Bitcoin Forum

Good day everyone

Thanks for your help here.

My frustration as follows:

I have Legacy wallets from bitcoin core as from 2012/2014 with their corresponding private keys. I checked the coins on cointracker with the address and coin results correspond.

https://bitcoinelectrum.com/importing-your-private-keys-into-electrum/

I import the corresponding private key into electrum exactly using the guide above and insert the appropriate prepend script for my wallet like in the info button on the page. It synced after 30 hours and gave me the same balance and coins but put a message up saying the following:

“This wallet is watching-only. This means you will not be able to spend Bitcoins with it. Make sure you own the seed phrase or the private keys, before you request Bitcoins to be sent to this wallet”

But that is exactly what I did. I do own the private key and imported the private key. It starts with “K” and others with a “L” is 52 characters long and has a corresponding wallet address starting with 1, in other words Legacy address.

I did not import the address at all. The privacy key gave me the right address after import. The history and coins are also right.

Did you experience before?

Thank you in advance

The only thing I can think of is that you are not using Electrum. It is either some other software (eg. a full node) or it is malicious (eg. fake Electrum). Did you verify the signature? Here is a guide: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5240594.0

Because Electrum barely downloads 70 MB when it is syncing for the first time and it shouldn't take 30 hours to download that. And if you have imported private keys there is no way for Electrum to have built a watch only wallet.

The only time I had problems importing a private key into Electrum was when I was playing with key that's pretty much known by everybody and it has far too many transactions. In such a case the Electrum servers will make you wait a lot and possibly even fail.

Just some safety checks:
Did you download electrum from electrum.org? Did you verify it? https://bitcoinelectrum.com/how-to-verify-your-electrum-download/
Did you put p2pkh: before the private key at import?


If the number of transactions is indeed that big you may need a wallet that doesn't rely on electrum servers, and then I don't know a better option than Bitcoin Core (with the 300+GB of blockchain). So let's see where the problem is. The number of transactions you can see on a block explorer by address.

Yes we checked the signature after downloading from electrum.org

Also I stay in South Africa in a more rural area and my line speed is around 4.5m/sec and latency round 250msec

I have a quick question. I installed the electrum app on my one laptop and synced the database. I wanted to check my other wallet on my other laptop because of the line speed and copied the database over after installing the app. Will it have any effect because the error came up on this laptop?

You can copy the "blockchain_headers" file and your wallet file and everything should be fine as long as the Electrum version on both systems are the same. Other files like "config", "daemon", and "certs" folder should be fine too but there is no need to copy them.

I saw a topic on the forum which make me think it could be the problem as Hugesie27 said he could not solve his similar issue and only manage to after uninstall the app and do a complete new install.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5333170.msg56868841#msg56868841

Also I am using Electrum for the first time so I cant reply on whether it happened before. We used Bitcoin Core way back when it was still small.

This should not happen.

Are you sure you are opening the correct wallet file? You can have multiple different wallet files with Electrum. It is possible you created a watch only wallet using the addresses which Electrum is now opening by default when you open Electrum, whereas the wallet file you create the with private keys is elsewhere.

Repeat the whole process again. Create a brand new wallet, choose to import private keys, and make sure you are entering p2pkh:K....

If that doesn't work, uninstall, redownload, reverify, and reinstall Electrum, in case there was some issue with your download or installation.

OP, you can easily check that by looking in your Electrum roaming folder and seeing how many wallet files are there. If you use Windows, you can find it in 'C:\Users\Your User\AppData\Roaming\Electrum\wallets'. You might need to enable hidden files to access the Roaming folder.

Is the prefix really needed when entering private keys to recover legacy addresses? Electrum should automatically default to recovering a legacy address if no prefix is specified. Only if you want to recover SegWit address, you need to specify the correct prefix. Maybe he can try with and without and see if there is a difference. Although I don't think that's the issue here.

A quicker way is to open "Run" from the start menu and type in %appdata%.

The reason I suggested using the prefix here was not to make sure the address was legacy, because as you say Electrum will default to legacy address for the time being (although I suspect in the future it will default to segwit addresses just as it defaults to segwit seed phrases now). Rather, it was to make sure he really is entering a private key and not getting confused by entering an address. If he pastes either an address or a private key, it will accept either as is. If he uses the p2pkh prefix, it will only accept a private key and will not accept an address.

Just start over via file > new/restore.

Well now I am totally confused. I followed your advice and install a new Electrum from the website, checked the signature, and opened a wallet and import my private key with the prepend included. Didn't give me a watching only so far but have been syncing for 12 days already. Didn't display the coins so far. It downloaded the 57mbytes in the appdata directory which looks fine but used around 100gig of data in the past 12 days while synchronizing.

I am going to use some sample keys and addresses but it contains only dust so I am not concerned that it might fall into the wrong hands.

At first when I started off in 2012 I created Legacy wallets with their private keys (not encrypted) and had some transactions done in it. Last transactions done around 2013 to 2015. Then I stopped until November last year when I tried to access my wallets again for the first time again. That was when I imported the private keys for the first time into Electrum and it gave me a Watching only wallet as mentioned above.

I need to mention that I tried to sweep it as well once and it gave me a "no inputs found" pop up. I added my original wallet address on Cointracker and it shows my coins. Out of frustration I imported my smallest wallet (dust) in blockchain.com with the private key but it then gave me a different address. I couldnt believe it and imported my private key into a Key Compression tool and once again it gave me a different address but the same as blockchain.com.
Only Electrum showed me (and I imported only the private key) the right address and the coins in it, the way I created it back in 2013. Only the wallet was a watching only.

This is an example of my detail then and now.

In 2013 in Bitcoin Core I created and saved on a spreadsheet the following private key and address:
 Private Key: L3k1XxxxXXXXXxXxxxXxXxxxXXxXXxXXXxxXxXyxXxxxXxXXX5i
Address: 1AgV6A1vaRQ16G8sRR1VUW4r8EDnmdEBpy (coins are in here)

In 2022 the same private key shows the following address when importing it anywhere else:

Address:  14YjouC6ba7MR6WJWE7Wjsa6FdDYwjkX2p (no coins in here)

Can anyone please explain to me why this happened and more important why Electrum is showing the correct wallet address when imported the first time with same private key.

