Bitcoin Forum

Bitcoin Client Software and Version Number:  Bitcoin Core circa 2013
Operating System: Windows
Description of Problem:   Wallet renamed and saved on some external device years ago before I wiped the computer.  I suppose I'll end up copying and renaming files to wallet.dat and trying to plug them into a new download of the bitcoin core.  Assuming the wallet is still there and intact, will this work?  I read 10 pages of questions and answers about similar things before I posted here, but I'm still unclear.  I'm on a mac currently, but have windows available if the wallet data is specific to the operating system.

This will work. You may have to run the latest version of bitcoin core with the -updatewallet command

You'll also need to put in a password if you encrypted the wallet (but this will be done after the chain is synced - when you want to send a transaction)

Alright, thanks a lot.  I'll work on getting Bitcoin Core going.
I remember something called BitcoinQT I think, is that the same program?  I may have been using that rather than the core.

No bitcoin QT and bitocin core are the same thing.

You are using the right wallet software.
(use bitcoin.org to download it or to verify it's the right software you are using)

After failing at using the link achow(?) put up, I ended up going to bitcoin.org.  That seems to be working well.
For some reason I was under the impression that you just needed the address and password to use stored bitcoin.   Hard to believe though, maybe I have a seed written down somewhere..

Achow's pretty good. Did he give you the link to the github repository instead?

You don't need a seed, just the wallet file and possibly the password you encrypted it with (if the file was encrypted).

Yeah, are those uncompiled?

I'm hoping if I can't find this wallet that I did print the seed out or write it down, though.  I'll feel a lot better after I figure all this out.

Bitcoin Core currently does not and never has used a seed (mnemonic). In 2013, Bitcoin Core did not support HD wallets either so all addresses were randomly generated. The only way to restore your wallet is to find a copy of your wallet file which has all of your private keys. Older copies may not have all of the private keys that you used.

What link?

It must have been that Armory address I set up but never used then.  Too bad!


I can't find the link on the message board for some reason.  I looked for over an hour to check that I didn't click on a malicious link.  Finally I did realize that I could look though my download history.

https://bitcoin.org/bin/bitcoin-core-0.14.2/bitcoin-0.14.2-osx64.tar.gz

The only reason I mentioned it is that all bitcoind and bitcoinqt did was pop up a terminal and possibly execute a few commands.  I tried to ignore that since it's from a trusted source, but it stuck with me a bit.

That would either be due to you incorrectly building it or not having some of the dependencies installed (optional dependencies also need installing if you want to use the QT(/GUI) part.

I think what you're saying would work hard to tell exactly what your plan is. What I would do, is either on one computer or two set up two separate wallets. One be a software wallet that does not require you to download the blockchain. The other wallet is going to have to download the blockchain I don't think you're going to get around that. Once the full wallet has downloaded and in sync, did you can attempt to import the wallet.dat.

once you have successfully done that then you could get the private key and import or sweep it into the lighter wallet. You don't actually have to have the second wallet, but I think most people these days are going to use a lite wallet. Just make sure that you keep a couple copies of that data file so that if you have any trouble when you import one, even if it somehow gets corrupted, you have another copy.

Import or sweep?
Right, I just wish I knew exactly which file it was.  Can't wait to know that I still have it.  I only have a few, but realizing that I might not be able to recover them was disconcerting.

Trying to do the download overnight, but it's taking a while.  About 1/3 of the way done so far.

You can do either (import or sweep).
Sweep - sends a transaction from an old private key/address to a new private key/address (useful with HD wallets sometimes) - it will cost though.
Import - merely imports your private keys and allows you to keep using the originals.
And yes, first synchronisation takes quite a while now.

Best way I found to decrypt my wallet was with kali linux, and hashcat. works pretty well.

Alright thanks everyone!  I'll keep researching and get all this ready for when I can finally try it out.  Almost halfway done but seems to be slowing down.