Bitcoin Forum

I have now spent 2 full weeks trying to make a paper wallet & I'm not much further on than I was on day 1. If I don't make progress today, I'm gonna sell my bitcoin (at a susbstantial loss) & forget about them, rather than leaving them on my computer for somebody to hack. I have tried without success to get bitaddress.org to work offline, so today I am trying brainwallet.org & bitcoinpaperwallet.com, but so far I'm encountering the same problem. When I download bitcoinpaperwallet.com, I am told to extract the ZIP file. How do I do that? Yesterday I tried using 77zip but Kaspersky told me it would cause harm to my PC.

Windows can extract ZIP files without external help. If it can't then it isn't a .ZIP file. Get WinRar or 7zip for those.

I, however, am wondering why would you choose to dive into the Bitcoin world if you can't even master a task like opening and extracting a ZIP file. No offence, but you should be able to do something that simple.

I'm entering the bitcoin world in the hope of making a few pounds. As I've said before, I have a 1st class honours degree from Oxford University, one of the top 2 in the UK, & I came first in my year in the majority of my subjects, so I don't consider myself stupid!!. But this was just before the advent of everything being computerised.

No matter what I do, bitaddress, bitcoinpaperwallet & brainwallet all try to go online when I try to generate wallets offline.

How did you download the website? From a direct download from a third-party websote or saved it for offline browsing through your browser?

I saved it for offline browsing through my browser.

If you're unable to do this. How about encrypting the wallet.dat file using true-crypt? better than nothing.

Then you should be OK if you're using bitadress or similiar. Have you just tried denying online access and see if it generated the private and public keys?

mprep,

It may be something to do with the fact that when I go to save it, it doesn't offer me the option of saving as bitaddress.org.htm, but just as bitaddress.org. I have tried to follow the advice in this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=872eSnlKUeg. Another thing, though I'm sure it's not important, in the video he mentions seeing https & a green lock when saving bitaddress. The lock on my screen isn't green, it's black, but that doesn't sound like it's an important detail. In reference to your 2nd post, I have disconnected but nothing happens at all, It still tries to go online.

champsak,
                 i know nothing about true-crypt, that's something I'd have to look into.

Thank you both for your replies.

What browser are you using to save it for offline browsing?

have tried to save it using both firefox and google chrome

A primitive question but whatever: Have you tried just adding .html at the end of the name while saving the webpage?

I have tried adding htm. but not html. - is there a difference?

I don't think so, but just in case try adding it in, other than that, there are probably much more qualified people who could share their advice, wouldn't they?

Bitaddress works fine for me you should save the downloaded page, check save as HTML, check work offline in browser menu and relaunch saved webpage. If u still get problems change ur browser.

The problem is from ur browser, which OS and browser version do u use.

I'm using Windows 7. I know it's a daft question, but how do I find out which browser version I'm using?

Help -- about.  also check work offline on d browser menu. 

Perhaps your over thinking this a bit. Why not just move your wallet.dat file to a USB stick and then restart bitcoin-QT? When it restarts it will create a new empty wallet. Use that empty wallet to stay synced with the network. When you want to spend, put your full wallet back and restart qt.
This way your BTC has little exposure to the internet but you are constantly synced. That seems way less risky than downloading a program to help with your bitcoins. There are almost no programs I would trust unless I download the source code and compile it myself.
Lastly, why on Earth would you sell at a loss? That makes no sense whatsoever as you are locking in your losses. Why not put your wallet.dat file in a bank until you have a better plan. The worse that can happen is a loss, which you seem committed to anyway.  It is, IMO, more likely that you will see profits in the future. But it's your money.  And don't sell your coins, spend them. It is a hell of a lot easier and you will get more value for them than a sale for fiat.
Cheers M8

went on a site called whatismybrowser.com, it says it's Firefox 27, it also says java is not detected but I;m sure it should be.

Also another daft question from a computer illiterate person, where do i find my browser menu?

I also use google chrome 33 & IE 10.

The plan has always been to copy the downloaded bitaddress file onto a USB flash drive & then put it on my new tablet which has never been, nor never will be, connected to the internet. This might seem extreme to some people & I know the amount of money I have in BTC might seem trivial to most people, but it is a lot to me.

What do you mean by browser menu? Like, where you set options, see your history, see your favorites, etc. menu or what?

Menu is usually on top left some modern browsers are quite hard to navigate. do be very careful with ur private key there are lots of btc stealing scripts these days. If you cant find the "work offline" usually under file menu. Try downgrading ur browser

Some of you replied saying to check work offline in the browser menu, that's what I'm looking for.

Finally found the work offline option.

Did it work yet? Note if u know how to temporarily disconnect ur pc from the internet it would work better and safer from virus

Yes, I know how to do that, Will try again & if it doesn't work, I will upgrade/update my browser.

You will need to enable java, and javascript. Also to never use brainwallet unless using very long/complex passphrase

Don't enable java. You only need javascript! If a Bitcoin related page requires Java you should leave it immediately.

Right, never got another chance to try this out until today. Have made a LITTLE progress, but only a little. When I click & save the bitaddress webpage, I can then go online & the page works, allowing me to generate addresses. However, when I go to my downloads & click on the downloaded bitadress file, it won't work from there, it still tries to go online & obviously can't. As I want to transfer the file to a tablet which has never been internet connected via a USB flash drive, I need it to work from the downloaded file as well. What am I doing wrong?

