Everything you need to go from bare metal to mining in under a minute.
Get your first rig mining in 3 steps. No command line required.
Log in to ZenOS and go to Menu → Download. Your ISO is personalized — it contains your unique token so rigs automatically register to your account when they boot.
Use Balena Etcher (works on Windows, Linux, and macOS) to write the ISO to any USB drive. Alternatively, Rufus works great on Windows. Minimum 1GB USB drive recommended.
Plug the USB into your rig and boot from it. Wait 1–2 minutes, the rig appears in your dashboard with a pulsating orange SETUP button. Click it, select your pool,wallet and rigname then hit Save & Start
On the first run, the rig performs automatic tuning, which takes approx 2 minutes to complete. Once finished, the configuration is saved and autotune will not run again unless the rig is re-configured.
ZenOS is a lightweight, bootable Linux operating system purpose-built for CPU mining. Here's the flow:
Boot from USB — ZenOS loads entirely into RAM. No installation to disk, no changes to your existing OS. Pull the USB out and your machine is untouched.
Auto-Registration — Each ISO contains your unique token. When a rig boots, it phones home to the ZenOS server and registers itself under your account. No manual pairing needed.
Mining Engine — Under the hood, ZenOS runs ZenRX, an open-source CPU miner optimized for RandomX algorithms (used by Monero and compatible coins).
Real-Time Control — The web dashboard gives you full remote control: start, stop, reboot, reconfigure, and monitor every rig. All state is stored server-side, so configs persist across reboots.
Normal View — Full rig cards with all metrics, controls, and status indicators. Best for monitoring a handful of rigs.
Compact View — Condensed layout showing key stats in a table-like format. Ideal when managing large fleets.
Total Rigs — Number of rigs registered to your account (configured + unconfigured).
Online Rigs — Rigs currently active and reporting. A rig is considered online if it reported within the last 30 seconds.
XMR Price — Live Monero price pulled from public APIs for quick reference.
Green — Online and mining. Everything is nominal.
Orange — Offline. Last seen more than 30 seconds ago. Could be a network issue, power loss, or intentional shutdown.
Pulsating Orange SETUP — This rig has booted but isn't configured yet. Click to assign a pool and wallet.
Toggle between Dark and Light mode using the theme button in the menu. Your preference is saved locally.
Each rig card has a set of control buttons. Here's what they do:
Start or stop the miner process without rebooting the rig. Useful for quick pauses (e.g., switching pools or debugging).
Open the rig configuration panel. Select your mining pool, wallet, and worker name. Changes take effect immediately after saving.
Restart the entire rig remotely. Mining resumes automatically after boot using the saved configuration. Good for applying system-level changes or clearing stuck states.
Power off the rig completely. You'll need physical access to turn it back on. Use this when you need to move hardware or perform maintenance.
Remove the rig from your dashboard. If the rig is still running and boots again, it will re-register automatically.
Each rig reports several metrics in real time. Here's what they mean and what to watch for:
Your current mining speed in kilohashes per second. This stabilizes after ~5 minutes. Higher is better, but the number depends entirely on your CPU model and core count.
Valid shares submitted to the pool. These are the shares that earn you mining rewards. This number should steadily climb.
Invalid or stale shares. Should be near zero. If rejections exceed 5%, check your network connection or try a different pool.
Current CPU temperature. Safe: under 75°C. Warning: 75-85°C (consider improving cooling). Danger: over 85°C (risk of thermal throttling or hardware damage).
Connection security indicator. Blue = standard pool connection. Green = encrypted TLS connection. TLS is recommended for privacy and data integrity.
Memory optimization status for RandomX. If red Huge pages failed to allocate — this significantly reduces hashrate. Fix: reboot the rig, or check that your system has at least 8GB of RAM. Dual-channel memory (e.g., 2×4GB) is strongly recommended.
CPU-level optimization. If red MSR tuning failed — expect lower hashrate. Fix: reboot the rig. If the issue persists, your CPU or BIOS may not support MSR writes.
How long the miner process has been running since last start. Useful for spotting unexpected restarts or crashes.
