Bitcoin Forum

Hello,

Now I'm panicking, I'm not tech savy and what I have read so far, I have tried but to no luck..
So I made an Electrum wallet back in Feb 19 and successfully sent some bitcoins into it. Just gone to sign back into it and having no luck.

I have the public address seed words and even password but I do not have the private key and I am using a new computer.

I cannot use the laptop that I originally used.

When I followed the restore guide and enter my seed words, it takes me to what appears a different wallet/addresses? And NO sign of my funds or address I created back in Feb.

Originally the first address started with a 1 but this new wallet with random 20 plus addresses in that start with bc1.

I have managed to view my 1 address with the correct bitcoins in but only in watch only mode.

If anyone could shed any light, I would be most grateful.

Thank you.

You don't have to panic. While recovering your wallet, you were asked to select the correct derivation path. Restore your wallet once again and select the following option.

https://i.imgur.com/ACSQicH.png

I do not get this option when trying to recover..?

Create new wallet:
Standard, wallet with 2fa, multi-sig wallet, import bitcoin add or private key
I go for standard, then it asks me so i enter, I already have a seed.
I enter the seed words that i backed up on paper, then it asks me for a password. 

I do not see this screen shot you posted?

It looks like Electrum detects what type of seed you have. You should see 'Seed type: xxx' (probably 'SegWit' instead of 'Standard') below the box in which you enter the seed. You can try selecting 'Options -> BIP 39 seed' and then that window should appear. However, this might generate completely different addresses. By the way, what version of Electrum do you have?

Electrum seed versioning is supposed to prevent this situation... :-\

Did you originally create the seed mnemonic (12 words) that you have in Electrum? Or were they originally from another wallet? ???

Was this a new wallet, and the Electrum client generated the seed?  Or was the seed from some other source?



Did you download the Electrum software from electrum.org?  Do you still have the old laptop, can you extract the hard drive from it?



First eliminate any potential mistakes you made, scrutinize the works to make sure you got them entered correctly.  If the issue persists, on the page where you enter the seed phrase, click on the "options" button.  Check the box labeled "BIP39 seed."  That will get you to the page BitCryptex posted.  

That may or may not get you to the wallet you expect, but it's worth a try.



I thought so too.  I just tried to restore a random Bip39 seed, and Electrum won't let me click the "Next" button without selecting that option. 

I believe you have the address where you sent the BTC, don't you? If yes, please check with the address in the explorer. If it has the BTC till now, don't panic. You have your BTC in your wallet.
Make sure what other users have shared. Also, make sure you are using an authentic wallet; not the phishing one.

About that, he already managed to restore one of the address in a watch-only wallet and the balance is still there (in the OP).

I'm pretty sure it's either a wrong seed backup or the original 'legacy' wallet was created using the invalid checksum "BIP39 trick".
If it's the latter, the issue must be already solved by now.

If the seed is being detected as an electrum seed then that's what it is. The seed he has is not for the wallet with the coins. The OP simply did not backup the seed for his p2pkh address wallet.

It's unlikely that he has a bip39 seed that also validates as an electrum seed. There's also no benefit in creating a bip39 based p2pkh wallet using an electrum seed.

Little .gif instruction for your situation: https://imgur.com/pGirSU4

https://s19.directupload.net/images/191128/w4g6gqou.gif

Wallet created for test purposes only.