Many thanks for this mini-wiki!

Addition:

A crypto investor buddy is considering mining. I want to clarify a few preliminary items that I could not find in the Child Board “Mining Support Getting Started”:

1. Confirm: If solo mining: Full Node + mining software; mining via pool: mining software only.
2. Do GUI mining software programs exist or are they all on the BASH terminal, Powershell, etc. ?
6. Assume arbitrarily 5K miners for the entire BTC network: Does that mean that for a given block, 4,999 are NOT rewarded?

Thanks to your help, I'm better off than I thought, and I can now do my upgrade. Thanks again for sticking with me until I reached a solution.

Or maybe it means that I'm verified and good to go??

Thanks for the work you put in for such discrete details. Sorry if I have should have edited some of your lengthy quoted material above.
I had some success with your directions and some problems. I'll write the steps that I think I performed correctly, then indicate where I had problems:

OS: Win11Pro
a. manual import dev. key < your link < raw file icon < download to Desktop as davidgumberg.gpg = OK
b. rt. click, Open Kleo., appears as new certificate < certified with my newly created key = OK

Now I need to verify. First, I want to make sure we are talking about the right SHA256SUMS.asc file as there are two. I'm assuming we're talking about the hash signatures file and not the binary hash file, right? Yes, that must be correct, as we are verifying a signature. It's the file with an icon of a blue open lock.

When I right click on that and Open with Kleo. I get from Kleo a window that says that SHA256SUMS has been verified with SHA256SUMS.asc and then I get a list of 10 signatures that could not be verified and the ability to import each of them from the key.

But what happened to davidgumberg.gpg that I'm trying to verify? It seems like I'm dealing with apples and oranges and here I'm stuck.

I scrolled down about 20 pages through this tutorial regarding creating a Key Pair. I think this tutorial is way overkill for my needs. Permit me to "cut to the chase" on some basics to confirm that I'm in the ballpark:

1. From bitcoincore.org I downloaded: a. the Win exe. program for the latest iteration, 27.1, b. SHA256 binary hashes. This hash file has extension .asc and, opening with Notepad ++, I could copy/paste the exact line of binary hashes pertaining to my OS from the .exe program, b. I then used the Command Prompt  and navigated to the .exe and entered: This output a binary hash string. I then compared it with the first hash, they matched, so I know I have clearance to install the .exe   Correct so far?
2. Many people probably stop here and do the install w/o signature verification. However, I will attempt signature verification using the advice here. If I'm not successful, I'll probably do the install.
3. My understanding of signature verification: It could be that the binary hashes were hacked, so now I need to authenticate the binary hashes. To start that process, I first downloaded from the Core site the SHA256 hash signatures. Now, using kleopatra.exe I need to associate that with at least one developer's signature either from a keysaver URL or from a file download, either of which can be executed from the PGP program.

Other members hear have given links that I'll try for this purpose. Basically, I want to know, am I on the right track?

What is the approximate range of data, minimum to maximum,  as a function of dbcache in RAM? Yes, I stand corrected, the dbcache resides in volatile memory, but when a block is written, it resides in non-volatile memory. Correct? (PS. I came up with that because I'm 71 years old, and sometimes I get confused).

1. Any idea why "minus one (core)" when script threads are automatically assigned? Perhaps it's just being conservative to not impinge on other user functions?
2. I am building a Full Node glossary, which I'll transfer to a spreadsheet, and now I add the term "chainstate." Per ChatGPT 4o, is this a valid definition?
Brief: In the context of the BTC blockchain, the "chain state" refers to the current state of all unspent transaction outputs (UXTO's) at a given point in time. Extended: It is a snapshot that represents the set of all active balances and addresses that can be spent in future transactions. The chain state is continually updated as new blocks are added to the blockchain, reflecting the latest valid transactions.

Further, I see that the chain state is stored in permanent memory, I'm assuming, when a block is finalized and added to the height, but that during processing, the chain state is cached in RAM, thus the benefit of increasing RAM to increase efficiency. Agree?

Confirmed. I am talking about dbcache which I see has a GUI config. I set it for 8 GB, probably overkill, but I have lots of RAM headroom, so "no harm, no foul."
Thanks for the reminder that my Core is out of date. As you know, from my post on signature verification I am rectifying that. For two years, I ran Core 24/7 where my M.O. was "set it and forget it." Now I am digging deeper and paying attention to details.

I cannot find clear Wiki on this topic that matches where I am stuck. I am updating Core from v22.0 to 27.1.
I have confirmed SHA256SUMS: a match between the binary hash for the win.exe and the program itself, using Notepad ++ and Command Prompt, respectively.

Now I want to verify at least one developer's signature. I have kleopatra.exe ready and I can either search a keyserver or I can import a file.
For noobs the github page is "overload" and there are no steps or explanations.

I need either a server address URL that I can copy/paste into Kleopatra or some directions on exactly what I should download from github as a file to import. The raw files I tried all return errors, so I think I've not selected the proper files . . .

The Core (website) explanations of steps are generic and not suitable for first-timers.

Generally, regardless of the program, one does a settings config. after install. So I am working my
way through Core v22.0 Settings < Options:

1. What is the function of the database cache in a non-pruned node? Given plenty of non-volatile memory space, is there an ideal value?
2. Ditto for "Number of script threads verifications."

