Bitcoin Forum

I am using Electrum 2.7.12 (standalone exe in its own dir) on win7 64

When setup I used third option "list of public or private keys" (not watch or default)
I entered strong pass for wallet encryption.
Imported my private keys as pasted list.
All seemed well and in order. Public keys calculated and balances are showing correctly.
These public addresses are not multisig, all start with 1

Now, whether I go to:

Tools>Sign/verify message

or

tab Addresses>particular address>Sign/verify message

I enter test message and proper public address (its written for me if I go through Addresses tab)

Click sign, enter password and always get error (False, x) where x is a number between 3 and 9 in my experience.

To check validity of my password I go to Wallet>Password and enter same in all 3 fields.. all fine password "changed".

What is happening here?

Thanks

I'm getting the same problem here. Imported keys only.

I also noticed that I can't open some older versions anymore.

Since we are in the Electrum forum I assume you are using Electrum for the signing attempt.  I am asking a question as much as giving an answer in this post.  It is my understanding that Electrum uses the SEED of the wallet to authenticate the signature.  I am thinking (but I am unsure) that Electrum doesn't view the private keys as what is needed to sign an address.

I am totally watching this thread because I have always wondered what the answer to this question is!  My guess is you sign with seed not private keys in Electrum.  [popcorn]

You cant sign with a seed.

Thanks Shorena,

So then is there a problem when private keys are imported into Electrum?  Didn't know if this thread is disclosing a bug in the latest version of Electrum, or if its a GENERAL thing that you can't sign with imported keys using Electrum.  Hope this question makes sense.  I have never had the need to import keys yet.  I usually just create a new wallet.  Trying to learn here.

Im not sure if I ever signed a message with an imported key before. I could however recreated the issue just now. In general electrum should be able to sign with those keys the same it does with keys derived from the wallet. From the error it seems that the code for this[1] is never called. As it throws a different error.

[1] here: https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum/blob/ac5929684699a458b4599b8c6e2dc65519ba94f7/lib/bitcoin.py#L560

It seems this is a known issue for over a month with not much feedback. https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum/issues/2034 (https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum/issues/2034)

Ill finish this in QT while its synced.

Thanks for responding guys

Tried to sign a message with imported key and it gives error (False,0)

Signing message via console gave error 'Traceback (most recent call last):'

Hope the bus is fixed soon

The problem hasn't been solved yet. Earlier I had signed messages with electrum without any problem, but today when i was in an urgent need to sign message, it showed this error : "(False,0)"
Please fix this asap !

Just for further clarification; are you attempting to sign using Electrum WITH imported keys, OR attempting to sign a regular Electrum wallet where all addresses match the one original SEED?

shouldn't there be some python utility or something somewhere that lets you create a signed message if you know the private key?

The OP's post is from 2016. You say it isn't fixed yet so does that mean you've updated to the latest version of electrum? Because there have been a lot of bug fixes since `16

I can confirmed this worked for me. I haven't tried to sign a message from an address created by Electrum itself.

@apoorvlathey: as a work around: you could move your funds to another wallet. Obviously make backups before trusting the new wallet.

Oh thanks ! I updated it just now and the sign feature is working perfectly now !
I want to ask is there any auto-update feature to avoid such bugs, because earlier too I had to manually download the update.

I wanted to thank you for taking the time to report back on this.  I don't use wallets with imported keys and I have always wondered about this when trying to help out here.  Now I know the correct answer!  Electrum signs flawlessly on my end.

Thomas, if you are following this thread thanks for fixing these glitches as your product keeps getting better and better!!