Trezor.io/Start setup: the seven stages, done properly

1. 1

   Check the box and the device before anything is powered on

   A hardware wallet is only as trustworthy as the chain of hands between the factory and your desk. Two minutes of inspection here rules out the most common tampering stories.

   • Look at the seal. The packaging should be intact, with no re-taped flap, no torn hologram and no glue residue. A box that has clearly been opened is a box to return.
   • Check what is inside. A device, the cable, a leaflet and a blank recovery card. Nothing should contain seed words: not a card, not a sticker, not a folded note. Pre-written words mean someone else knows your future keys.
   • Look the device over. Cracks, scratches, a scuffed display or a case that looks prised apart are reasons to ask the seller for a replacement rather than “test it anyway”.
   • Confirm the cable is the one from the box. Charge-only cables are the single most common reason a perfectly good device never appears in the app.
   • Where you bought it matters. The official store and listed resellers are the safe route. Marketplace resale is where devices with a wallet already on them tend to surface.

   2–3 minutesNo power neededSame for every model

   If the device arrives with a wallet on it, stop

   A new device should have no wallet, no PIN and no seed. If yours already holds one, or came with words written down, do not add funds and do not “reset it and carry on” — ask the seller or the official support channel to exchange it.

2. 2

   Install the app from the address you typed yourself

   Setup happens through the manufacturer's own application rather than a bundle of scripts: the desktop app for Windows, macOS and Linux, the web app that runs inside a browser, or the mobile app for iOS and Android. Which one you choose mostly decides how you will use the wallet later.

   • Desktop application — the most complete option: firmware updates, accounts, sending, settings and an update check in one place.
   • Web app in the browser — nothing to install, useful on a machine you do not control. Some browser and system combinations need a small helper utility to talk to the device over USB; the desktop app never does.
   • Mobile app — convenient for balances and light use away from a desk, more limited than the desktop app.

   Whichever you pick, arrive at it the long way round: type the address into the address bar, or use a bookmark created before you bought the device. The download page guide has the install notes per operating system and the tells of a lookalike page.

   3–8 minutesDesktop, web, mobileHighest-risk step for phishing

   Three ways a download page is fake while looking normal

   It sits above the real one as a sponsored search result. Its domain differs by a character, a hyphen or a different ending. Or it came from a message — forum reply, direct message, email — from someone helpful. None of those pages can be trusted, even if the design is identical, and none of them need your seed to hurt you: a tampered installer can simply show you words that are not yours.

3. 3

   Connect the device and install its firmware

   Plug the device directly into the computer with the cable from the box — no hub, no dock, no extension lead if you can avoid it. The app should recognise the device and offer the current firmware release for your model.

   • Install the update the app offers. New devices either ship without firmware or with an older version; first run is when it is installed.
   • Watch the device screen, not the progress bar. The version being installed is shown on the device itself, and the device asks for confirmation there.
   • Leave it alone. Firmware installation takes a minute or two. Do not unplug, do not close the app, do not let the machine sleep mid-install.
   • Nothing is lost if it fails. There is no wallet yet at this stage, so a failed or interrupted firmware install is an inconvenience — unplug, replug, retry.

   2–5 minutesCable from the boxConfirmed on the device

   “Device not detected” almost always means one of four things

   A charge-only cable, a USB hub, a browser without the helper utility installed, or a Linux machine still waiting for its USB permission rules. The troubleshooting checklist takes them in that order.

4. 4

   Create a new wallet — not “recover” one

   The first real decision in the flow: create a new wallet or recover an existing one. On a device you just took out of a sealed box, the answer is always create new.

   • “Create new wallet” tells the device to generate keys from its own random source, on the device, with no network involved. Nobody but you has ever seen them.
   • “Recover wallet” is for a replacement device or a deliberate migration: you type an existing seed into the device to restore access. It is the right choice when you already have a seed — and the wrong one when you do not.
   • On models with a touchscreen you confirm with a tap; on Model One you move between options with one button and confirm with the other. The screen spells out which button does what.