Much appreciated

The only possible explanation is either you imported a different key into "anywhere else" that got you the wrong address staring with 14 or the tool you used was seriously broken that created a wrong address. If I had to bet, I would say it is the former.

Your public key for "1AgV6A1vaRQ16G8sRR1VUW4r8EDnmdEBpy" is "0231454b30d68c681655c25d5f5985616c46d73ecee01a72fa2afcae82529e8138" (based on the only outgoing transaction this address has) and even if the tools use the uncompressed public key the address would still be "1CrSFKMZf3Q5xRrz6j2sMbYHFdTasNGoCh" not the one starting with "14".

I copy and paste my keys so I doubt it that I could have made the same mistake at more than three places. Since there is nothing in this particular private key let me post it here with screen shots. Coming up

You are saying that you imported a private key and you didn't get the address you expected. You also imported the same private key into electrum and got a correct address but the wallet was watch-only.
And now you are asking why the electrum watch-only wallet generated the correct address while other wallets generated a wrong address.
Am I getting you right?

If so, as mentioned by pooya87, you have imported a wrong private key.
And you see a correct address on the electrum watch-only wallet, because you imported the address not the private key.

Don't say you imported a private key into electrum and it created a watch-only wallet. That's impossible.

I'd never do that if I were you.
Even if it's empty in your tests, there may still be unclaimed be "fork coins" in there or specially if the issue turns out to be the software's fault.

Anyways, you can test if the Electrum you're using is indeed deriving the correct address from the given private key
by importing a random private key (e.g: from paper wallet generators) and see it the correct address will be imported; if it does, then it's what they've said.

In all due respect Hosseinimr93, it is 100% correct what I said. I did not have the addresses at hand when I copied it. I have 8 wallets and all of them are legacy wallets starting with 1 and private keys starting with K and L. If I made a mistake with 1 or 2 it is still unlikely that I made a mistake with all. It is now 3 months that I am busy with it and by now I will know not to be mistaken.

However, I want to ask you, I uninstalled electrum from my Laptop and did a fresh download and checked the signatures and even deleted all in the appdata so it can start 100% fresh. Why is it taking so long (12 days)? IS there a way I can see what it is doing and how far it is? 100Gigs of data is a lot if the download is merely 57megs.
But now its not showing a watching only wallet after 2 days like before. It seems stuck in syncing.

Is there any way you can assist me?

Point taken

Thanks for the advice. I am just so frustrated with my situation that I would risk something to achieve something.

Thank you again

Thanks for the reply. Much appreciated. I however did not make a mistake with mixing up the keys. None of my wallets starts with a 14........  All are old legacy wallets

I cant help to feel there must be another explanation for the difference.

Just a small remark, since you wrote "coins are in there": if this is indeed the address you want to recover, it has no funds (https://mempool.space/address/1AgV6A1vaRQ16G8sRR1VUW4r8EDnmdEBpy). I mean, it has one satoshi, which you cannot move. And I've found a lot of linked addresses that are empty.

An idea would be to stop the internet connection (so it doesn't sync at all) and get from the console again the relevant private keys. I think that you may have been mixing up something - from the wallet for which you've saved the things, to - I don't know - some attempts to encrypt your saved data which now returns something different. Bitcoin core should have the keys though.

Of course, before doing anything you should make a safe copy of the correct wallet.dat

It shouldn't do this and there is no point leaving it longer. There is obviously something stopping it from syncing properly. Try the following:

• Ensure Electrum version is 4.1.5.
• Click on Tools -> Network, find any new server, right click on it, and click "Use as server".
• Then click on the Proxy tab in the same window, and ensure it is turned off.
• Check that Electrum isn't being block by a firewall or antivirus.
• Check that Electrum isn't being blocked by a VPN if you use one.
• Try deleting the blockchain_headers file and reopening the wallet.

Although it is not syncing, is it showing you the correct address in the Addresses tab?

Thanks for the advise.

When I start to import the Privacy key it gives me another address which I am not sure at this point where it is coming from but the moment it showed me the coins it switches to watching only and gives the correct address and correct coins. That was the previous time I tried. But now it again show a different address but still not showing me coins and also not showing watching only like with the previous attempt. Although this is a fresh start and fresh app installation.

Still Oeloe I really didn't make a mistake with the privacy keys. If I attempt importing it into blockchain.com I get a different address like I said in my above messages. An address wont start with a K or L. That is all I am working with.

My firewalls are disabled and I dont use a VPN.

Regards

Yes true there is only 0.00000001 coins in it and that's why I call it dust which cant be moved. Only reason I posted that specific one is because it is doin the same thing but at least I don't play with my other wallets on the forum. I don't intent to move anything from there. How do you see which other addresses are linked to it? I need to find the source of my problems.

Thanks in advance

Wallets cannot switch from a standard wallet to a watch only wallet. This functionality simply does not exist. You are misremembering what happened in the past.

So every time you import the private key, it gives you the same address which has no funds. And the only time you have seen funds is when you have imported the address in to a watch only wallet. It sounds like the address you have written down is not related to the private key you have written down.

I don't think that it will find the root of your problems. Sorry to say, but you seem to be doing something wrong and you seem to misunderstand something related to wallet, private keys and/or what you've been doing there. I don't know what though.

However: if you go to the page I've linked, you'll see that in one direction (source) you can have 16AZ9BZpSGEufpacYcwYv9Y8Jp6L5KoCuT and its parents,
and in the spending direction (aside of the 1dice gambling site you've been playing at) 1BNGRgo31K3AbxdVSZs9ErBP1sz8GPGL87 (which was probably the change address when you've been depositing/playing)
Both may or may not be yours.

