<p>No output is normal, it's meant to be run as a daemon. If you want to see progress however, try <code>bitcoind -printtoconsole</code> or <code>tail -f ~/.bitcoin/debug.log</code>. </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-12-05T06:07:32.057Z
2013-12-05T06:18:09.190Z
2013-12-05T06:18:09.190Z
Anonymous
<p>You should be using something like so to run bitcoind as a daemon</p>

<pre><code>bitcoind -daemon
</code></pre>

<p>And then, you can check on it like so:</p>

<pre><code>bitcoind getinfo
</code></pre>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-12-05T09:18:44.033Z
All I get is "error: couldn't connect to server"
puk
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-12-05T10:22:04.427Z
Scratch that, it is magically working now. I guess it needed time...
puk
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-12-05T15:01:47.883Z
@puk yea, I forgot about that. Sometimes it can take a minute or two to warm up
Earlz
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-12-05T15:21:12.920Z
Newer builds use `bitcoin-cli` to connect to the daemon rather than commands with `bitcoind`. You can pass `-rpcwait` to this to stop calls failing when the daemon is still checking it's files and starting up.
Anonymous
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-12-05T07:09:15.903Z
2013-12-05T07:09:15.903Z
Earlz
<p>I do realize that in the early stages bitcoin has to download a lot (<a href="https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/9816/how-long-does-it-take-to-download-the-blockchain-its-been-over-a-day-and-still">How long does it take to download the blockchain?</a>), however, I assume this is like <code>wget</code> or <code>rsync</code> where it displays the progress. Right now, when I issue the command <code>bitcoind</code>, it just hangs and outputs nothing. Could this be due to closed ports? Is it sufficient that I opened ports on my Ubuntu router, or must I forward those ports? Alternatively, is there a command line parameter I have to issue to get the output of bitcoind?</p>

<bitcoind>
bitcoind just hangs (no output at all)
puk
# bitcoind just hangs (no output at all)

(Asked by: username_0 on 2013-12-05)

I do realize that in the early stages bitcoin has to download a lot ([How long does it take to download the blockchain?](https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/9816/how-long-does-it-take-to-download-the-blockchain-its-been-over-a-day-and-still)), however, I assume this is like `wget` or `rsync` where it displays the progress. Right now, when I issue the command `bitcoind`, it just hangs and outputs nothing. Could this be due to closed ports? Is it sufficient that I opened ports on my Ubuntu router, or must I forward those ports? Alternatively, is there a command line parameter I have to issue to get the output of bitcoind?

**Tags:** bitcoind


---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2013-12-05. Score: 6

No output is normal, it's meant to be run as a daemon. If you want to see progress however, try `bitcoind -printtoconsole` or `tail -f ~/.bitcoin/debug.log`.


---

### Answer by username_2 on 2013-12-05. Score: 4

You should be using something like so to run bitcoind as a daemon

```
bitcoind -daemon

```

And then, you can check on it like so:

```
bitcoind getinfo

```

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: All I get is "error: couldn't connect to server"  
> **username_0**: Scratch that, it is magically working now. I guess it needed time...  
> **username_2**: @username_0 yea, I forgot about that. Sometimes it can take a minute or two to warm up  
> **username_1**: Newer builds use `bitcoin-cli` to connect to the daemon rather than commands with `bitcoind`. You can pass `-rpcwait` to this to stop calls failing when the daemon is still checking it's files and starting up.  

---