The mining pool this rig is currently connected to.
Go to Menu → WALLETS to add, edit, or remove wallet addresses. Each wallet needs a name (for your reference) and the actual wallet address. You can add multiple wallets and assign different wallets to different rigs.
You can choose pool from ZenOS predefined pools in SETUP and AUTOSETUP menu.
Wait 1-2 minutes after boot. Verify the ethernet cable is connected and the rig has network access. ZenOS requires a wired connection — Wi-Fi is not supported. Check that the USB was flashed correctly.
Allow 5 minutes for the auto-tuner to optimize. Check CPU temperature (throttling starts around 85°C). Verify that HGP and MSR indicators are not red. Ensure at least 8GB RAM is installed, preferably dual-channel (2×4GB or 2×8GB).
Usually a network issue. Check cable connections and switch/router stability. Try a different mining pool closer to your location. Reboot the rig as a first step.
Verify your wallet address is valid. Try rebooting the rig. Check the pool address is correct and the pool is online.
The rig hasn't reported in over 30 seconds. Check power supply and network cable. If the rig was intentionally shut down, it needs physical restart. Try rebooting from the dashboard if the rig is still powered on.
Reboot the rig first — this resolves most cases. For HGP: ensure 8GB+ RAM, dual-channel preferred. For MSR: some CPUs or BIOS configurations don't support MSR writes. Check if your BIOS has an option to enable them.
Enter BIOS/UEFI settings and set USB as the first boot device. Disable Secure Boot if enabled. Try a different USB port (prefer USB 2.0 ports for boot compatibility). Re-flash the USB with Balena Etcher or Rufus.
Cooling — Keep CPU temperatures under 75°C. Use adequate case airflow, aftermarket coolers, or water cooling for sustained mining. High temps reduce component lifespan and trigger thermal throttling.
Network — Always use wired ethernet. Wi-Fi introduces latency and packet loss that leads to rejected shares. A stable 10Mbps connection is more than enough per rig.
Memory — RandomX is memory-intensive. Use at least 8GB of RAM in dual-channel configuration (2 sticks) for best hashrate. Single-stick setups will mine, but at reduced performance.
Security — Use a strong, unique password for your ZenOS account. Always verify wallet addresses before saving — there's no undo for mined rewards sent to a wrong address.
Maintenance — Clean dust from rigs monthly. Dust buildup is the #1 cause of overheating. Monitor temps through the dashboard daily, especially in summer months.
Scaling — For fleets of 10+ rigs, use AUTOSETUP to configure them all at once. Choose "Multiple Workers" mode so each rig gets a unique worker name for per-rig tracking on your pool.
Backups — Keep your wallet addresses and seed phrases stored securely offline. ZenOS stores your wallet addresses server-side, but you should always have an independent backup.
ZenOS is built on trust. The mining engine that runs on your hardware is fully open source:
Why open source matters: You're running this software on your hardware, mining to your wallet. You deserve to know exactly what code is executing.
The 1% fee: ZenOS charges a flat 1% mining fee to sustain the platform (server hosting, development, support). This is handled transparently — enable Debug Mode in the miner to see exactly when and how the fee is applied. No hidden dev fees, no surprises.
Any coin that uses the RandomX algorithm. Monero (XMR) is the primary one, but other RandomX-based coins are supported depending on pool availability.
No. ZenOS boots entirely from USB and runs in RAM. Your existing operating system and data are completely untouched. Remove the USB and boot normally.
No. ZenOS requires a wired ethernet connection. This is a deliberate design choice — Wi-Fi introduces too much latency and instability for reliable mining.
Any x86_64 CPU with AES-NI support, 8GB RAM (dual-channel recommended), and a 1GB+ USB drive.
No. ZenOS is CPU-only by design. RandomX is specifically optimized for CPU mining, making it one of the few profitable CPU-minable algorithms.
When miner updates are ready, you will be notified via the ZenOS UI, and you only need to reboot your rigs to receive the new updates.
Yes. Since ZenOS boots from USB, just change your boot order to boot from USB when mining, and from your hard drive when you want your regular OS. Nothing is installed or modified.