From there you can go in all directions and find a plethora of addresses and transactions, with higher or lower chance to be yours.
You can basically take into account all the change addresses from your transactions (just going upstream the chances to go wrong increase) and probably ignore other addresses from the transactions sourced from 1dice.

This was by hand. You can use specialized websites too, like walletexplorer.com, which may or may not do a better job (or may just gather info from you for others' use).

I forget private key and seed pharse
I have only dat file
How to recover my wallet with only dat file?

1. Make your own topic with your questions.
2a. Easiest is to install Bitcoin core (and place the .dat file to correct location) to at least extract the relevant private keys from that wallet. Or sync if you can.
2b. Or use Pywallet to extract the private keys: https://notatether.com/bitcoin/how-to-use-pywallet-to-extract-bitcoin-private-keys/

Is it a "wallet.dat" file or "electrum.dat" file?
If it's wallet.dat, post a new thread in Bitcoin Technical Support (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=4.0) board and follow the sticky thread "Tech Support Help Request Format".
Otherwise, post it here in Electrum board.

For starters, if it's electrum.dat, you can just load a copy of it using the latest version of Electrum and it will open without issues.
For further concerns, please add it to the thread that you'll create.

Good day Guys

Let me try and explain myself a little bit more. Hopefully someone might see my point and perhaps give some ideas to try and solve my problem.
I worked on this issue with my son that started with bitcoin mining in 2011 and stopped in 2015. When we say we loaded a private key and when we say we loaded an address we did it together and let’s assume we didn’t get confused.

We started with bitcoin core but we couldn’t get the private key to get the wallet to be spendable.

On 18/11/2021 I downloaded the Electrum setup file 4.1.5 (see image in folder). We have 8 wallets of which 3 have only 0.00000001 coins in it. The others are our primary wallet addresses. We had the addresses with their Private keys on paper on a sheet since 2015.

We loaded the private key (only) in Electrum after creating a new wallet and then choosing option 4 to import/restore wallet. With or without prepend doesn’t make a difference as we are using Legacy wallets. We didn’t encrypt it and it started syncing. At first it gave us a wallet that says imported and in the address line gave an address with the option of a private key (see image – Electrum1). It synchronized for around 30 hours and then gave us the total coins with the transaction history.  Besides that it turned to watching only and then in the address line it gives our old address.  (See image – Electrum2). At some point after that it gave a green line at the bottom that says Coin Control active and synchronized until the total 2022 was done (see image – coin control).

All this was done with only the private key. The wallet after turning to watching only gave us automatically our paper wallet addresses itself but stayed watching only. If we check the private key on another platform like Exodus or Blockchain it gives a different address. Our coins are in the Electrum given addresses as given correctly by Electrum (see images – Exodus or Blockchain)

We tried to but didn’t sweep any of the private keys. All coins are still in the same addresses as mentioned on top.

I know what you told me to start over and so on but if there are anybody reading this post that had a similar problem where it seems the address of the private key is different and that had a solution, please help.
It will be much appreciated.

All images are in the link below
https://bennas.imgbb.com/

I think the information you need is about the nature of private keys and addresses.
It's not some sort of a backup that'll fetch an address from a server; just think of it as a "pair".
The Private key is actually a big number which a public key can be computed from, and the address is derived from that public key.

Better ELI5 explanation: https://learnmeabitcoin.com/beginners/keys_addresses (https://learnmeabitcoin.com/beginners/keys_addresses)

There can't be a network/server-side error which could lead to wrong address recovered from a private key, all is computed by the client/wallet, if there's an issue, it's the client.
With that, if Blockchain.com and Exodus both derive the same address (and test other clients), then there's something wrong with your Electrum or you've imported the wrong private key.
You said that you've verified its signature and it checks out?

BTW, your images: "Coin Control" and the alleged turned watch-only wallet "Electrum 2" doesn't fit the story because of the huge difference in the number of available (unspent) outputs and "TX" count in the history.

Yes its true because I have 8 wallets and I didn't have an image for that particular combination so I posted a picture I took with my Phone.


We did check the signature. But how is it that my Electrum synchronization picks up all 8 my private keys' addresses 100% correctly. If it didn't belong to those private keys where did the information come from then. Is it not strange to you then? I mean they didn't come from my computer while syncing.

It is not that unlikely to make a simple mistake while importing those keys one by one. You may have even made the mistake of pasting an address that you had copied for some other reason into your import window which is why you ended up with a watch only wallet in first place. It definitely doesn't happen while you are syncing.

Well what if I tell you it is impossible that I made a simple mistake like that. I also didn't make a mistake while posting it on blockchain?? I made pretty sure that it started with a K or L. I didn't even have the address on the same sheet. It happened by itself 100% sure. Is there really no one out there that might think of anything that can cause that result. It is just the way it happened. Is there some other forum where I can ask the same question?

Okay...
I see the situation strange based from the available info and at this point, I have no idea what's happening in your client since none of it should happen under normal circumstances.
('Imported' into 'imported watch-only' | Imported the same prvKey  to other wallets and derived different address)
Sorry I can't help more.

Thanks for your effort though. Much appreciated.

@nc50lc is right, the things you explain with certainty like importing the same exact key into different software and getting different addresses is not something that can happen under normal circumstances. One of the reasons why I initially asked you whether you had verified the Electrum file was this, you can't just get a different address from the same key if the software is legit.

You could try reddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/) or SE (https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/).

I agree with you there. Reason why I concentrated on this point is because without the addresses nowhere close to the Electrum platform it linked 100% the right addresses, with its transactions, when I only used the Private keys. I never even bothered to try and enter an address in Electrum ever. But these private keys come from 2011/2013. So I was surprised to find these Private keys brings up another address on another platform. You get my point there. Even if there were something wrong with the software. How did it arrive at my original addresses as I left it in 2013/14? Is there not another way to look at this issue?


You could try reddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/) or SE (https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/).

Thanks for the info

Once again, wallets can not turn from standard wallets in to watching only wallets. This is simply not possible.

