Bitcoin Forum

I used to have a bitcoincore wallet and kept my private key, but now I lost my private key and my wallet has no balance so it doesn't matter. But when I download the bitcoincore app and create a new wallet, why can't I retrieve the private key? is the only backup I have just the data in wallet.dat? is this safe?

Bitcoin Core changed the format of wallets from legacy to descriptor to facilitate the manipulation of creating or importing wallets within bitcoin core. See more on: What’s Coming To The Bitcoin Core Wallet in 0.21 (https://achow101.com/2020/10/0.21-wallets#:~:text=The%20Problem%20with%20Legacy%20Wallets)

In descriptor wallets commands such as dump and importprivkey will not work.

In a descriptor wallet, you own the private keys and you can get them at any time, but you will get them in descriptor format, inside the descriptor will be the xpriv (BIP32 root master private key). With this key, when using third-party tools, you can generate the wallet's individual keys. Just to remind you, Bitcoin Core uses the standard derivation path for descriptor wallets, so:


See more posts on the same subject:

Why is there no possibility to export privkeys when creating a descriptor wallet (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5395792.0)

What is the difference between an HD wallet and a Descriptor Wallet, if any ? (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5490256.0)

[SOLVED] How can one make a Paper Wallet from a Descriptor Wallet ? (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5488011.0)

How to import an xpriv to a descriptor wallet in bitcoin core? (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5483885.0)

Thank you for the explanation, I don't understand it yet but I will try reading from the link you provided

Your wallet.dat literally contains your private and aswell as your public key along with your scripts, metadata...... ,Backing up your wallet.dat should be fine to recover your wallet.
And yes it's  safe to recover your wallet with it if you backed it up before you lost  keys access to your wallet
--your question


However, not safe enough to only store your wallet.dat without any encryption  , you should encrypt it before backing it up for any case of malware, theft or attacks , so its highly recommended .

Wallet.dat file should be enough as a backup wallet file exporting the descriptor is not safe unless you know what you doing.

But for me. wallet.dat should be enough as a backup and make a multiple copy just make sure that it is encrypted with a passphrase and save it to any offline device like a USB/CD or a hard disk that's not always connected online.

I do not advise you to extract the private key, a.k.a master private key, as wallet.dat allows you to encrypt your private key with a password, and the stronger and unique it is, the more difficult to hack your wallet.

bitcoincore wallet is not a good option for beginners so why not use any SPV wallet like https://electrum.org or https://sparrowwallet.com where you get your 12 words wallet seed which can be easily stored offline.

Yes, for now I have used electrum because it is easier. But because Bitcoin Core is also one of the popular Bitcoin wallets, I also want to have it.

I'm also not interested in making modifications or other things, I prefer to use a wallet with standard functions and the most important thing is that it's safe. Thank you for the advice you gave

If you're using Bitcoin Core as a hot wallet, there's always the risk of online attacks. My advice: keep only amounts you're willing to risk in hot wallets (for daily use), and keep the rest in cold storage.
Also, make a few backups. I prefer different brand USB sticks. And once in a while make a new backup to include newer transaction labels.

Yes, thanks for your suggestion. I'm also planning to buy a hardware wallet in the next few months. Because I'm still in the bitcoin saving stage and currently don't have much bitcoin.

But I also started to think twice about using Bitcoin Core because the synchronization process takes a lot of time. It might be easier to use electrum. Does using multiple USBs also require having bitcoincore data on each USB?

Luckily, you only have to do that once. After that, is "only" downloads 11 GB per month at current rate.

Definitely!

You only need to backup your wallet, not the blockchain. Worst case, you'll just download it again.

Actually electrum is very simple. One of the reasons why I want to use bitcoincore is because bitcoincore is a wallet created by satoshi.

Do you think both are equally safe? and can you explain a little about the advantages of electrum and bitcoincore?

Satoshi also descriped the possibility to use a SPV (Simplified Payment Verification) wallet in his whitepaper (https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf). That's what Electrum does.

See: Choose your Bitcoin wallet (https://bitcoin.org/en/choose-your-wallet) for pros and cons.

