Bitcoin Forum

Hi - I am very beginner  !
sorry about my english not so well  :(

I bought the coin a long time ago and forgot it completely - knowing that I did nothing but buy and copy the keys only !
what is the keys ?
the keys is 4 hexadecimal keys  (0-9-A-F)

In the same keys on the last line 8 characters mix numbers and latters - maybe checksum ?

and i found something name Machine Code 13 mix numbers and latters ( small Latters ) - maybe ATM bitcoin ?

Some of my memories have been erased over the years but offcourse thanks for the god i still have the old computer :)

I don't know what these keys are - do the previous procedures have four keys - one for the secret key, one for signature, one for the public address and one for identity?

I don't know what to do with these keys - are there any specific steps?

thanks for helping

ECDSA Private key in HEX should be 64-characters.

Read this thread to know about the other possible private key formats, specifically the part about "Bitcoin private keys":
[overview] Recover Bitcoin from any old storage format (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=4959742.0)

Hexadecimal encoding doesn't use checksum and it is very uncommon to print private keys in this format. Instead when there is 32-byte (64 hexadecimal characters) string it is more likely to be a transaction ID (SHA256 hash).

yes it is transaction ID (SHA256 hash)

each key 64 characters

they are 4 keys

yes i have same this  Private Key Hexadecimal (64 characters [0-9A-F]) (less common).
Example: CA9A061710B8BC582E1B8BB60D0F3F2751791888AB5C18737620087ABDF74A05

the next step is base58 or ?

Yes, if those are private keys, the next step to be able to import those to a wallet is to convert them into WIF (base58check).
The easiest way is to use a converter tool.

This one should work (brainwalletx.github.io/#converter (https://brainwalletx.github.io/#converter)) but must be used in an offline environment and downloaded & run from source (https://github.com/brainwalletX/brainwalletX.github.io).
To convert the keys, go to "Converter" tab, copy your PrvKey (HEX) into the "Source Text", then select "B58Check" in the 'Convert To' tabs.
The result should be the private key in WIF format, depending on the age of those keys, you may or not need to convert them into compressed WIF.

Then import those keys to a wallet, I'd suggest Electrum (electrum.org (http://electrum.org)).
Here's the steps to verify Electrum (recommended before using it): https://bitcoinelectrum.com/how-to-verify-your-electrum-download/ (https://bitcoinelectrum.com/how-to-verify-your-electrum-download/)
Here's the steps for importing keys: https://bitcoinelectrum.com/importing-your-private-keys-into-electrum/ (https://bitcoinelectrum.com/importing-your-private-keys-into-electrum/)

Note: Do not share the private keys.

all keys or one by one ? for base58

One by one; pasting them all will produce invalid result.
The result should be similar to the WIF (Wallet Import Format) displayed in the linked thread above, it should start with '5'.

A wallet can import/export multiple private keys, you may have exported those 4.

finished and all they start 5

You should use https://github.com/pointbiz/bitaddress.org instead. Download the repository (https://github.com/pointbiz/bitaddress.org/archive/refs/heads/master.zip) and open the bitaddress.org.html preferably on an air gap computer then go to "Wallet Details" tab and enter the hexadecimal strings in the first text box an click "View Details".
It would show you both compressed and uncompressed private keys with their corresponding addresses.
Now you can see if you recognize any of these addresses and copy them in a text file (in case you are offline) and then go to a block explorer such as https://blockchair.com/bitcoin and search each address (they all start with "1") to see if any of them have ever been used.

You can now import those to a wallet of your choice, or my suggested client: Electrum.
If you use Electrum, let the wallet open for a few minutes for it to sync (blockchain headers - 55mb file).
If there's no balance, those may not be private keys or those are for compressed public keys, in that case, use the tool in the post above.

i seen 1 of thim compresed - it show 3 Addresses - Bitcoin BTC 0


Bitcoin Cash 0


Bitcoin SV BSV 0

whats that mean ?!

i didnt understand If you use Electrum, let the wallet open for a few minutes for it to sync (blockchain headers - 55mb file).
its open fast and i try all keys says 0 and try one of them says same thing 0

I wouldn't worry about that: old BTC addresses are also valid Bitcoin Cash addresses and Bitcoin SV addresses. So on Blockchair, you should just focus on addresses labeled BTC.