The wallets that you are showing in your images named Electrum1 and Electrum2 are two entirely different wallets. One is called "default_wallet" and the other is called "john 4". The former was created by importing a private key, while the latter was created by importing an address.

You need to ignore the addresses you have copied down - importing them will achieve nothing in terms of accessing your coins and they are just causing you confusion as you keep creating watching only wallets. I also think you have likely copied down some addresses you do not have the private key for. Import the private keys you do have in to both Electrum and Blockchain. If the addresses they generate match and are empty, then there is nothing else you can do.

The two images are not from the same wallet because I didn't have a screen-print for wallet after turning to watching only I agree. Fact is I dont even open the addresses file when I work with Electrum because I don't need them. The first image just shows that when a private key is imported it first give me an address with a private key from the system. After switching to watching only it gives me my old address that belongs to the private key

But thanks for the help oeloe. Much appreciated

That's because they are different wallets. There is no link between different Electrum wallets. Just because you imported a private key in to the first wallet, it does not mean the address in the second watch only wallet is somehow linked to that private key.

Do you have a different computer you consider safe and malware-free where you can download a genuine copy of Electrum and try it there? Maybe even using the mobile version of Electrum.
It's not recommended to use older versions, but at this stage, you might just try that as well. You can find older Electrum versions here (https://download.electrum.org/). Maybe try with the 3.3.8 (don't use older versions than that) or the 4.0.1.

Besides that, you might want to try and get in touch with the Electrum developers and the community over GitHub (https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum/issues). Maybe someone sees something we haven't. 

Sir thank you so much for your reply.

I am going to follow your advice. It started to feel as if no-one wants to give the scenario a different thought. What I didn't do was to get mistaken by addresses and private keys and also Electrum was the only platform that brought up my original addresses for those private keys without the addresses even near the app. So that means there is a link to them and even the transactions are 100% correct. Definitely not a coincidence.

Where do I get in contact with the developers? Here on the same forum?

Lastly, can a private key have or have had more than 1 address or linked to more than 1 address? Those are my keys and my original addresses. Why does other platforms give an address that I do not know when imported but Electrum gives my original addresses. Lastly since you are more sympathetic to my issue I just want to confirm that Electrum shows imported and after showing my coins turn to watching only itself with only my private key in use. No doubt about it. As if something make it turn to watching only as if there is doubt about the private key. Therefore I will contact the developers as suggested.

Follow the GitHub link I posted in the previous post. You can register on GitHub and from the link, create a new issue. Anyone can then comment including the Electrum team if they want to.
ThomasV (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=3137) is an Electrum developer and a moderator of this sub. However, he hasn't been online since 2020. You can try and PM him and he might get an email notification and respond back. But I am not sure if it will work.

The same private key can recover a legacy, nested segwit, and native segwit address. It depends on what prefix you enter before it in Electrum or if you don't enter a prefix at all.

Everyone who has tried to help you is surely not unsympathetic and wishes you any harm. It's just that no one has ever seen a case in which you import a private key, it recovers a standard wallet but then changes it into a watch-only wallet. Honestly, I can't remember ever hearing about it either. That's why I suggested checking elsewhere, but I think you will get pretty much the same responses as you did here.

Because it is a balance of probabilities. It is exponentially more likely that you are getting confused between private keys and address or are opening the wrong wallet files compared to the alternative that you are the first person ever to have a standard Electrum wallet convert itself to a watching only wallet. If you honestly believe that this is what is happening, then yes, open an issue on Github because you have discovered a significant vulnerability. I doubt very much that this is the case, though.

It can be linked to different address types as Pmalek has said. It can also be linked to uncompressed and compressed public key (with different addresses), but pooya87 already excluded that possibility on the first page of replies. So unless you did something really abnormal with the private key, then the answer is going to be no.

Much appreciated guys. I know you work with a lot of issues and accept it. Only wanted to mention again that we have an exceptionally bad line speed where I stay. Looks like it could contribute to all of this.

I will try your suggestions and if I discover what could be wrong I will post it here.

Thanks again

I highly doubt it, Electrum will only require about 56MB of data once (first time it launched), then only a trickle of few bytes after that.
Unless you're running a few lightning channels without trampoline routing.

Not to mention that the whole process of turning private keys in to address is done locally, and indeed can be done without an internet connection at all. There is no reason that Electrum would start generating incorrect addresses just because it has a slow connection or no connection at all. Even when you import a private key in to blockchain.com, the conversion to an address is done within your browser and does not require an internet connection.

I kinda doubt it.
However, I've got an idea which I am not sure it was discussed:

Is there a chance that the wallet file cannot be properly written to HDD or get overwritten by an older version (by an antivirus or system protection), or something like that?
What I mean is the maybe you manage to try to restore your wallet on another computer (of course, make sure it's clean and that the Electrum is from electrum.org and verified (https://bitcoinelectrum.com/how-to-verify-your-electrum-download/)). Or you can try for an 0.00000001 address even on your smartphone (although I don't have the same experience on smartphone) ; maybe you see whether it restores to the correct address and it's spendable or not. Or you can try sparrow wallet, which is pretty much compatible with Electrum and uses Electrum servers too, but it may get a bit more complicated to set up.

Maybe they're only crazy ideas, but if you have that time, it's only a bit of time to lose, isn't it?

Thank you sir

I like your thinking and crazy ideas. My wallets are very old and created in the beginning if BTC.

I saw another post in the thread of Bennoko where nc50lc made the following comment " That's what I'm talking about in the previous replies, as stated in the release notes of v0.32+: /index.php?topic=5379817.msg58904925#msg58904925
The key derivation was changed twice since v0.31 (v0.31 and v0.34), thus, those old wallets' private keys can't be restored using the latest version.
He'll have to get the private keys from the restored wallet in v0.30 and import them to the latest (if still didn't worked, get the keys from v0.32~0.33)."

