What is my seed?
Think about your seed as the combined username and password that grants access to your bank account. If anyone obtains your seed, they can login and access your funds.
Seed: You must generate a random 81 character seed using only A-Z and the number 9. It is imperative that your seed be an 81 character random assortment of A-Z and 9. Use one of the options below to generate your seed:
Depending on your operating system, you can use onboard tools to generate such a seed:
Linux - Terminal: https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/an-introduction-to-the-linux-terminal
cat /dev/urandom |tr -dc A-Z9|head -c${1:-81}
Mac - Terminal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminal_(macOS)
cat /dev/urandom |LC_ALL=C tr -dc 'A-Z9' | fold -w 81 | head -n 1
Windows - PowerShell command? The PowerShell method has been demonstrated to be insecure. Do not use it.
If you don't know how to run the above commands, then you can try a seed generator:
EDIT: As of January 22, 2018, it is apparent that some online seed generators (third party websites that generate 81 character strings of text) have been compromised, which has led to many stolen balances. In light of this situation, this github document is urging the complete AVOIDANCE of online seed generators. Please do not use a website to generate your seed.
- Open this page in your browser --> EDIT: THIS LINK HAS BEEN REMOVED (based on knarz's program << EDITED TO REMOVE LINK)
Turn off your Internet connection (go offline)
Follow the instructions on the page to generate a seed
Once a seed is generated, change a few of the generated letters (as an extra security precaution)
Save your new seed in a secure location (example: a secure password manager, such as KeePass)
Done.
Visit "How Safe is my Seed?" for more information.