Since bitcoin source code is open and free to copy, there has been many useless altcoins that created copies of bitcoin and unfortunately they never changed anything when it comes to addresses (and many other things). So when you search a bitcoin address in a multi-coin block explorer such as blockchair they have no way of knowing which chain it belongs to hence they show all of them.

Since you know yours is a bitcoin address then as @NotATether said, just ignore the rest and focus on "Bitcoin BTC" for now, the rest are those useless altcoins.

If you imported both compressed and uncompressed addresses and none of them returned you a balance, then it means there isn't one.

yeah
I bought them between (2009 - 2012) Procedures may vary  ???

this wallet is watching only this mean you will not able to spend Bitcoins with it . make sure you own the seed phrase or the private keys befor you request Bitcoins to be sent to this wallet

Electrum needs the blockchain headers to function which it doesn't have initially.
So if it's the first time Electrum is used, it will have to download the said file which is about 55mb in size so you'll have to wait for it to be completed in the background.

But if about 10 minutes have passed, your internet is "good" and the Electrum's connection status is 'Green' (lower-right circle),
then the imported WIF keys are really empty (at least for P2PKH outputs).

It barely reached the year when compressed public key was introduced to Bitcoin client,
If it's before April 2012, you shouldn't be looking for compressed addresses because it's not available in the client at that time.

You may have to search for P2PK outputs as well, which doesn't have an address but the public key itself.
IDK any other client that support it aside from Bitcoin Core; if you want, you can import those keys to Bitcoin Core but it will require you to download and verify the blockchain before you can check for balance.
Your transactions are quite early so you'll likely see the transactions earlier in the sync process if it has any balance.

Import command (do right after creating a "Blank Wallet"): https://bitcoincore.org/en/doc/0.21.0/rpc/wallet/importprivkey/ (https://bitcoincore.org/en/doc/0.21.0/rpc/wallet/importprivkey/)
Use "false" rescan flag for the first three, then "true" to the last one.

i think the right choice is Bitcoin Core

after Blank Wallet name wallet i have 4 choices ?

This means you're doing something wrong. Do you import the private key(s) into Electrum's text field or the address(es)?

Electrum and i go up left click file and i chose ( New /Restore ) then i chose last one ( Import addresses or private keys )

Compressed key
and i got same masg
adres key i got same masg

I don't know what exactly you're doing, but this is the way:


Here you enter the compressed private key which starts with either K or L. Uncompressed private keys start with 5.

---

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If it said that your wallet is watch-only it means you imported the address instead of the private key. In this case, you would have copied and pasted - “14z7TscxQo12kpHutuguJnjH7fzD5kdF7v” - from bitaddress.org instead of - “L3oj7X1oXpww7aKy2Z86w4dyD9JybBhQHs4SzAyooUgnjSBy8aD3”.

yes i try like this in 2 way 1- Private Key WIF Compressed the i didnt got wrong masg as befor but i didnt seen as your last pic ( green colour on recive and the key number ) !!!
i only see balance down left is 0
 
2- Private Key WIF = same thing

I can remember when i buy bitcoin befor long time i use bit core but i dodnt did anything - just see how to use it only !

Oh, that's the problem. If you don't see a green color right there (or blue) it means that your electrum client isn't connected to an electrum server. Am I right? Is it red? Click on it. A network tab will open. Screenshot it and send it here.

