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Ledger Nano has an application to test the seed recovery phrase

- Plug your Ledger Nano and open Ledger Live.
- Go to the "manager" section in the menu and install the "recovery check" app
- On the device open the recovery check app and select "Start check"
- Enter your recovery phrase
- If it's ok the devide will display a message saying “Recovery phrase matches“

That's all

You can use the "Recovery Check" app that is available for the Ledger Nano S... It's in the "Manager" section of the Ledger Live app.

It lets you enter your 24 words and will tell you if that matches the one stored on the device:
Video demonstration of "Recovery Check" is on YouTube here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0GTRymAaGw)


Refer here for more details: https://support.ledger.com/hc/en-us/articles/360007223753-Recovery-Check

One good way to know if you really backed up there words correctly is to do this:

Create a new wallwwt
Write down the words
Check the Bitcoin receiving address
Reset your ledger
Recover from seed
Check of the address is the same. If it is, you are now 100% sure your seed is correct.

This right here^. Take note that with this method, you're going to enter your  24-word seed on the Ledger device itself, so don't worry about your seed leaking if you though you were going to enter the 24-word seed on your computer.

Also, if it doesn't match, send your funds over to a software wallet temporarily, preferably on your phone(instead of a computer especially if you're running Windows), and generate a new set of recovery seed on your Ledger device.

I use this on a totally offline computer - https://iancoleman.io/bip39/

It's also useful for fork season because you can extract a private key immediately from your seed rather than wait for Ledger to come up with something for the new shitfork. Obviously I only do that once BTC is gone from the private key.

If you want to test the private key on another program then you can download this page www.bitaddress.org, put it on your offline computer, hit the 'wallet details' section and input the private keys you've extracted. It'll show you the addresses it creates.

I've never had an issue with the bip39 thing but if that puts your mind at rest go for it.

Yes.

One seed creates all of the private keys. You can reach all of the BTC through any HD wallet that has the seed inputted. They manage all the various addresses. You don't need to worry about them. The seed is one unique piece of information that creates a tree-like structure of addresses and private keys. Any address you see will be derived from the seed.

The only time I've needed to access an individual private key is to claim forks that weren't catered to by the wallet manufacturer. You can access all of the private keys relating to each address with the bip39 tool. It might take some time finding the key you want.

thanks dude, it makes sense.

Because your 24 words is NOT a private key... your 24 words is a "seed mnemonic" that is used to store a "seed" in a more human-readable format (ie. words) that helps to prevent transcription errors when writing them down or inputting them during recovery.

This "seed", is the starting point for creating an infinite number of private keys in a "Hierarchical Deterministic" (aka "HD") wallet like the Ledger...

you can read about deterministic wallets here: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Deterministic_wallet
and here: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/h/hd-wallet-hierarchical-deterministic-wallet.asp

Did the chrome app had this feature as well?

It's not part of Ledger Live per se... it is an "app" that you install on the Ledger Device itself, via the "Manager" in Ledger Live, like all the other coin apps like "Bitcoin", "Doge", "Ethereum"... or the "Fido U2F" Universal 2nd factor app etc...
https://talkimg.com/images/2023/11/15/zB8fH.png

I don't think this was available prior to Ledger Live, so I don't think it was ever in the Chrome App Ledger Manager... prior to that Chrome app effectively being taken offline.

i am always recheck seed word after generated on iancoleman to electrum wallet offline, to make sure seed are corrected.

HCP, so before the ledger live came out, there was no way for someone to test if their 24 word phrase was 100% correct even though everyone should make sure they wrote their 24 word phrase correct?


Can anyone else confirm this? 



Also its 100% that installing that program and you entering the 24 word phrase would never be an issue right?  When you put in the 24 word phrase, you are doing so from the ledger s so if your computer is hacked or malware, that protects you still right since you are manualy typing the 24 word phrase on your nano ledger s?

No, that isn't correct. Prior to Ledger Live there were still multiple ways to confirm if your 24 word phrase was correct...

1. you could note down the receive address... then wipe the device and restore it using your written down seed... then check the receive address. Same address == correct seed
2. You could restore the seed onto a different hardware wallet (ie. a second ledger or another BIP39/44 compatible hardware wallet like Trezor)... check that addresses match.
3. You could restore the seed into a BIP39 compatible software wallet (preferably offline)... and check the addresses generated match
4. You could test the seed using (an offline copy of) IanColeman's BIP39 mnemonic converter and check addresses generated

Obviously, some of these methods are more "secure" than others. ;)


Theoretically yes. The data entry is on the device, so the computer being infected shouldn't matter. In fact, to be "extra" safe... you can actually connect the device to a USB charger, and initialise it that way... so it isn't even connected to a computer when you set it up.

HCP.  So most people just download the app from ledger live.  Then when you use the program to check to see if 24 word is correct, its still connected to your laptop right?


You say to be on safe side, connect it to a usb charger.  Im confused what you mean by this?  So when checking the 24 word phrase, you don't want it connected to a computer? 


What is the most common way ppl are checking their 24 word seed?  I thought it would be connect it to laptop, go to that program, enter the 24 words and then it checks?  You could use the nano ledger s without connecting it to a laptop???

It doesn’t really matter. But if there is an extra step to keep it more secure (we are just being paranoid here), you may choose to do it (by you using a usb charger). I don’t think that’s necessary, but it’s your choice. Just don’t sweaty too much on it.

Like he said, just use the Recovery Seed verification app. It’s that simple. You don’t need to complicate things.

Hi there.  I never tried this but you could turn on your ledger nano s by itself while not having it plugged into anything?  Example press a button on it right now while its not plugged into anything and you can enter a pin?


What do you mean use it by using a usb charger?


But there has been no cases where typing it in recovery key while using ledger live there was an issue right?

The Ledger Nano S needs energy to work. If it’s not connected anywhere, it won’t turn on. You either need to plug it in your computer/laptop/phone or plug it directly into your power plug with an adaptor (just like you would do to charge a phone). That’s what we meant.

And like I said, it doesn’t really matter. If you are super paranoid, it’s up to you to decide if it’s worth plugging it to a power supply or if that’s too much and you can do in your computer.

As TryNinja said, it needs power... instead of connecting to the computer, you can connect a Ledger to any 5V USB power source (like a usb charger) and it will power up... if the device is uninitialised, it will commence the initialisation procedure... you don't need a computer or Ledger Live or whatever to do this. If it is initialised, you can enter your PIN and select apps that are already installed.

Note however, that you WILL still need to connect it to Ledger Live to be able to install the coin apps like Bitcoin, BTG, and the "Recovery Check" app in the first place.

You seem like a VERY paranoid individual that seems to overthink everything... so I was simply suggesting a way for you to use the "Recovery Check" app that might help reduce the paranoia...

1. Install "Recovery Check" using Manager in Ledger Live
2. Disconnect Ledger device from computer
3. Connect Ledger device to a USB charger
4. Enter PIN
5. Select "Recovery Check" app on Ledger Device
6. Follow the instructions

The only way your seed will be compromised is if someone watches over your shoulder as you manually enter the words.


You don't type the recovery key into Ledger Live... you enter the recovery key on the device using the buttons to scroll and select (just like you do when you need to restore the device if you wipe it)... again, you don't have to have the device connected to a computer or Ledger Live to run the "Recovery Check" app on the device... you simply need to have the "Recovery Check" app already installed and for the device to have power (again, any 5V USB power source will work).

To the best of my knowledge, no one has ever posted a claim that their seed was stolen after using the "recovery check" app...