Bitcoin’s Testnet & BitBox on Windows 10

Do you want to explore the advanced features of the BitBox, but prefer not to test new features with your own bitcoin? Use Testnet instead! Testnet is an alternative blockchain which simulates the bitcoin blockchain (“Mainnet”) using “Test Bitcoin”, or TBTC. You can configure your BitBox Desktop App to access the Testnet, load up your wallet with TBTC for free, and try out all the options available to you with Mainnet. Just remember, TBTC have no value and are used for testing purposes only.

Configure your BitBox Desktop App to access Testnet

For this example, we are using the Desktop App 4.0.0 running on Windows 10. To create a launch icon that accesses Testnet only, right-click on the Desktop App icon and select “Create alias”. You may want to rename the alias to something like “BitBox Testnet”:

Figure 1: Create a BitBox launch icon alias

Then right-click on the alias and modify the “Target” field and click “OK” (between the quotes use the actual path where your Desktop App executable is stored — it is there by default, just add -testnet at the end):

“C:\Users\carlf\Desktop\Desktop App Beta 4\BitBox-4.0.0-win64\BitBox-4.0.0\BitBox.exe” -testnet

Figure 2: Edit the “Target” field in order to access Testnet

Accessing Testnet
To access Testnet, plug your BitBox into a USB port and double click on the alias icon you just created. The login screen will appear as usual. Enter your PIN and press enter. You are now accessing Testnet!

Figure 3: Accessing Testnet with the BitBox

In this example, we have already received Test Bitcoin (TBTC) and have made a few transactions, in one transaction we sent TBTC to another Testnet user, in the second we sent TBTC to ourselves. Note that to differentiate Testnet from Mainnet, “TBTC” is used everywhere in the interface, and the word “Testnet” appears in each account name. You can now try out all features that the BitBox offers: send and receive, transfer between accounts, try out Coin Control (refer to our previous blog about the BitBox Coin Control feature).

How to acquire Test Bitcoin

To get TBTC, visit the Bitcoin Testnet coin faucet, such as Sandbox at https://testnet.manu.backend.hamburg/faucet

Figure 4: You can send yourself TBTC for free via the Bitcoin Testnet Faucet

Enter a receive address generated by your BitBox in Testnode mode (via the “Receive” button):

Copy and paste the receive address, pass the “I’m not a robot” test, and click on “Send me some coins”.

Success!

Like real Bitcoin, there is a finite number of Test Bitcoin, so when you are done testing, please send them back to the address provided.

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