Kaspa Node Setup on Windows: A Complete Step‑by‑Step Guide

Compatible with testnets and mainnet.

1. Download and install git.

2. Download and install rust.

3. Open cmd terminal as admin and run ‘cd..’ then ‘cd..’ again or until you see just ‘C:\’. Then run ‘mkdir kaspa-testnet-12’:

4. Clone kaspad repo:

Testnet-12: clone the covpp branch of the kaspad repository:

git clone --branch covpp https://github.com/kaspanet/rusty-kaspa.git 

Mainnet:

git clone https://github.com/kaspanet/rusty-kaspa.git 

5. Download protoc.

6. Unzip protoc and put it in a folder in C:\ named ‘protoc’. (Be sure it looks like ‘C:\protoc\bin’ and not ‘C:\protoc-v-1.0\protoc\bin’)

7. Open cmd terminal as admin and run:

setx PATH “%PATH%;C:\protoc\bin”

8. Close all cmd terminals and then re-open cmd terminal and run:

protoc --version

9. protoc —version to ensure its ready to use

10. Install LLVM (includes libclang)

    Download and install the LLVM-21.1.8-win64.exe.

    During installation, make sure to check:

    ✔ Add LLVM to the system PATH for current user

11. Open CMD as admin and run:

setx LIBCLANG_PATH “C:\Program Files\LLVM\bin”

12. Verify it got installed by closing all cmd terminals and open a new cmd terminal, then run:

    clang --version

    and:

    echo %LIBCLANG_PATH%

    If both work, you’re good.

13. Build rusty-kaspa by opening cmd terminal and running:

cargo run --release --bin kaspad -- --testnet --netsuffix=12 --utxoindex

14. Open notepad and copy & paste:

@echo off

title Kaspa Testnet-12

echo Starting Kaspa Node...

C:\kaspa-testnet-12\rusty-kaspa\target\release\kaspad.exe ^

  --utxoindex ^

  --loglevel=info ^

  --appdir=C:\KaspaTestData ^

  --testnet ^

  --netsuffix=12 ^

  --disable-upnp ^

  --rpclisten=0.0.0.0:16118 ^

  --rpclisten-borsh=0.0.0.0:16119

pause

15. Click “Save as” and place it anywhere you want like the Desktop, and be sure to change it from “Text documents .txt” to “All files (*.*)”. Ensure the file name ends with “.bat”, I’ve named mine “start-testnet-12.bat”.

16. Double click the new .bat file and it should start the node

Notes on Flags

• --utxoindex → required for wallet interactions.

• --appdir=C:\KaspaTestData → where chain data is stored.

• --disable-upnp → avoids LAN device discovery.

• --rpclisten=0.0.0.0:16118 → JSON‑RPC endpoint (miners, CLI tools).

• --rpclisten-borsh=0.0.0.0:16119 → WebSocket/WRPC endpoint (wallets, browsers).