Bitcoin Forum

This will be my last post hopefully regarding Bitcoin Core.

I have bought a 1TB SSD and downloaded the entire blockchain + synced.

Here's the current situation:

I have this directory (D:\Bitcoin) - 89.8 MB - which contains:
daemon, share, bitcoin.conf, bitcoin-qt.exe COPYING.txt readme.txt and uninstall.exe

I have this directory (D:\BitcoinDownload) - 585 GB - which contains:
blocks, chainstate, DefaultWallet, .lock banlist.json bitcoind.pid
deblug.log, fee_estimates.dat, mempool.dat, peers.dat, settings.json

"DefaultWallet" is just simply what I created after everything downloaded/synced.

I have my own old 2013 wallet.dat I'm trying to open, but first, I thought I'd find an example wallet.dat
and test it out to ensure Bitcoin Core is functioning correctly (i have made multiple .dat backups).

So I browsed the forum and came upon this post:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5242967.0

"- Balance = 362.00495819 BTC. (Main Bitcoin Address: 1Jkn9wg1WbJdASNBPtQqdmm7wtrcSiATbf). Fake "wallet.dat". Download here. Password: "Hunnibear9"."

I've downloaded this file, which is from a trusted user (i'm aware it's fake)
"wallet_fake_008.dat"

And I've placed it within:
‪D:\BitcoinDownload\wallet_fake_008.dat

Now, I'm opening Bitcoin Core (as Administrator)
File > Restore Wallet > D:\BitcoinDownload\wallet_fake_008.dat

It asks for "Wallet Name" and my name is "Fake"

Now following this, all I see is "Restorting Wallet Fake..."

My questions are:
Is what I'm doing fine?
Is there a difference between Restoring and Opening?
What is the usual ETA for Restoring a Wallet?

I don't get it: you have Bitcoin Core fully synced, and you have your own old wallet.dat with enough backups. I'd say take it offline, keep it offline, and load your wallet into Bitcoin Core.

Why would you bother opening fake potentially dangerous wallets instead of your own wallet?

There is no problem with what you did to restore the fake wallet old version of Bitcoin Core does not have a restore button under the file menu but if you are using the latest version of Bitcoin Core it does have a restore button. Importing the wallet.dat file in the old version of Bitcoin core is through pasting the wallet file on a data storage location on the latest version you will need to use the restore option to import the wallet or the open wallet option would only work if you already have existed wallet.dat file with a separate folder under Bitcoin data folder if you don't have existed wallet folder under Bitcoin data folder you can't find any option on "open wallet" check the image below.

https://i.ibb.co/jVbvf5m/image.png

So you will need the restore option when importing a wallet.dat file or you can manually make a folder under "D:\BitcoinDownload\" and put the wallet.dat file under that folder (Make sure you rename it to wallet.dat).
Sample result below

https://i.ibb.co/Vq4nH1p/image.png

Here's my data folder
https://i.ibb.co/DwWZnrb/image.png

Inside the fakewallet folder

https://i.ibb.co/z60q3yz/image.png

I'm working under pretty secure conditions etc, fresh virtual machine with the important data isolated.

Just trying to understand the functionality of Bitcoin Core.

Thanks for the thorough reply.

I'm on the latest version of Bitcoin Core which DOES have the restore option, however I'm following what you said.

I've made "fakewallect" directory -
D:\BitcoinDownload\fakewallet

I've renamed the fake wallet to wallet.dat
‪D:\BitcoinDownload\fakewallet\wallet.dat

I've ran Bitcoin Core as Administrator, and used the "Open" feature.

Now it's just "Opening Wallet fakewallet.." (5 minutes and counting)

Does the "fake wallet" open instantly for you? (of course you may not want to risk this incase it's an infected file idk).

I just have a feeling what something with my Bitcoin Setup is incorrect.

I don't have your fake wallet file I just created mine and it's clean and it does not have much data yet that is why it loads instantly unlike yours.

If your wallet.dat file already has some data like lots of transactions, public keys, public keys, etc... then it would load too long.

About this "I just have a feeling what something with my Bitcoin Setup is incorrect." why did you say your Bitcoin setup is incorrect?
If you downloaded it from bitcoincore.org and verified it, it should be safe except for the fake wallet file you have we do not know if the trusted users you said sent you a clean wallet file.

Ok I'll be patient and let it (hopefully) eventually load.

Appreciate the replies.

- It works but, with Restore, you don't have to place it inside your bitcoin data directory because...

- Because with "Restore", Bitcoin Core will create its own wallet path inside wallets folder, the folder will be named as the wallet name that you've set.
  Then it will make a copy of the wallet file that you've selected, and load it.
  Basically, all you did in post #5, but done automatically.

  With "Open", it skips all the above and proceeds to load the wallet file, but the option can only see wallets in the data directory or wallets folder.
  In this case, pasting the "wallet_fake_008.dat" in the datadir/walletsdir is necessary.
  
- Differs per wallet and machine specs.

So your trying to understand core?

"I have my own old 2013 wallet.dat I'm trying to open, but first, I thought I'd find an example wallet.dat
and test it out to ensure Bitcoin Core is functioning correctly (i have made multiple .dat backups)."

So you know a thing or 2 already, you got as far as exporting a .dat from core in 2013, downloading things like that from someone who actually has no established trust (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=trust;u=821717) isnt the best idea even on vm.