Counterparty Dependencies on Windows

Note: These instructions are for a 32-bit installation. This will work with both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows, and is the recommended approach.

• Python 3.5.x
• Python Win32 extensions (You must match the version with your Python version and install as an administrator, or you will get an error about missing DLL files later.)
• APSW 3.8.8.1-r1
• Pycrypto 2.6.1
• Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable Package (x86)
• OpenSSL 1.1.0
• Git (Optional) (Select “Use Git from the Windows Command Prompt”.)

In order to install on Windows 10 x64:

• Install Python 3.5
• Install Visual C++ Build Tools 2015 (stick with the default option, Windows 8.1 SDK)
• Next install an APSW binary for your architecture (although you can probably build APSW from source - see the bottom of this page for build instructions). Use the same architecture as Python 3.5 that you have installed.
• Use pip to install counterparty-lib and counterparty-cli.

Usage and notes for Windows

If you install as system administrator, Counterparty binaries counterparty-server.exe and counterparty-client.exe are installed to C:\Python35\Scripts. This path can be manually added to the system PATH variable for ease of use.

The default configuration files (for mainnet) can be used with testnet provided the --testnet option is employed when starting service and running the CLI.

Alternatively, a different set of custom configuration files that contain testnet=1 can be provided at runtime in order to use different access credentials for testnet and mainnet:

    counterparty-server --config-file E:\testing\server.testnet.conf start
    counterparty-client --config-file E:\testing\client.testnet.conf wallet

Both Python and Counterparty code can be installed by non-admin users:

• Python 3.5 will be installed to C:\Users\USER\AppData\Roaming\Python\Python35\
• Counterparty executables will be installed to the Scripts subdirectory (example: pip3 install --user counterparty-lib).

Counterparty “Federated Node” on Windows

The experimental Counterparty “Federated Node” for Windows based on Docker can be installed by following the official “Federated Node” install guide. counterparty-server and counterparty-client is sufficient for users who do not require local Counterwallet or Counterblock access.