That makes me think that I might have a similar problem. The Electrum app picks up my correct addresses without having the address near to it. So must have a historical link to it. I am just not sure if a developer might shed some light on it but for the interim I am following your suggestions.

Many thanks

You seem to be confusing apples with oranges. That thread is discussing about restoring a wallet based on electrum seed, not private keys. (And while the seed has change, the private keys didn't).
A seed is a list of (usually English) normal words. It's not what you have, since you stated you have private keys taken from Bitcoin Core. Or?

Yes true it is from Bitcoin core but I am just looking for some fresh approach to look at my situation. Like I said Electrum have the ability to pick up the right addresses for the private keys. So it means something in its software links the original addresses where the coins are with the private keys that now gives a different address. You see where I am going? I know he is trying to restore from seed phrase.

So let me get this straight. You downloaded Electrum, you imported your private key(s) whose addresses have received BTC, and wanted to spend those coins. But, at first you couldn't sync your Electrum client. (You said it was taking hours to complete)

Now that you do have synced it (I can see it from your shared images) you don't get... What? Weren't you getting the correct addresses given the private keys you'd saved?

Also, if you want to hide your addresses, better do it in the entire text, not just within it. I can easily search what's your address as I know the first 6 characters and the last 8 characters.

I am not with you sir. Did you read the entire thread? I am not trying to hide my addresses. Theres dust in that one.

I said if I import the keys (not addresses) in another platform like blockchain I get an address for that Private key that is different to the original addresses that I got years back. The new address that show up in blockchain and Exodus is empty. No coins. But when I import it in Electrum Private keys ( not addresses) it brings up the original addresses that belong to that Private key. After a while of course and watch only. Those still have the correct transactions and coins in it.

Do you understand what my problem is?

I read the entire thread, but I'm not confident to say that I've fully understood what's the problem.

bennas.imgbb.com (https://bennas.imgbb.com) tells me otherwise.

So, you're importing the L3k1...5i to blockchain dot com and don't get the same address as you were with Bitcoin Core in 2013, correct? One step at a time.

So, you're importing the L3k1...5i to blockchain dot com and don't get the same address as you were with Bitcoin Core in 2013, correct? One step at a time.
[/quote]

1. I started with bitcoin core around 2011 up to 2015. Private keys and addresses generated those years. Left the addresses with some coins and never had a look at it again until last year November.

2. I tried to get access to my wallets in bitcoin core but private keys wont regenerate spendable wallets. Did not even show addresses.

3. Downloaded Electrum 4.1.5 and import private keys in Electrum. Took some time but gave me a watching only wallet but with my original Addresses the way I left it with the coins still there.

4. Tried to import the private key in Blockchain but it gave me a different address. No coins in it (Obviously). Same different address with Exodus.

5. Went back to Electrum again. Gave me watching only address again when importing private keys with original addresses.

6. Never tried to import any address in any of these platforms.

Does it make more sense what I tried to solve my issue?
 

Honestly, no, but you shouldn't give up. The more you talk about it, the more your chances to recover them.

For how many addresses are we talking about?

This doesn't make sense. Why should private keys regenerate wallets? Do you mean they don't give the same addresses once imported to another wallet?

There are lots of things that I can't explain such as:

• Why did it take so long to sync?
• Why did it return you a watch-only wallet if you imported private keys?

There's probably something done wrong during the importation as I've never seen this case before. If you're importing valid private keys in the correct format, such as:

You should be getting a non-watch-only wallet.

Note that if your private key starts with K, then these are compressed addresses and since your time period was 2011-2015, those addresses should be starting with 1. Blockchain dot com or Exodus may return you addresses that either start with 3 or bc1.

What you're looking is called a legacy address. Again, those that start with 1. Don't mess with wallet software that don't have the option of importing legacy addresses, it's a waste of time.

Have you tried importing one private key at a time?

Good, stick with Electrum, it's more than fine.

Honestly, no, but you shouldn't give up. The more you talk about it, the more your chances to recover them.

Yes I cant afford to let it go. It feels like we are making progress but slow. Very slow. Three months now :)

For how many addresses are we talking about?

We have 8 addresses all Legacy wallets and address starting with 1. All private keys starting with K or L

This doesn't make sense. Why should private keys regenerate wallets? Do you mean they don't give the same addresses once imported to another wallet?

What I meant if I import it into Bitcoin core it doesn't give a spendable wallet

There are lots of things that I can't explain such as:

Why did it take so long to sync?
Why did it return you a watch-only wallet if you imported private keys?


No one can explain this. I am desperate for someone to recall or have any idea why this is possible at all. Just the way it happened and I have to find a reason or solution. I imported it exactly the way you showed on top. Prepend included.

Note that if your private key starts with K, then these are compressed addresses and since your time period was 2011-2015, those addresses should be starting with 1. Blockchain dot com or Exodus may return you addresses that either start with 3 or bc1.


Unfortunately they give me an address that starts with 1 as shown in the pictures. If it returned me addresses starting with 3 or bc1 then it was easily explainable. But no.

Have you tried importing one private key at a time?

Yes with the same result 100%

I am dumbstruck with this issue. Should not be that difficult but thats how it is. But yes we are working on it with you guys.

Thank you so far

As I wrote in another post: give it a try on a different computer. Maybe install Tails OS onto an USB stick (if you have a spare) and try from that one.
The problem may be something else from your computer interfering with what you are trying to do.
It's the only explanation I have now, since if you indeed do all you claim to do, then Electrum clearly doesn't behave as expected.

Yes I am busy with it. On the other computer now it is the first time the orb remains blue arrows while its syncing. Previously went to green quickly but not fully synced. You might have a good point here.

What's the message it returns you? Could we have a screenshot from the GUI?

This can't be happening to anyone. Let me take your steps with 8 random private keys.

So you have these keys in a notepad, I assume, just like that:

---

This is definitely not Electrum's fault. I don't know what's going on, but if he has verified the signature of the software it doesn't have to do with it.

This can't be happening to anyone. Let me take your steps with 8 random private keys.