I have also tried to copy the page which is working onto the usb drive but that doesn't seem to work.


Any body got any ideas? It's probably something trivial that I am overlooking.

Just wondering if the problem is that when I right click to save the bitaddress.org page, I am only offered the possibility of saving it as bitaddress.org, not as bitaddress.org.htm. I have added the htm on myself each time, but does that work? Also tried adding HTML.

Try messing around browser settings. Otherwise a reinstall of the browser might help if you have accidentally changed some advanced setting.

Thanks again, mprep, will have another go at it tomorrow!

No problem, issues arise and it's always a good thing to look out for fellow Bitcoiners.

Yes, paper wallets are safer, if created securely, but there are other ways. Make sure your wallet.dat is password protected and backed up and just don't worry about it. I can't say for sure, but if your address still has coins at it, chances are you're not already infected with a virus...

Put a strong password on the wallet (e.g. 25 random characters, use something like this: http://strongpasswordgenerator.com/) and pritn it out twice on pieces of paper. Then email yourself the wallet, and also put it on a USB. Give the USB and one copy of the password to a friend or relative who you trust.

also, you could look at e.g. https://bitcoinarmory.com/about/using-our-wallet/

Wait until bitcoin hits your sell value. Then restore your wallet when you want to cash in.

When trying to save select saveas webpagecomplete it should save a folder and web link copy both to where u want also remove '.org' from the filename before saving

Thanks everybody, I have spent endless hours at this over the past couple of weeks & no matter what I do the downloaded files won't work offline. Wanted to transfer them to the usb stick & over to the tablet which has never been connected to the internet but it isn't happening. Just wondering if it would work on a friend's computer but then I'd worry that there might be a virus etc on it. But even if I did transfer a virus over on the USB stick, surely nobody could access my private keys if the tablet I generate them on is never connected to the internet. Am I right?

nothing would surprise me  :(

I am not sure if it is really feasible, but there have been some news articles stating that NSA is able to hack offline computers with radio waves.  :)
http://rt.com/usa/nsa-radio-wave-cyberattack-607/
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57617244-38/nsa-reportedly-using-radio-waves-to-tap-offline-computers/
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/01/15/nsa-maps-pathway-into-computers-report-says/

I used a piece of software called Armory to create my paper wallet. It was pretty simple. Here are the instructions https://bitcoinarmory.com/about/using-our-wallet/

Hope that helps,
MidasMarni

You should have check it on youtube they have a video lesson how to make 1 and its easy !

Thanks for your replies. I have watched numerous youtube videos but there's obviously something disabled or something on my computer because it simply won't open the downloaded files offline. Going to try it on a friend's computer next.

+1 - i used armory too, it was super simple.

Alright, I found a working offline wallet generator for you: bitaddress.org source file (https://raw.github.com/pointbiz/bitaddress.org/master/bitaddress.org.html). Just save the file as .html on your computer, put it on your tablet and start it up. It should work on the Android Browser.

This file is 100% safe and comes from the bitaddress.org GitHub page: Click here (https://raw.github.com/pointbiz/bitaddress.org/). It's the "bitaddress.org.html" file.
I hope this helps you in your quest for a paper wallet. ;)

I am fairly new at all this too. I found youtube has some great tutorials on how to create a Paper Wallet.

Personally, I did some "dummy wallets" as a practice. After you've done a couple yourself you will get the hang of how it works. When you do make one for real, the safest way is definitely offline so no computer has ever seen your private key. As long as your confident you can keep your copy/copies safe then this is the best way from "hackers". The only theft would be of the paper wallets themselves.

thanks again for your replies, will try that now bitcoininformation. Actually I was just about to ask another question. I have got the bitcoinpaperwallet files downloaded & they seem to be working offline. However, when I move the mouse around until the public address & private keys are generated, I can't see them to write down anywhere. I was going to write them down rather than print them as this printer is connected to the internet. Even if I did want to print them, I can't see them anywhere to print them. Where can I actually see them?

They can be found once you generated one. They appear under the QR codes on the "Single Wallet" tab:

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http://img.ctrlv.in/img/14/03/15/5324732826f76.jpg

I find bitaddress.org is great for generating Paper Wallets.

Once you are on the webpage, "save page as" to wherever you want the file to be. Then disconnect from the Internet and once disconnected open the file. You will then be able to generate as many keys/wallets as you wish. The addresses are clear to see, and will never have seen the internet, and therefore 100% safe from online hackers.

It's bitcoinpaperwallet I have managed to generate them on, not bitaddress, though I think they're basically the same. I have now found that I can see the keys by skipping the calibrate printer part & moving on to Print Front. I presume those are the public & private keys I have generated that are shown there.

The next thing I'm asked is to enter WIF private key, OR passphrase, dice rolls, etc. I had intended to roll a dice 62 times & use the resulting numbers to generate the private keys. So should I enter the 62 digit number on the first page rather than move the mouse around or let is generate keys using the mouse & then enter the dice-generated numbers on the Print Page, which essentially seems to be just ignoring the the keys that the mouse generated?

Also should I opt for BIT38 encryption?

Thanks again everyone!

I cannot help you with this, sorry. Maybe someone else can ;)