Besides Electrum, have you tried loading your address' balance from a block explorer?

i dont know what is balance from a block explorer ( never try this befor )

how i can add pic here ?

see the link pic https://ibb.co/5Tt1RPk

I thought you meant this:

---

---

So, you're connected to a node. By clicking on “View” and then on “Addresses” you should be able to view your address(es). As far as I can see from the History tab, there are no transactions with the addresses you've generated. So, you've most likely written the private key wrongly or you had had no money in the first place.

Yes i think written the private key wrongly :(

i remember i take the copy of these keys in fast way - how ?

I copied the numbers and letters on top of each other - the number of lines became six, but the sixth is a number of eight letters and numbers - I think it is checksum  ???
 
all together = 256 latters and numbers capital letter

We must make sure of the previous procedures, whether they are the same procedures or not ?

When I bought the coin, it was from a website bitcoin - but i am not sure about .com or .org

The checksum is 4 bytes, meaning that it can be either 4, 5 or 6 characters long in base58. (It is highly unlikely to be 4, though)

So, you're still saying something that's not true. You've messed the procedure which lower your chances to gain access to the coins.

A private key in Wallet Import Format (WIF) is either 51 or 52 characters long. If it's represented in hexadecimal (0-F) it's 64 and if it's represented in binary (0-1) it's 256.

Not sure what you mean.

Probably from .com, because the .org wasn't ever selling bitcoins. (It redirected you on exchanges, though)

Do you recommend me to search by bitcoin core ?

No, I mean select the second choice "Make Blank Wallet" not 'blank wallet name', you should put a wallet name or 'Create' button wont be clickable.

After creating the wallet, go to console (Window->Console). Select the blank wallet in the "Wallet:" drop-down menu.
Then type the commands, one at a time;
For the first three:
For the fourth key:
Change "Your_Private_Key" into those encoded WIF private keys.

You don't need to, bitcoin core will take time to completely sync with the network (catch up 12 years). You don't even need any wallet at this stage. All you need to do is to check if what you is actually a private key not some random hash, you can do it by seeing if the addresses contain any coins. Then the next stage would be to decide what what wallet you want to use (bitcoin core or electrum or something else).

If you used bitaddress.org and checked all the addresses in a block explorer as I explained earlier and saw all said 0 BTC then either what you had was not bitcoin private keys in hexadecimal format or you never received any coins. I'm betting it is the former.

Hi man - i got this - see the pic https://ibb.co/mt73LYp

at first i use private key start with 5
the secound use privatekey wif Compressed start with L

right ?

It means that your blockchain is set to be "pruned", it can't use rescan because it doesn't have the older blocks because 'pruning' will delete the older blocks after the set size was reached.

I don't know if it will be able to scan for balances (from the succeeding blocks) of your newly created wallet's imported keys because I haven't experienced that scenario.
If you have enough disk space for the blockchain and other data (about 400GB+), you can consider disabling pruning in "Settings->Options...->Prune block storage to".
Then restart the sync process.

Plus you need the whole blockchain in case you'll need to import other possible keys from your backup in case those four aren't private keys.

The order isn't important, the important part is to use the rescan flag only in the last key.

ahaa - i remember when i buy this coins they ask me how you want them , i chose to make them 4 keys as it show exactlly becouse i wanted to buy something from china site Four pieces - thats why i chose 4 keys and i knew how many coins in each key - beside i have a file name ( array ) it show how many coins i have and Lots of coded things - some of them you can read and some of them coded - and offcourse many Big keys and a link for bitcoin.com with 4 keys in same link .JS ! the js maybe you can read them by node JS - and i found name ( Armory ) i made a search and i found this is for old wallets and i found bitcoin core !
It's a very large file full of things to read and some of which you can't read ( encrypted ) !
and i found many numbers ( evry 2 numbers beside eachather ) And found many answers about the number of the universe and many other answers with numbers - one of these answers is how many BTC i have - thats why i rememberd i have 4 keys becouse they are exactlly what i asked the bitcoin.com to buy the four pieces from the china site !

I knew its complecated and many thinges and i have file name ( DaYi ) same ( array file ) !