Yes I did it exactly like you did. Same key type and it returned next to the green "Receiving" my original addresses. With a download of which the signature was verified.

This is definitely not Electrum's fault. I don't know what's going on, but if he has verified the signature of the software it doesn't have to do with it.

I think its more a question of seeking help with my issue.

Fortunately Electrum returned my old wallet addresses which made me in return know that my addresses and key fit one another and that there is hope.

But, the wallet is watch-only?

Whether or not it syncs is irrelevant for the purposes of checking the address. Create a new wallet, import a private key, go to the addresses tab and see if the correct address shows up. You don't even need an internet connection to do this.

Which obviously means OP has imported an address rather than a private key, but he insists he is importing private keys only and not addresses, and he also insists he is not getting confused and opening different wallets files. Either he is mistaken, or there is a never seen before bug in which his Electrum is converting an imported private key wallet in to a watch only wallet.

---

Are any of the old addresses which you cannot recover with these private keys empty? If there is a private key with no funds on it, it might be worth sharing it with someone you trust and asking them to recover it to see what happens.

At least one of his test addresses has one Satoshi on it. Sharing the private key would be an interesting approach so we can see what the problem is.
Just the risk is that maybe OP - as confused as he is - gives the key of an address with funds by mistake. Hence I would rather do this privately for start.

Yes a watching only wallet!

Now what we did next yesterday. We went to the city for a quicker internet line. We did a fresh download from Electrum.org website the oldest version available namely v1.8. We took one key (not address - Starts with an L ;)) and did like you did in your previous reply. Exactly like that.

It started importing and next to the Green receiving line gives a totally unknown address. The orb in the bottom righthand corner remains with the blue arrows syncing for 15 hours. Following moment orb goes green. Imported on top of the app change to watching only and the old original address appears next to the green receiving line and unknown address is gone.

Any ideas (OP did not make a mistake with the private key - Lets move beyond that point)

Yes I think it might be a good idea. I am willing to share one of the keys with one Satoshi in it with you guys to see if I do something wrong. Don't stress I might be confused with what is happening with our imports but I wont share keys with coins in it with anyone. I will be careful. What I don't know (OP is a newbie) is how to share it privately. If you advise I will send it to you.

Thanks once again

[/b]

I will share it with you sir. How do I do it privately?

On the left area of each post you can find the user name of the poster.
Click that username, you'll see the user profile.
On the bottom area you'll find a link: Send this member a personal message. Click it and you'll be in an e-mail like form. You will see that the "to" area contains the correct target username.
Write the message and click "send private message".

Thank you I will send it now.

It also warns you to not send sensitive messages and there's a reason for that. Besides o_e_l_e_o and Bennas the content may be readable from administrators and email providers. Why have we reached the point where the OP transfers private keys?

---

This has abruptly started to sound very weird. I have a sneaking suspicion that there's something rather malicious with this case. I repeat: If you imported a private key IT CANNOT HAVE RETURNED YOU A WATCH-ONLY WALLET.

Would you mind if I sent you a private key and recorded the procedure?

I get where you are coming from. I am just at a point with this case where it feels like a dead end. You for instance keep on telling me "IT CANNOT HAVE RETURNED YOU A WATCH-ONLY WALLET and I am telling you it does. Many times and many versions. Only one Satoshi in that wallet sir. I made sure. Nothing malicious from my side.

Would you mind if I sent you a private key and recorded the procedure?

Why do you want to send me a private key? I don't have the knowledge to help you.

But thank you for the help so far. Much appreciated.

If you had downloaded a popular open-source calculator, stated that you verified the binaries and got 3 when you added 1 to 1, then what's more likely? For you to have misunderstood the problem or for the developers to have left a backdoor? I'm just telling you what's much more likely.

I'll send you a private key (with no funds) and you will record me a video where you import that key and get a watch-only wallet.

OK, so I've received in PM a private key.

OP wrote:


My Electrum also returns 14YjouC6ba7MR6WJWE7Wjsa6FdDYwjkX2p for that private key, hence the key is not the correct one for 1AgV6A1vaRQ16G8sRR1VUW4r8EDnmdEBpy

The first thing that I have to say is that unfortunately it seems that OP has probably noted down the wrong private keys and he should get them again, carefully, from his Bitcoin Core wallet. As long as Bitcoin core is in the state it can run, no internet is necessary for this.

The second thing to discuss is how did this private key could ever give a watch-only wallet with another address (i.e. the elusive 1AgV6A1vaRQ16G8sRR1VUW4r8EDnmdEBpy).

The second thing to discuss is how did this private key could ever give a watch-only wallet with another address (i.e. the elusive 1AgV6A1vaRQ16G8sRR1VUW4r8EDnmdEBpy).


I just want to mention that Electrum did it with more than 1 version, all 8 keys imported at different instances and different laptops. All the addresses correspond and were correct. Coincidence? I don't think so. All watching only.

I am not sure if yours gave a watching only.

No, it didn't give watch only. It gave normal imported wallet. Just the corresponding address is 14YjouC6ba7MR6WJWE7Wjsa6FdDYwjkX2p, hence no 1 satoshi balance, no transactions.



I would assume that something is awfully wrong with your computer - whether that's a malicious Electrum, whether it's an antivirus, or some odd recovery/shielding setup, or plain malware, or user rights that doesn't allow writing onto that folder or something else I cannot tell.

I'm dumbstruck. I am not sure the way forward.

Have you tried importing the same private key in another computer?

Busy with it as we speak sir. Fresh computer and fresh install

Also now trying Linux on yet another computer

Then back to Bitcoin Core older version.

I don't think me and my son will find any other keys.

Comes back to the same old story. Why did Electrum collect my correct addresses? And maybe if you leave the wallet on for maybe 24 hours it might also change to watching only with the other address. What do you think worth a try?

