Can I solo mine using monerod's built-in miner?

Yes, you can solo mine Monero using the miner built into monerod, the software that runs a Monero node. Once your node is fully synced, you can tell it to mine with your computer’s processor and send any block reward you find to your wallet. You do not need a mining pool, but a typical home computer may go a very long time without earning anything.

What you need before starting

A node checks Monero transactions and blocks against the network’s rules. Your monerod node must finish syncing—downloading and checking the blockchain’s history—before you start mining.

You will need:

• An up-to-date copy of monerod from a trusted Monero release.
• A synced node with a working internet connection.
• Your own Monero wallet’s primary receiving address.
• A computer you own or have explicit permission to use for mining.

Use your wallet’s primary address, which starts with 4, rather than a subaddress. Your wallet does not need to stay open while you mine. The miner needs only your public receiving address, never your wallet password or secret recovery words.

How to start and stop the miner

With monerod running interactively, enter this command at its console prompt:

start_mining YOUR_PRIMARY_MONERO_ADDRESS 2

Replace YOUR_PRIMARY_MONERO_ADDRESS with your actual address. The 2 tells the miner to use two CPU threads, meaning two streams of work on your processor. It is a starting point, not a requirement.

To display your mining speed, enter:

show_hr

This shows your hashrate: how many mining calculations your computer performs each second. You can also enter status to check the node’s general state.

To stop mining without shutting down your node, enter:

stop_mining

These are commands for the monerod console, not commands to enter directly into your operating system’s terminal while no node is running. Enter help in that console if you need to check the options available in your installed version.

What happens if you find a block

This is genuine solo mining. You compete to find a valid block yourself, rather than sharing work and rewards through a pool.

If your node finds a block that the network accepts, its mining reward goes to the address you supplied. Monero’s current base reward is 0.6 XMR per block, plus the transaction fees included in that block. Newly mined coins remain locked for 60 blocks—roughly two hours at Monero’s average block pace.

There are no pool shares, pool payout thresholds, or smaller regular payments. If you do not find a block, you earn nothing from that mining work.

What to expect from your computer

The built-in miner uses RandomX, Monero’s mining method designed to favor CPUs. Mining can increase electricity use, heat, and fan noise. Start with a small thread count and watch your computer’s temperature and responsiveness.

The built-in miner is convenient, but dedicated mining software may deliver better performance. Check a live mining calculator using your measured hashrate to estimate your odds. Any estimated time to find a block is an average, not a countdown or promise.

The bottom line

You can solo mine directly through monerod with a synced node, your primary wallet address, and start_mining. It is a straightforward way to try mining, but you should expect uncertain rewards—not steady income.