   1 minuteOn-device choiceKeys generated offline

   Never “recover” a wallet you did not create

   If a page, a chat, a video tutorial or a helpful stranger supplies seed words for you to type in, the wallet they create is theirs. They will wait patiently until you fund it.

5. 5

   Write down the recovery seed — the ten minutes that matter most

   This is the step to slow down for. The device shows a sequence of words, usually twelve, sometimes twenty or twenty-four depending on the model and the backup format you choose. That list is your wallet: whoever holds the words holds the coins, whether or not they hold your device.

   • Write them by hand, in order, on the card from the box. Read each word back to yourself as you go. Most people double-check the whole list once at the end.
   • No photographs. Photo libraries sync, upload and float into “memories” nobody asked for.
   • No typing into anything with a keyboard — not a note, not a password manager, not an email draft to yourself, not a spreadsheet. Every one of those is reachable without touching your device.
   • No cloud anything, including the encrypted kind, unless you genuinely understand the recovery model of the service holding it.
   • Consider a second copy, in a second place. One card in one drawer protects against forgetting but not against fire, flood or a move.
   • Consider metal. A stamped steel backup survives everything paper does not, and is worth it above a certain balance.
   • Use the device's backup check if your firmware offers it. It re-asks for words on the device, not in the app, and catches a transcription mistake while the mistake is still free to fix.

   

   5–10 minutesOffline onlyRe-check once

   Any site that asks for these words is stealing them

   There is no legitimate reason for a website, an app, a wallet “validator”, a giveaway, a migration tool or a support agent to see a recovery seed. This site never asks for one, and neither does the real thing. If a page presents a neat box for twelve words, it is a harvesting form, no matter how official the logo looks.

6. 6

   Set a PIN, decide about a passphrase, name the device

   The PIN locks the device itself. Use four to nine digits you do not use anywhere else, and enter it on the device — the app never sees it.

   • Use the device's controls, not the keyboard, so that whatever is running on the computer cannot capture it.
   • Expect the device to wipe after repeated wrong entries. That is a feature: it stops someone guessing with the device in hand. Your seed is the way back, which is why stage 5 came first.
   • Skip the passphrase for now. An optional passphrase creates a separate hidden wallet from the same seed. It is genuinely useful protection once you understand that forgetting it means the hidden wallet is gone forever — nothing and nobody can restore it. If you enable one, back it up as carefully as the seed, on your security page.
   • Name the device. A label like “desk safe 1” makes it obvious in the app which physical device is being asked for confirmation.

   2 minutes4–9 digitsPassphrase optional
7. 7

   Add a first account, verify the address, send a test amount

   With the wallet created, the app offers to add accounts. Each coin or token group gets its own account, and balances are read from the blockchain rather than from the device.

   • Add one account to start. A single-coin account is enough to prove the setup; add more later once you are comfortable.
   • Generate a receiving address and check it on the device screen. Address verification is the habit that defeats clipboard malware: if the screen shows different characters to the app, stop and investigate.
   • Send a small test amount. Confirm it arrives, then send the rest. If you are moving a large balance, this is the cheapest insurance you will ever buy.
   • Practise one send while the amount is trivial: build the transaction in the app, then read the destination, amount and fee on the device before approving. That is what every future send will look like.
   • Bookmark nothing that asks for your seed. Your only bookmarks are the official site you verified and the app's own start page.

   3–5 minutesVerify on deviceTest before you commit

   A first send is also a rehearsal for recovery

   Many people restore their seed on the same device or a spare one within the first week, with only a test amount at risk, purely to confirm the paper backup is correct and readable. It is the single best way to find out that a word was written down wrong.

After setup: the first-week habits

When it goes wrong

The problems below cover nearly everything people hit during first-run setup. The troubleshooting checklist has the detail for each one.