2.3 Desktop wallet (Feather)¶

Feather Wallet is a free, open-source, lightweight Monero desktop wallet for Linux, Windows and macOS. It has built-in Tor support, hardware wallet support (Ledger, Trezor) and connects to your own node easily.

Alternatives

The official Monero GUI wallet and the monero-wallet-cli (already installed on your node by 2.1, but don't keep wallets on the node) both work with the same node settings.

Install on your regular computer¶

In Tor Browser, download Feather for your OS from https://featherwallet.org/download/, along with its signature files.
Verify the download. The download page links the signing key and signed hashes, and explains how to check them. Don't skip this step: wallet software is the most attractive target for tampering.
Install and start Feather.

Create or restore a wallet¶

Follow the wizard. Use Password [B] for the wallet file. Write the 25-word (or 16-word Polyseed) seed on paper. Don't take a photo or save it in a file.

Restore height

When restoring an old wallet, enter the restore height (the block height or date when you created the wallet). Otherwise Feather scans the whole chain, which takes much longer.

Connect to your node¶

Open Settings → Network (menu names may vary slightly between versions).

At home (LAN)Anywhere (Tor)

Under Proxy, choose None. Your node is on your local network, so Tor isn't needed.
Under Node, choose Specify custom node(s) and add:
```
NODE_IP:18089
```
Select it and click Connect.

Under Proxy, choose Tor. Feather can start its own Tor, or use the Tor Browser's on port 9150.
Under Node, add:
```
YOUR_RPC_ONION.onion:18089
```
Select it and click Connect.

The status bar should show Synchronized, with the green dot pointing at your node, not a public one.

Lock it down

Remove the default public nodes from the list, so Feather never falls back to a node you don't control.

Check it's really your node¶

On the node, watch for your wallet's requests:

tail -f /data/monero/monerod.log | grep -i rpc

Or simply stop monerod for a moment (sudo systemctl stop monerod). Feather should lose its connection instead of quietly switching to another node. Start monerod again afterwards.

Extras (optional)¶

Use a hardware wallet

With a Ledger or Trezor, your spend key never touches your computer. In Feather's new-wallet wizard, choose to create a wallet from a hardware device and follow the steps. Connecting to your own node works exactly as above.

A view-only wallet to watch incoming payments

A view-only wallet can see incoming payments but can't spend. That's handy on a second computer. In Feather, open the wallet's keys, then create a new wallet from keys on the other computer with only the primary address and the secret view key, leaving the spend key empty. Like a full wallet, it never sends its keys to your node.

Troubleshooting¶

Feather stays on Disconnected or Connecting

The node must be fully synced: monerod status on the node shows 100%.
Proxy and address must match. With the Tor proxy on, Feather sends everything through Tor, and a LAN address like NODE_IP:18089 won't work. Use the RPC onion with Tor, and NODE_IP:18089 with no proxy.
At home, check that the node answers from your computer: curl -s http://NODE_IP:18089/get_info should print JSON.
See also the RPC troubleshooting in 2.1 and 2.2.

After restoring, the balance is 0 or too low

The restore height was set too late, so the wallet skipped the blocks with your older transactions. Restore the wallet again from its seed, with an earlier restore height (or the date you first used it). The wallet scans from that point on.