Bitcoin Forum

Hi Bitcointalk community,

I'm coming here because I'm desperately in need of your help. I would be very grateful for any advice you have to offer!

So without further ado... My Electrum wallet was set up with 2-step authentication via the Google authenticator app on my smart phone. However, my phone got completely wiped, including all internal and external storage, and I lost the 2-step authentication. Now, I'm unable to withdraw any bitcoins from my wallet.

I have tried to restore the wallet using my seed, but it will only allow me to restore to the wallet type that has 2-step authentication. Additionally, I have tried to restore my wallet on a completely new computer that has never has Electrum installed on it, and again, it only allows me to restore to a 2-step wallet, which then asks for a Google authenticator code when I try to send BTCs out. There is no way for me to get the 2-step back on my phone as all the data was wiped.

Is there anything I can do to bypass or get rid of 2-step on my Electrum wallet? Can I withdraw my bitcoins in some other way? Please let me know. I would truly appreciate your help!

Take care, Frddr

While restoring from seed you should select Wallet with two-factor authentication option, as explained here:

http://docs.electrum.org/en/latest/2fa.html?highlight=authenticator#restoring-from-seed In order to restore your wallet from seed, select “wallet with two factor authentication”, as this tells Electrum to use this special variety of seed for restoring your wallet.

It should give you access to your wallet.

Hi bitbaby, thank you so much for your reply. I did indeed select "wallet with two factor authentication" but unfortunately, I have lost the Google Authenticator data from my phone (internal storage has been completely wiped and is irretrievable). So I am able to see my funds in my wallet; however, I can't send them out anywhere because it will ask for the Authentication when I try to do so. Is there anything else I can try?? Thanks again

no, it will not ask for the second factor after you have restored from that seed.
the seed contains two master keys.

EDIT: 2.6 and 2.6.1 have a bug, that breaks what I just wrote. I will make a new release today

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! I am eagerly awaiting the new release. This will save all of my stuck BTC. I really appreciate your help.

Ok, the fix is released. Please download 2.6.2.
Sorry for the inconvenience.

It worked. No worries. I love you.

Hey Thomas

Here seems not fixed.

I have encountered same problem. My mobile has been failed and i have wallet seed. I had 2FA enabled.

I am trying to restore wallet by private keys but for some reason i got the "grey" button and i can't go ahead.

I tried to select "restore" and then "standard wallet"

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12098726/shot.jpg

Any idea?

please, read the docs: http://docs.electrum.org/en/latest/2fa.html#restoring-from-seed

I got it. But after i restored, he asks me for Google Auth (i.e. if i try to send BTC outside the wallet).

How can i add again via QR the auth on Authy/Google Auth after restoring?

Nevermind, thank you.

Just Fixed

Hi! I am experiencing same problem with version 2.9.3 right niw. My ntc is stuck as i do not have my old authenticator..i have access to the wallet and me seed but can't send it anywhere.  Please, any help would be greatly appreciated.

In 2.9.3, you want to go to "File -> New\Restore -> Standard wallet -> I already have a seed"... Enter your 2FA seed... You will then be asked if you want to "keep or disable 2FA"...

You can either "keep" and reset your Google Authenticator... Or you can select "disable" and it will create a special wallet that had 2 of the 3 private key chains required to sign the transactions. You can then send the BTC to a new wallet.

https://talkimg.com/images/2023/11/15/zWcA9.png (http://imgur.com/lVEVvpT)

I have tried this, but it simply says please wait...and the 'Next ' button never changes from grey..do i just need to try it on a different pc?

There was another user that had similar issues when trying to restore a 2FA wallet, but I can't find the thread or remember exactly what it was that fixed the issue... :(

Possibly it was fixed by shutting down Electrum, removing the blockchain_header file from the Electrum data directory and restarting Electrum... But I'm not 100% sure on that.

It's also possible that it is a network issue and Electrum is having trouble connecting to a server nfor whatever reason...

You could always try on another PC and see if that helps. Meanwhile I'll see if I can locate the other thread...

Okay, using on another PC worked.  Thank you for your help.

Thanks for all the tips, in fact i managed to restore my wallet by renaming the blockchain_headers file in bh_old, electrum then asked me 'keep or disable'
and the process continued.
What surprised me in the end is that the window still displays [2fa] in its title

Cheers

Technically, it is still a 2FA wallet, as it was created using the "2FA" seed, it is just that you now have 2 of the 3 seeds stored within your wallet file, so electrum can sign all your transactions with 2 private keys without needing to contact TrustedCoin.

