user91551: Just built no gui, no wallet bitcoin on WSL Ubuntu Bionic, Bitcoin v0.17.1.
I want to experiment with bitcoin-cli.
I followed recommendation to run bitcoind -princonsole and it says:
Using config file 

/home/<myusername>/.bitcoin/bitcoin.conf

This file doesn't exist.
I followed some dense discussion on how should this behave to make dumb users happier on github, supposedly there were some merges, but frankly, I have no clue what was the final conclusion and what is or isn't in 0.17.1
Eventually, I understood that datadir must be specified first.
But that doesn't work for me.
~/bitcoin$ bitcoind -datadir /mnt/d/blockchain -txindex
Error: Specified data directory "" does not exist.

/mnt/d/blockchain definitely exists.
Thanks for any help.
 Many thanks to Nate Eldredge for pointing out a dumb error of mine and hope someone can help parsing and shedding some light on this:
https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/issues/10746
Blockchain download has started and now I am waiting for the end result.

user91392: On Ubuntu your bitcoin.conf file should be located at /home/username/.bitcoin/bitcoin.conf
If that file do not exist create it and fill with standard parameters like:
server=1
listen=1
daemon=1
rpcuser=youusername
rpcpassword=yourpassword
rpcallowip=your ip or the rpc commands sending machine


user5757: The syntax should be
bitcoind -datadir=/mnt/d/blockchain -txindex

Note the = sign.
This will look for the bitcoin.conf file at /mnt/d/blockchain/bitcoin.conf and will store the blockchain, databases, wallet files, etc, all in /mnt/d/blockchain.  With this option, Bitcoin Core shouldn't read or write anything in ~/.bitcoin at all.

91551: <p>Just built no gui, no wallet bitcoin on WSL Ubuntu Bionic, Bitcoin v0.17.1.</p>

<p>I want to experiment with bitcoin-cli.</p>

<p>I followed recommendation to run bitcoind -princonsole and it says:
Using config file </p>

<blockquote>
  <p><code>/home/&lt;myusername&gt;/.bitcoin/bitcoin.conf</code></p>
</blockquote>

<p>This file doesn't exist.</p>

<p>I followed some dense discussion on how should this behave to make dumb users happier on github, supposedly there were some merges, but frankly, I have no clue what was the final conclusion and what is or isn't in 0.17.1</p>

<p>Eventually, I understood that datadir must be specified first.</p>

<p>But that doesn't work for me.</p>

<pre><code>~/bitcoin$ bitcoind -datadir /mnt/d/blockchain -txindex
Error: Specified data directory "" does not exist.
</code></pre>

<p>/mnt/d/blockchain definitely exists.</p>

<p>Thanks for any help.</p>

<p> Many thanks to <strong>Nate Eldredge</strong> for pointing out a dumb error of mine and hope someone can help parsing and shedding some light on this:</p>

<p><a href="https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/issues/10746" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/issues/10746</a></p>

<p>Blockchain download has started and now I am waiting for the end result.</p>
 91392: <p>On Ubuntu your bitcoin.conf file should be located at <code>/home/username/.bitcoin/bitcoin.conf</code></p>

<p>If that file do not exist create it and fill with standard parameters like:</p>

<pre><code>server=1
listen=1
daemon=1
rpcuser=youusername
rpcpassword=yourpassword
rpcallowip=your ip or the rpc commands sending machine
</code></pre>
 5757: <p>The syntax should be</p>

<pre><code>bitcoind -datadir=/mnt/d/blockchain -txindex
</code></pre>

<p>Note the <code>=</code> sign.</p>

<p>This will look for the <code>bitcoin.conf</code> file at <code>/mnt/d/blockchain/bitcoin.conf</code> and will store the blockchain, databases, wallet files, etc, all in <code>/mnt/d/blockchain</code>.  With this option, Bitcoin Core shouldn't read or write anything in <code>~/.bitcoin</code> at all.</p>
