---
title: Installing SWOP
description: Downloading the portable build, checking its SHA-256, what Windows will say the first time, and how updates work.
---

SWOP is distributed as a single portable `.exe` for Windows. There is no installer, no setup wizard and nothing written to the registry. You download the file, you run it, and deleting the file removes the program.

## Requirements

Windows 10 or Windows 11, 64-bit. The download is around 103 MB.

There is no macOS or Linux build. If you use either, the [Whales OS live USB](#whales-os) below runs SWOP without touching the operating system you have installed.

## Downloading

The download lives on the SWOP page inside your account. It is part of the subscription, so you need to be signed in.

The page shows the current version number, the file name, its size, and the SHA-256 checksum of the exact file being served.

## Checking the SHA-256

Do this before you run it. The point of a program that handles private keys is that you know what you are running, and the checksum is how you confirm the file you received is the file that was published.

Open PowerShell in the folder where the file landed and run:

```
Get-FileHash .\SWOP-2.1.4-portable.exe -Algorithm SHA256
```

Compare the result against the value on the download page. They must match character for character. If they do not, delete the file and download it again; if it still does not match, do not run it and open a support thread.

The same checksums are published in the [public repository](https://github.com/siadewhales/swop), which gives you a second place to compare against.

## The Windows warning

The first time you run SWOP, Windows SmartScreen will probably show a blue screen saying the publisher is unrecognised.

This happens because the executable is not code-signed yet. Code-signing certificates are issued to a verified legal entity and SmartScreen builds reputation for a signed publisher over time; until that is in place, every new build looks unknown to Windows.

The checksum is the substitute. A signature tells you who built the file; a checksum tells you the file was not altered. Check the checksum, and the warning is a formality.

## Running it

Double-click the file. SWOP opens as a normal window.

On first launch it asks for your language — 43 are available, including right-to-left scripts — and whether you want to work online or offline. You can change both afterwards.

Nothing is written to your system, and nothing carries over from one session to the next. Closing the window ends everything the program was holding.

## Updates

SWOP checks the site for the current version when it starts. When a newer one exists, the running copy stops and shows the download link. This is Siade Guard, described in [Security model](/docs/swop-security#siade-guard).

Updates are mandatory rather than optional. A program that handles private keys should not keep running once a fixed version exists, so SWOP is not left as a choice between an old build and a new one.

Updating means downloading the new `.exe` and checking its checksum. There is no in-place update mechanism, because there is nothing installed to update.

## Whales OS

On the same page there is a bootable USB image, around 1.6 GB.

It boots a clean Linux system from the stick with SWOP already on it. Your installed operating system is not touched, not mounted and not started. Nothing written during the session survives a reboot.

This is the strongest option available without dedicated hardware, and it exists for one job: generating a wallet on a machine that has never been online and will not be. Everything the wallet touches is a system that ceases to exist when you power off.

The image ships with a `.sha256` file. Check it before writing the image to a stick — a tampered boot image is a worse problem than a tampered application.

Using it takes three steps, as shown on the SWOP page:

1. **Download the image** and check its checksum.
2. **Flash it to a USB stick with SWOP.**
3. **Boot from the stick and operate:** restart the computer and choose the USB stick in the boot menu.

If the checksum does not match, do not boot it.

## Building from source

The source is published at [github.com/siadewhales/swop](https://github.com/siadewhales/swop). With Node.js 20 or newer on Windows:

```
npm install
npm run release:portable
```

The result appears in `release/`.

The licence permits reading, building and running the code for study, testing or security review. It does not permit modifying, redistributing or using it commercially. Full terms are in the repository.

> [!NOTE]
> A build you produce yourself will not match the published checksum — build output varies by machine, toolchain and timestamp. That is expected. Use your own build to inspect behaviour; use the official download to operate.