This is a guide for users who like to build a Windows-based Steem miner.  Many thanks to **@arhag** who helped me clear the last Win-build error. 

Edit: A user requested the rar files be changed to zip files.  These files are changed. Winrar is no longer needed.


Prerequisite
-------------

You will need to have a basic level of understanding of Microsoft Windows and Visual Studio compilation.  

You will need have 64bit Microsoft Windows7 and above, at least 4GB RAM and 500GB disk space. And a good Internet connection.

----------


Dependencies
-------------

First download the following software:

|                   <i class="icon-down-circled"></i>Software                       | Link            |
 --------------------------------------------- | ------------------
|Visual Studio 2013 Express (Desktop)  |           https://www.microsoft.com/en-sg/download/details.aspx?id=44914  |
|CMake 2.8.12.2  |           https://cmake.org/files/v2.8/cmake-2.8.12.2-win32-x86.zip  |
| Boost 1.58.0          | http://sourceforge.net/projects/boost/files/boost/1.58.0/boost_1_58_0.zip |
| OpenSSL         | https://www.openssl.org/source/ |
| Doxygen         | http://www.stack.nl/~dimitri/doxygen/download.html |
|ActivePerl 5.16.3 for Windows        | http://www.activestate.com/activeperl/downloads |
| Python (2.7 or 3.x)       | https://www.python.org/ |


> <i class="icon-file"></i>**Note:**

> - Make sure you have sufficient space for Visual Studio 2013. The download file itself is huge, taking up a few Gig of space. 
> - Install VS2013 and you will need to use it to compile the rest.


#### <i class="icon-right-hand"></i> Build Boost

Use this guide: http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_58_0/more/getting_started/windows.html

```
>bootstrap.bat

>b2 --build-dir=build-directory toolset=msvc-12.0  address-model=64  --build-type=complete stage
```
> <i class="icon-file"></i>**Note:**

> The compiled library is in this folder - \boost_1_58_0\stage\lib

#### <i class="icon-right-hand"></i>Build OpenSSL

Use this guide: http://p-nand-q.com/programming/windows/building_openssl_with_visual_studio_2013.html

```
>Look under the section "Building the 64-bit Release Static Library"
>Change to the source directory, for example T:\openssl-src-64
>Run perl Configure VC-WIN64A --prefix=T:\Build-OpenSSL-VC64-Release-Static. This will make T:\Build-OpenSSL-VC64-Release-Static your output directory; it should be fairly obvious how you can change that.
>Run ms\do_win64a
>Run nmake -f ms\nt.mak
>Run nmake -f ms\nt.mak install 
```
   
> **Note:**

> If you need to dive deeper, you can refer to this guide - http://developer.covenanteyes.com/building-openssl-for-visual-studio/
> 
#### <i class="icon-right-hand"></i> Build Doxygen

Use this guide: http://www.stack.nl/~dimitri/doxygen/download.html

```
>git clone https://github.com/doxygen/doxygen.git

>cd doxygen

>cmake.exe -G "Visual Studio 12 Win64"

>Open the generated Visual Studio solution file and use it to compile doxygen

```
[<img src="https://i.imgsafe.org/c61b50adfa.jpg">]
```

> Right-click on the "ALL_BUILD" project file and click Build.
```


----------


Let's Check Out Steem
-------------------

I have encountered numerous obstacles with building Steem on Visual Studio 2013, namely it does not follow C++ standards closely.  I am sharing with you a working build and possible pit holes to watch out for.  

There are some changes needed to be make to the original Steem source codes to make it compatible with Windows.  I have made the pull requests and they are pending review and approval by the developers.  For now, I place the changes in btscube repository in github.
```
>Add CMake.exe to the PATH environment variable

>L:\mkdir steem

>cd steem

>https://github.com/btscube/steem

>cd steem

>git submodule update --init --recursive


>mkdir build

>cd build

>set BOOST_ROOT=L:\boost_1_58_0

>set OPENSSL_ROOT_DIR=L:\OpenSSL 

>set DOXYGEN_EXECUTABLE=L:\doxygen\bin\doxygen.exe

>cmake.exe -G "Visual Studio 12 Win64" -DBOOST_ROOT="$BOOST_ROOT" -DOPENSSL_ROOT_DIR="$OPENSSL_ROOT" -DDOXYGEN_EXECUTABLE="$DOXYGEN_EXECUTABLE" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DLOW_MEMORY_NODE=ON ..\steem