OP also sent me a PM and of course, I got what NeuroticFish got too. The same 14Yjou address with no money. @Bennas, the fact that you've written a valid private key (in Wallet Import Format) shows me that you've written it down correctly. However, this doesn't prove that it corresponds to the address you used those days. Maybe you noted down the private key of an address that was in your wallet, but not used. There's also a very small chance you miswrote a character and it was considered valid, which I don't want to believe it's the case.

You need to find the wallet file from the computer you had Bitcoin Core installed. The fault is on you regardless of how properly you think you handled it.

OP has now also sent me what I presume is the same PM NeuroticFish and BlackHatCoiner have received above. OP, you really shouldn't send your private key(s) to random internet strangers, and especially not over unencrypted forum PMs.

However, I agree with the two posters above that this private key is empty. I have recovered every type of address I can, I've check all the uncompressed addresses, I've used the private key as an input in to a brain wallet with various hash rounds, I've checked a dozen private keys on either side, and various other weird and wonderful ideas, and all associated addresses are empty.

So Electrum versions as old as 1.8 will never sync, since they are prevented from doing so to protect against a vulnerability in old versions. If the orb changed to green (which means connected, which is impossible in version 1.8), then it sounds like the version of Electrum with the imported wallet with the wrong address crashed, and Electrum defaulted to opening your default wallet which is a completely unrelated watch only wallet, which is why you are mistakenly believing the wallet is converting itself from one to the other.

As I've suspected from the start, you have the wrong private keys written down. Do you still have access to your Bitcoin Core wallet files? They are now your only hope to recover these coins.

On 29 January I suggested that you try the recovery process on a different computer, a few other members have done the same, but I see you still haven't done that.
3 users you PMed have now recovered the same legacy address with no funds in it. The wallet type didn't change from imported to watch-only, which means the problem is local-yours.

Dump all your private keys from Bitcoin Core again and import them on a fresh Electrum install on a different and clean device. Post the exact download link for the Electrum software that you will install.

When you import a private key and click on Wallet > Private Keys > Export in Electrum, what does it show you? Does it show you the private key of the address? Have you tried to import a private key of an address that is not connected to any of your wallets or addresses to see how your Electrum acts? Try importing 5HpHagT65TZzG1PH3CSu63k8DbpvD8s5ip4nEB3kEsreAnchuDf. It's a leaked private key that is publicly available. Import it and see if you can sync, and then do the steps above to find that same private key.

Good day sir

Thanks for coming back to me on this frustrating topic. I want to import your key and send you the info I get but is it a Legacy wallet key? Its just for the prepend I want to add. Looks like an uncompressed Legacy wallet key. Right?

Okay I imported the key into my Electrum and it synced 1391 transactions. Address starts with 1EH..........

It did it in approximately 30 seconds. Perfect.

That just proved that your Electrum is working as intended.
Pmalek also instruct you to check if the private key that you'll get from "1EHNa6Q4Jz2uvNExL497mE43ikXhwF6kZm" is the same as the private key that you've imported.
('1EH' is publicly known, no need to censor that address)

The shortcut is to open the 'Addresses' tab ("View->Show addresses" to enable the tab), the right-click on the address and select 'Private key'.

Yes guys I imported the key in my Electrum and got back the following address and private key from wallet

Address - 1EHNa6Q4Jz2uvNExL497mE43ikXhwF6kZm
Private key - p2pkh:5HpHagT65TZzG1PH3CSu63k8DbpvD8s5ip4nEB3kEsreAnchuDf

Now is it possible at all to explain to me the following:

If I import my private key that is compressed and starts with an L into my Electrum it gives me immediately an address that is empty and obviously belongs to the key. Orb is green so one can assume it is synced. Done and accepted. But I would like to understand why if I leave it like that where the address is empty and the wallet is imported, after 2 days (it varies) it turns to watching only and the address change to my original address which was never imported to Electrum.

I dont have other keys for my addresses and therefore I wonder if I did something wrong many years ago because how is that key somehow still inked to the address I still had? Is there any way to explain this then? Why? I even tried older versions and tried it on other computers but it still gives me the same result after a day or two. It can only mean that there is still a link to my address. I dont have the knowledge to explain this but maybe someone else can.


Thanks for the help

My take is that another software is replacing the original wallet file with an old/different/watch only wallet file.
I don't know if it was meant for protection, or recovery, or it's a malware doing this, that's why one of my (and others') suggestions was to try this on another computer.
This doesn't look like a problem of Electrum, it looks like a problem with your system.

Did it happen even in your latest attempt?

Anyways, so the symptom's timing varies, interesting...
Are you sure that you're the only one who have access to your computer(s)?
Because it looks like someone has been creating the watch-only wallet by importing that address while you're away.
That's the only logical answer that I can think of.

I'm wondering, are you perhaps using "Deepfreeze" (wiki (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Freeze_(software))) or other similar software?

That's the correct pair, so it's working as intended.
IDK what that test is for though since the issue is about 'imported' wallet turning into 'imported - watching only' wallet.

So you are saying you are experiencing the same strange behavior of a wallet "converting" to a watch only wallet on multiple different devices? Were any of those devices new, clean devices? Did you install Electrum from the same installer on each device, or did you download and verify it separately each time? Does anyone else have physical access to your devices?

It seems like either someone is trying really hard to make you deposit coins to an address you don't control, or you have some bug or malware across all your devices which is opening old wallets.

I wanted to see if he was able to import the key and sync the software properly, and if his Electrum client works normally. He claims his wallet loads normally but after a while it turns into a watch-only wallet. I wanted to see if that happened in this case as well. If it turned into a watch-only wallet, he wouldn't be able to export private keys since watch only-wallets don't have private keys. When he attempted to do that, everything was OK.

---

@Bennas
Let's check something else. Each Electrum wallet can be named manually or the software assigns names to them like wallet1, wallet2, 3, 4... After your wallet turns into a watch-only wallet, does its name change as well? If it does, what's the new name.
Let's say the wallet you are trying to create with your private key is called wallet3, is it still wallet3 after it turns itself into a watch only-wallet?

