+on Linux, /Users/(user name)/Application Support/Bitcoin/ on Mac OSX, and
+%APPDATA%/Bitcoin/ on Windows (that is /Users/(user name)/AppData/Roaming/Bitcoin on
+Windows Vista and 7 and /Documents and Settings/(user name)/Application Data/Bitcoin
+on Windows XP). Once you have copied that file to a safe location, reopen the
+Bitcoin client and Encrypt your wallet. If everything goes fine, delete the backup
+and enjoy your encrypted wallet. Note that once you encrypt your wallet, you will
+never be able to go back to a version of the Bitcoin client older than 0.4.
+
+Keep in mind that you are always responsible for you own security. All it takes is a
+slightly more advanced wallet-stealing trojan which installs a keylogger to steal
+your wallet passphrase as you enter it in addition to your wallet file and you have
+lost all your Bitcoins. Wallet encryption cannot keep you safe if you do not practice
+good security, such as running up-to-date antivirus software, only entering your
+wallet passphrase in the Bitcoin client and using the same passphrase only as your
+wallet passphrase.
+
+
See the documentation at the bitcoin wiki:
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Main_Page