You'll notice that all your addresses are still "3" addresses, so you might encounter difficulties with "signing messages" and/or getting a "private key" for any of the addresses in your wallet. A restored 2FA wallet is not really meant for day to day use, but more as a way to recover funds should the TrustedCoin service be unusable for any reason (ie. their service is down, they go out of business etc).

IMO, It would be advisable to either create a new standard wallet (with a single seed) or a new 2FA wallet (with a working GAuth code) and move your funds to that wallet.

I am getting a new phone and was wondering how to move the 2fa to the new device. Will I need to restore the wallet, disable 2fa and then again enable? If so, will I need to pay again for the 2fa service?

That depends on what app you use for Google Authenticator... I use Authenticator Plus, it allows you to backup and restore all your "secret keys", so you can migrate to a new phone without issue. I'm not sure what backup options the "original" Google Authenticator app has... It was one of the reasons I started using Authenticator Plus...

You might also want to check out "Authy"... I've heard good reviews about that.

"Disabling" the 2FA wallet by restoring from seed DOES NOT disabled the 2FA secret in Google Authenticator... and when you restore and select "keep" it'll ask for the old code or make you reset it... so it *should* be OK... I'd highly recommend attempting to setup the new phone BEFORE you dispose of the old one so you can test it is OK.

Thanks HCP.

I use the default Google app and unfortunately it doesn't seem to have the option to restore secret keys for other accounts. Looks like I'll have to go the Restore route with the wallet and if it works then use Authy. Changing 2fa for all my accounts is going to be fun. :(

CNET has an article on moving G authenticator
https://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-move-google-authenticator-to-a-new-device/

Hi HCP,
 you were right, i am now facing 'Invalid Bitcoin address' when i try to sign a message from any of my public Keys.
Sometimes warning also tells me 'The address you have entered does not have a unique public key, so these operations cannot be performed'

Well I will try to spend some mBtc via a segwit transaction to a true standard wallet (with address like '1....') newly created.

Hope all will just go fine.
Thx

hi, I restored my multisig wallet and disabled 2fa in order to be able to claim Bitcoin Gold, however it seems as this was a 2fa address Coinomi is unable to import the private key and says there are no funds at this addess. And only 1 of the 4 explorers listed on the btcgpu.org site recognizes the address and shows a BTG balance.

Any suggestions will be much appreciated!

Coinomi does not support importing MultiSig wallets... MultiSigs use multiple private keys, so you can't just import a private key and expect that it will work, you'd be missing one or more private keys! :P

To claim BTG from an Electrum 2FA wallet, you HAVE to use "BitcoinGold Core" and manually create the transactions... It isn't "trivial"... but at the same time, it isn't THAT hard to do if you follow the process slowly and take your time: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2550529.0

If I've lost the seed is there anyway to get Electrum to generate the 2fa code again?  Sending the coins out of the wallet isn't an option as I don't have the password - but am looking at getting it back.   Thing I'm most concerned about at the moment is losing my phone/having it stolen and then have no hope of getting the coins back as I don't have access to the 2fa code.

The seed will give you the 2 private-keys from your wallet of 2-of-3 scheme. This means that you can use the seed to "disable" the 2FA and spend without the 2FA code. But you can't generate the code from the seed.

If you lost the seed, the only thing you can do is send all your coins to a new wallet, since losing the phone means your coins are gone. But without the password, it shouldn't be possible without the seed to restore the wallet.

For some reason I got an email with a different reply from you saying talk to Trusted Coin and see what they say - maybe you wrote an initial post then edited it? I did talk to them and they resent me the QR code which is what I needed - so thank you for your reply even though it's not appearing in this forum. 

It was probably a "Private Message" aka PM. By default, the forum software automatically sends notification emails of PM's with the contents of the PM when it comes from a non-newbie account. ;)

As you've discovered, some users have had success with contacting TrustedCoin directly using the original Email address which the registered with. TrustedCoin will then resend a QR code that can be scanned setup the 2FA code in Google Authenticator App (or other GAuth compatible app).

Glad to hear you got your issue sorted!

Yeah. I made this post before knowing Trusted Coin can do that (since there is no mentions about contacting them in their website).

I also remember sending a PM about talking to Trusted Coin to a few users. You must have been one of them :D