```

You should see an output as follows:
```
-- BUILD_STEEM_TESTNET: OFF
-- LOW_MEMORY_NODE: ON
--
--              CONFIGURING FOR LOW MEMORY NODE
--
-- Using custom FindBoost.cmake
-- Boost version: 1.58.0
-- Found the following Boost libraries:
--   thread
--   date_time
--   system
--   filesystem
--   program_options
--   signals
--   serialization
--   chrono
--   unit_test_framework
--   context
--   locale
-- Using custom FindBoost.cmake
-- Boost version: 1.58.0
-- Found the following Boost libraries:
--   coroutine
-- Configuring Steem on WIN32
-- tcl INCLUDE PATH: /include
-- Could NOT find Tclsh (missing:  TCL_TCLSH)
-- Could NOT find TCL (missing:  TCL_LIBRARY)
-- Could NOT find TCLTK (missing:  TCL_LIBRARY TK_LIBRARY TK_INCLUDE_PATH)
-- Could NOT find TK (missing:  TK_LIBRARY TK_INCLUDE_PATH)
-- tcl_library: TCL_LIBRARY-NOTFOUND
-- Configuring project fc located in: L:/stm2/steem/libraries/fc
-- Configuring fc to build on Win32
-- Using custom FindBoost.cmake
-- Boost version: 1.58.0
-- Found the following Boost libraries:
--   thread
--   date_time
--   system
--   filesystem
--   program_options
--   signals
--   serialization
--   chrono
--   unit_test_framework
--   context
--   locale
--   iostreams
-- Using custom FindBoost.cmake
-- Boost version: 1.58.0
-- Found the following Boost libraries:
--   coroutine
-- Setting up OpenSSL root and include vars to L:\OpenSSL, L:\OpenSSL/include
-- Found OpenSSL: L:/openssl/lib/ssleay32.lib;L:/openssl/lib/libeay32.lib (found version "1.0.1g")
** websocketpp

=========== Used Build Configuration =============

-- ENABLE_CPP11        = ON
-- BUILD_EXAMPLES      = OFF
-- BUILD_TESTS         = OFF

-- WEBSOCKETPP_ROOT    = L:/steem/steem/libraries/fc/vendor/websocketpp
-- WEBSOCKETPP_BIN     = L:/steem/build/libraries/fc/vendor/websocketpp/bin
-- WEBSOCKETPP_LIB     = L:/steem/build/libraries/fc/vendor/websocketpp/lib
-- Install prefix      = L:/steem/steem/libraries/fc/vendor/websocketpp/install

-- WEBSOCKETPP_BOOST_LIBS        =
-- WEBSOCKETPP_PLATFORM_LIBS     =
-- WEBSOCKETPP_PLATFORM_TLS_LIBS =

-- OPENSSL_FOUND        = TRUE
-- OPENSSL_INCLUDE_DIR     = L:\OpenSSL/include
-- OPENSSL_LIBRARIES = L:/openssl/lib/ssleay32.lib;L:/openssl/lib/libeay32.lib
-- OPENSSL_VERSION = 1.0.1g

-- Could NOT find Curses (missing:  CURSES_LIBRARY CURSES_INCLUDE_PATH)
-- Readline path
-- Could NOT find Readline (missing:  Readline_INCLUDE_DIR Readline_LIBRARY)
-- eay=L:/openssl/bin/libeay32.dll
-- Finished fc module configuration...
--

             CONFIGURED FOR STEEM NETWORK


--

             CONFIGURED FOR LOW MEMORY NODE


-- Configuring done
-- Generating done
-- Build files have been written to: L:/steem/build
```

><i class="icon-file"></i> **Note:**

> - The example above uses drive L:\. You may use other path location.
> - This configuration builds steem as a low-memory node, you can opt to turn it off.
> - This configuration has "ENABLE_CONTENT_PATCHING" off. You can opt to turn it on by adding this parameter to the cmake command "-ENABLE_CONTENT_PATCHING=ON"
> - You can safely ignore the error with ncurses and readline.  They are not really needed.


----------


Let's build Steem!
-------------

CMake will generate a list of files and folders for the build.

[<img src="https://i.imgsafe.org/c4cce2e38d.jpg">]

```
>Open the Steem.sln solution
```
On the right plane, you will see a list of projects. 

[<img src="https://i.imgsafe.org/c5076145ab.jpg">]

```
>Right-click the secp256k1 project and unload it.

>Get the extra file secp256k1-zkp.zip from 
https://mega.nz/#!2Zo0GKII!sX2kIA-1hiRcjvLei1cCz7gqdCNJC9IjnUwvClrUK0o


>Extra the folder from the rar file and replace the your local subfolder eg L:\steem\steem\libraries\fc\vendor\secp256k1-zkp with it.
```
><i class="icon-file"></i> **Note:**

> - The original secp256k1 project included is slow in mining. We will use a highly optimised one from btscube github instead.

[<img src="https://i.imgsafe.org/c5f81d536f.jpg">]

```
>Right-click on the steemd project and build it

>Once it is successfully built, you will find steem.exe in the folder \build\programs\steemd\Release

```
Now we are ready to build the cli_wallet.

[<img src="https://i.imgsafe.org/c685abec51.jpg">]

```
>Right-click on the cli_wallet project and build it

>Once it is successfully built, you will find cli_wallet.exe in the folder \build\programs\cli_wallet\Release

```

#### <i class="icon-right-hand"></i> Running the newly built Steem

I will touch on running Steem in Part 2 of the guide.  You will need the following runtime components.

|                   <i class="icon-down-circled"></i>Steem Runtime Components                       | Link            |
 --------------------------------------------- | ------------------
|Visual C++ Redistributable Packages for Visual Studio 2013  |           https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=40784  |
|runtimeparts.zip|https://mega.nz/#!2Zo0GKII!sX2kIA-1hiRcjvLei1cCz7gqdCNJC9IjnUwvClrUK0o |


#### <i class="icon-right-hand"></i> Stay tuned for Part 2!