from [https://z.cash/download/](https://z.cash/download/), configure `zcash.conf`, download the parameters and start zcashd according to the [official documentation](https://zcash.readthedocs.io/en/latest/rtd_pages/user_guide.html).
There is currently no official zcashd build for Windows so Windows users may either [cross-compile from source on Linux](https://zcash.readthedocs.io/en/latest/rtd_pages/user_guide.html#installation) to generate the necessary zcashd executables or simply download community hosted pre-compiled executables such as those hosted by WinZEC developer [@radix42](https://github.com/radix42) at https://zcash.dl.mercerweiss.com/zcash-win-v2.0.1b.zip.
For all installations zcashd needs to run with RPC enabled (`server=1`, which is the default) and with a RPC username/password set. Add the following entries into `~/.zcash/zcash.conf` for Linux or` C:\Users\your-username\AppData\Roaming\Zcash\zcash.conf` on Windows replacing the default values with a strong password. zec-qt-wallet should detect these settings but if that fails you may edit the connection settings manually via the `File->Settings` menu.
Additionally for Windows users the Zcash parameters must be manually downloaded and placed in `C:\Users\your-username\AppData\Roaming\ZcashParams`. The following files are required (and are around ~1.7GB in total).
zec-qt-wallet is written in C++ 14, and can be compiled with g++/clang++/visual c++. It also depends on Qt5, which you can get from here: https://www.qt.io/download
Normally, zec-qt-wallet can pick up the rpcuser/rpcpassword from zcash.conf. If it doesn't for some reason, you can set the username/password in the File->Settings menu.
If you are connecting to a remote node, make sure that zcashd on the remote machine is accepting connections from your machine. The target machine's firewall needs to allow connections
from your host and also zcashd is set to be configured to accept connections from this host.
The easiest way to connect to a remote node is probably to ssh to it with port forwarding like this:
The most likely cause for this is that you are trying to spend unconfirmed funds. Unlike Bitcoin, the Zcash protocol doesn't let you spent unconfirmed funds yet. Please wait for