"Am I a node now?" with reference to incoming traffic ON or OFF:

@ACBbits
@ranochigo

Thank you for your clarifications. To paraphrase, you say that:
a. A Full Node is a Full Node even when incoming traffic is ZERO,
b. Even when "a" is the case, one is supporting the network's consensus mechanism.

If a and b are true, then:
1. Why bother enabling 8333 port forwarding? There must be a reason why bitcoin.org recommends

There is debate as to whether you are or are not a Full Node if you are not receiving incoming traffic. In my view, you are not an optimized Full Node if your incoming traffic is zero. But what I don't understand is this: What is the degree of support of consensus mechanism given Full Node with versus without incoming traffic? Anyone?

Here are some steps to configure incoming traffic.
1. Look on the label of your router/modem for the IP address of the device. Enter that into the address bar of your browser. The device's menu will load.
2. Go to Advanced and Port Forwarding. If your menu lacks Advanced/Port Forwarding, you must upgrade your modem. I had to do that with my telecom Altice in the Dominican Republic.
3. Enter 8333 in all fields and save. Reboot modem and computer.
4. Go to:   bitnodes.io   The site will recognize your IP address.  Scroll down a bit and click search to see if you are recognized. I am a noob running the only BTC Full Node in the Dominican Rpublic
and Haiti for several years.

According to bitnodes.io  I run the only BTC Full Node (Core v22; 24/7; on Win 11 GUI) in the Dominican Republic.  In addition I also run a DAO Full Node, bisq, which recognizes and utilizes the BTC blockchain. Maybe one day I will trade on bisq IF I can figure it out! Meanwhile, I am just enjoying the technology and supporting decentralization.

As you know, the worst thing that can happen is an unintended pc shutdown (e.g. power outage) that prevents a Core shutdown and leads to various kinds of corruption.  Having to uninstall and re-start IBD from the genesis block is a major hassle tantamount to having to do a clean OS install after an irrecoverable OS crash.

In spite of having a UPS and an AC/DC inverter for the house, I am now on IBD #3, with days to go. And the Dex DAO is suspended until I can reach current block height. 5 seconds faulty Win shutdown = Disaster.

The purpose of this post is to collate Core Recovery Options. Some of the information I have gleaned from posts in this sub-forum. But I want to start a thread that puts the general recommendations in one place as well as encouraging other members to correct me and to add more information.

The context here is for OS Windows, the GUI program:

(1) After re-booting and confirming failure of the program to start, the first step is fact finding. Even though you cannot start the program, you can still inspect debug for errors. Go to the Bitcoin folder. The filepath is: C:\Users\YourName\AppData\Roaming\Bitcoin. Open the Bitcoin directory and look for debug. Click on that.

Remember that the debug file starts at the top in the past and proceeds down to the bottom in the present, so scroll down. Look for an error and/or a suggested solution, write them down, and continue. If not self-explanatory, you could copy/paste and google or c/p to this sub-forum.

(2) If that doesn’t work, do a reindex.  Go to the Core application program in Downloads: bitcoin-22.0-win64-setup. Right click properties. Next to the Bitcoin logo you will find a writable field. Type in this flag:

. . . setup –reindex

and click Apply. I have seen instances where the flag is designated with one hypen; others with a double hypen. I think that the double hyphen is correct.

(3) Another option, and it is one I’m most unsure about, is a backup of the entire core data directory which then enables a replacement of the corrupted directory with a known good one.

This is the filepath to the directory:

C:\Users\MyName\AppData\Roaming\Bitcoin\blocks
The data directory is Bitcoin and it includes the subfolder blocks.

I have copy/pasted Bitcoin to an external drive. The question is:

Will copy/pasting the known good data directory to the corrupted one solve the corruption problem? Is it as simple as re-booting and starting fresh with the one exception that the new program will have to re-build to the current height?

Some thoughts:

a. Copy/paste or delete old and replace new?
b. Ditto EXCEPT do this only with the blocks subfolder?
c. Since the contents of the data directory are dynamic, the data increasing roughly every ten minutes, you would need to do a backup frequently. It could be that a copy/paste of new over old will replace extant files and add new.

Based on your responses, I’m most interested in finding out if a complete backup and restore is possible.

OP: SOLVED  An inbound connection has showed up, after a few hours, with a lot of data, so I must have inbound!

@nOnce

My response is embedded and I don't know if you'll see it:

YOUR CLARIFICATIONS are appreciated. While we are on the topic of Tor ports being routed automatically versus the clearnet instance of BTC Core, I need to ask you about a problem! Now that I am running bisq.network in DAO Full Node I am seeing > 10 outbound peers. BUT I receive an error messge that says that my environment is blocking Tor inbound. How do I enable Tor inbound? The error message mentioned VM as a possiblility but I'm not running a VM. I have checked bisq documentation and I cannot find details on this item.

Prune is disabled by default, so there's no need to add prune=0 manually.


OP: I messed up the text badly. Sorry. THANKS for pointing out that prune is disabled by default.

This appears as a contradiction. If bisq.network runs Tor by default, why does its documentation specify ports for mainnet, etc. Is it just a FYI that Tor uses these ports and that they do not need to be set manually? Compare this with BTC Core and 8113. If I don't set that port trigger in my router I will not have a Full Node as my "in" will be zero. And since bisq.network uses the BTC blockchain for verification, I think that setting that port is mandatory.

As a side question, do I have to do any configuration for Tor or is the process completely automated? And thanks for your help.