I forgot i bought this coin about ten years ago - till the god wake me up and tells me ( wake up baybe you have something waiting you ) 🥰

Thank you so much nc50lc for you keep helping me and offcourse thank you for evryone try to help me - you really are amazing guys 😘

I will keep try to search my BTC 😊

Hmmm... unfortunately, I don't know how the old bitcoin.com worked and I have no idea about an old "China site" where you bought the bitcoins.
Armory is another Bitcoin client that only uses Bitcoin Core to download and verify the blockchain, here's its board if you want to know more about it: /index.php?board=97.0 (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=97.0)

It's complicated alright  :-X
Anyways, if those "four keys" are the same ones you've imported to Bitcoin Core, then let it sync so it can find the coins.
Bitcoin core is capable of checking all outputs of different script types derived from the private key.
If Bitcoin Core has fully synced and it has no balance, enter rescanblockchain command for the last time to make sure that it's really empty.

Other than that, I have no further response.

ahaa

how i can add 4 keys in bitcoin core to check ?
it show ( Estimated time left untill synced 12 hours - and down show 3 years and 42 weeks behind )

how about if the 4 keys encoded by MD5 ?

The china site ( Selling stuff for bitcoin ) now the site is closed !

If those are hashed with MD5, then you wont be able to reverse them easily since it's not reversible.
MD5 is broken so you may be able to bruteforce or exploit the vulnerabilities but that's a job for experts in that field.

If those are HEX, do the same procedure that you did to the previous four keys in the OP to encode them into WIF.
Then import it to your "blank wallet" using the steps I've mentioned in my previous post.

Make sure Bitcoin Core's prune setting is disabled so you can rescan after it's fully synced or you'll just waste your internet bandwidth and time.

how i can Make sure Bitcoin Core's prune setting is disabled ?  


this is size storage in my computer - https://ibb.co/yqndVtj

I see, so the main disk doesn't have enough space for the blockchain that's why pruning is enabled.

You can use your 'disk D' as the data directory then disable pruning in Bitcoin-qt's setting:

• Open Bitcoin Core (bitcoin-qt) and open the settings: "Settings->Options..."
• Click "Open Configuration File" below and 'bitcoin.conf' will open using your notepad.
• Type/Paste: datadir=D:\Bitcoin into that text file, save it, then close it.
• Lastly, uncheck "Prune block storage to" to disable pruning (I have already told you this when you're just starting the sync process).

Restart Bitcoin core to reload the config file and it will sync from scratch after that.
That's all you need for now, wait until it's fully synced, then you can always use importprivkey to your 'blank wallet' if you found more keys.

hey

did exactly what you told me and i got this masg ---->>>> https://ibb.co/FKXQRTy

i can delete and re install bitcoin core if you like and choce D ?

you don't have to reinstall it. Just move the bitcoin folder from C disk (C:\Users\AppData\Roaming\Bitcoin) to D disk,

after that, on BTC shortcut change target (right-click property) into your new directory D -datadir=D:\Bitcoin

yeah it works fine - thank you 👍

i clicked on ( Prune block storage to ) - it show 2 GB - do i need to change it for 400GB ?

Size of database cache ( 450MB )

Numbers of script verification ( 0 )

:-\ "uncheck" means "remove the check" in the box.
If it's now unchecked, the value (2GB) that you're seeing is now grayed-out, it won't be used because pruning is now disabled and you cannot edit it.
If it's checked, pruning is still enabled.

You can also post a thread in your local board to speed things up, there, users post at your local timezone so they can reply as soon as you post.
Plus you can use your native language there.
Local Boards: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php#5 (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php#5) | Use Other languages/locations (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=11.0) if your language doesn't have a local board.

ahaa - thank you for everything - you did great job - i will use new topic for my local language ( arabic ) there - have a great night 🌹

You're welcome.
You can get back here or in the Bitcoin Technical Support (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=4.0) board if you can't find any support in your local board.

ok 👍