The current code is completely different from what Satoshi wrote. 13 years have passed during which many changes have occurred.
You can compare Electrum Personal Server vs Bitcoin Core because they both run a full node but Electrum is an SPV and can be compared with wallets like Sparrow.

From the point of view of the functioning of the Bitcoin network itself (its decentralization and security), it is preferable for users to use the Bitcoin Core wallet.  
Because it is necessary to have a large number of full nodes in different parts of the globe, on different continents - this is the basis for the successful development of the Bitcoin network.  And Bitcoin Core is exactly that wallet that allows you to create full nodes.  Thus, by using the Bitcoin wallet - Bitcoin Core, you are contributing to the development of the Bitcoin ecosystem.  At the same time, Bitcoin Core is very inconvenient to use compared to the lightweight Electrum wallet.  
Bitcoin Core doesn't even support SegWit - this fact amazed me!  That is, by using Bitcoin Core, users lose their money due to higher fees.  
At the same time, it cannot be said that Bitcoin Core is more secure than Electrum - it is not.  
However, it is certainly much more difficult to use and requires very large computer resources.

Wrong. Bitcoin Core is easy to use. It does exactly what you expect it to do.

Wrong. I've been using Segwit addresses on Bitcoin Core for years.

Wrong. Your "fact" is not a fact. Bitcoin Core transaction fees don't have to be higher than in Electrum.

Just like it can't be said Electrum is more secure than Bitcoin Core. It depends on the user.

Wrong. Bitcoin Core is more resource intensive than Electrum, but given current computing power, I wouldn't call it "very large".

Even though I'd generally recommend newbies to use Electrum instead of Bitcoin Core, both have their uses. Electrum for instance will become difficult to use when you've made 10,000 transactions.

Yes, thanks for the note.  
Actually, I was wrong—Bitcoin Core fully supports SegWit addresses.  Accordingly, there should be no problems with excessively high commissions when using this wallet.  
It is logical that all modern Bitcoin technologies should be present in it....  Another advantage of Bitcoin Core over Electrum can probably be noted that Electrum uses third-party servers for its work, and this is a potential attack vector.  Probably, for an experienced Bitcoin user, the fact that the entire blockchain is located on his computer is very important.
For the owner of a powerful computer, it may make sense to master the Bitcoin Core wallet.  But now many users get by with a not very expensive and insufficiently powerful laptop in their work (and some even perform many actions using a simple smartphone).

I don't know where many users come to the conclusion that bitcoin core is not easy to use, apart from the inconvenience of having to download the entire blockchain, it's a wallet as easy and straightforward to use as electrum, wasabi, etc. It doesn't have a Polluted interface with several functions, containing only: overview, send, receive and transactions... what's difficult about that?

Additional resources are found in file, options and in the console we explore 100% of their functionalities.

Does Bitcoin Core not support segwit? I think you haven't opened your Bitcoin Core client since 2017. Bitcoin core is the most complete wallet when we talk about segwit, supporting all 4 types of addresses.

You are right, it is also possible to use electrum by connecting directly from your full node both locally and remotely through the Electrum personal server, electrs, electrumX etc.

I currently no longer use the aforementioned tools, since with the support for descriptors in bitcoin core, it's much better to use in bitcoin core, as I can import any wallet in xpub/xpriv into bitcoin core without needing to use wallets like electrum.

I've never read about an attack by giving fake block information or something. The only thing I've seen is a server telling the user to download malware.

My laptop is 9 years old, and far from powerful. But Bitcoin Core is not a problem. Have you ever used Bitcoin Core? If not, you should try it! Don't forget to enable Coin Control and walk through the options a bit, so you know what you can edit. And make a backup of your wallet before funding it.

In the scenario of a 51% attack, neither Bitcoin Core nor Electrum is going to help you.

This thread has gone from the original topic: "Cant export private key from a descriptor wallet" to "Bitcoin Core and Electrum" and now "51% attack".
The earlier replies are understandable since it's OP's concern of finding alternative to export private key, and OP was engaging.
But the later ones are getting off-topic.

I'm not a moderator but it would be appreciated if any additional info is posted as a new separate topic.
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