Right... and it will display "watching only" beside the wallet type next to the wallet name (at the  title bar on top).

Correct. This issue hasn't been solved for quite some time already and I can't remember if anyone asked OP how many Electrum wallets does he even have. Can it be possible that his software loads an old wallet of his whenever he tries to load some other wallet for whatever reason? I can't wrap my head around the fact that an imported private key that creates a standard wallet suddenly turns into a watch-only wallet.

@Bennas
How many wallets do you have on Electrum? You can check it manually by going into the Roaming > Electrum > Wallets folder. Or when Electrum loads, click on the 'Choose' button and it will open a new window displaying all your wallets in the standard location. Do you recognize all of those and did you create all of them?

It's time for you to make a post about the problem on their GitHub by creating a new issue (https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum/issues). 

I went over this issue with OP here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5380670.msg59097045#msg59097045

He posted links to a bunch of images in this folder: https://bennas.imgbb.com/

He said (emphasis mine):

His image Electrum1 shows a wallet named "default_wallet", while Electrum2 shows a wallet named "john 4". They are quite clearly different wallet files that Electrum is opening, and not one wallet file converting itself from imported to watch only, as OP mistakenly believes.

OK, so we are thinking the same thing. At least based on the images he has provided. It still doesn't answer the question why his Electrum client switches the loaded wallet to a different one after some time if that is the thing that is happening. Or why it requires 30 hours to sync. Even with bad internet connection, that shouldn't be the case.

Good day Everyone (Guys who helped me so far)

Sorry for being absent a while as it felt I was running into a brick wall. I was trying to figure out what my next step should be when I started reading through Bennoko's thread and it looks a lot more that we have common problems with our old wallets. The only difference is that he wants to recover from a seed phrase and I am using my private key. What is similar is that his seed phrase also recover another address that is empty, the same with my private keys.

NeuroticFish

My take is that another software is replacing the original wallet file with an old/different/watch only wallet file.
I don't know if it was meant for protection, or recovery, or it's a malware doing this, that's why one of my (and others') suggestions was to try this on another computer.
This doesn't look like a problem of Electrum, it looks like a problem with your system.

I don’t think so as it is doing the same thing on all my computers with different versions of Windows installed as well as no Firewall or Anti-Virus on it.

Nc50lc

Did it happen even in your latest attempt?
Anyways, so the symptom's timing varies, interesting...
Are you sure that you're the only one who have access to your computer(s)?
Because it looks like someone has been creating the watch-only wallet by importing that address while you're away.
That's the only logical answer that I can think of.
I'm wondering, are you perhaps using "Deepfreeze" (wiki) or other similar software?

It happened in all my attempts, on different computers, different Windows and also the different Electrum Releases (at least 4 different releases as old as v1.4)
No one can access my laptop for any reason, only my wife but don’t even know how to open Electrum.
Not sure what Deepfreeze is but never used it at all.

Oeloe

So you are saying you are experiencing the same strange behaviour of a wallet "converting" to a watch only wallet on multiple different devices? Were any of those devices new, clean devices? Did you install Electrum from the same installer on each device, or did you download and verify it separately each time? Does anyone else have physical access to your devices?

It seems like either someone is trying really hard to make you deposit coins to an address you don't control, or you have some bug or malware across all your devices which is opening old wallets.

The same behaviour over all my attempts. And all the releases came from Electrum’s website and the signatures were confirmed every time. No one is trying to convince me to deposit into any different address. (I can’t access the funds anyway)

Pmalek

OK, so we are thinking the same thing. At least based on the images he has provided. It still doesn't answer the question why his Electrum client switches the loaded wallet to a different one after some time if that is the thing that is happening. Or why it requires 30 hours to sync. Even with bad internet connection, that shouldn't be the case.

No I think no one who helped me from the forum left his Electrum on for 30+ hours after syncing when trying to import my Private Key on your Electrum. So it didn’t have time to change. It syncs in a few seconds right. Mine as well but giving the empty address and then…….after a day or two (sometimes 15 hours – not always the same duration) it turns to watching only by itself.

I see the following remarks on Bennoko’s thread which made me think there is another problem here:

Quoting Bennoko”

Old Seeds doesnt work in new 4.1.5 electrum. it opens totally different wallet
U can only generate 5 different adresses in 0.30, that 5 prv keys also show the balance zero in new electrum

I experience the same problem with when importing my Private Keys in Electrum 4.1.5. Totally different address.

Nc50lc

Okay, so that can be the potential solution for the various threads authors who claims that they have a "very old" electrum seed.

It means that there is a lot more problems with old wallets, seeds and private keys. There should be an easier solution for people with older wallets that created before version 0.34.

Also

Regardless of the date: if it's from versions lower than v0.31, then your seed phrase can't be used to recover the wallet to the later versions.

These are the "release notes" that came with Electrum v0.32 and some later versions:
Quote from: RELEASE-NOTES for v0.32
version 0.31 fixes a vulnerability in the key generation function.
Unfortunately, this means that wallets created prior to 0.31 are
incompatible with newer versions. We apologize for the
inconvenience. We try to keep this kind of upgrades as rare as
possible.

If you use an older wallet, you will see a message asking you to
create a new wallet and to move your balance to the new wallet.

-snip-

Note that you may keep your current seed. For this, all you need to do
is to create the new wallet using the wallet recovery procedure. You
will not recover your old wallet with the new software, but you will
get a new wallet instead.
Quote from: RELEASE-NOTES for v1.1
LIST OF UPGRADES:
-----------------

Version 0.34: The key derivation was changed again in version 0.34, in order to offer "type 2 wallet" capabilities.
Version 0.31: This version fixes a vulnerability in the key generation function.



After getting nowhere my son started loading Linux with Electrum 0.34 on a freshly installed computer. The following happened:

When not linked to a server and the private key is imported into the old Electrum 0.34 it gives the right address immediately. The one that is displayed in Electrum 4.1.5 after watching only switched.
When Electrum 0.34 is linked to a server using Node JS it gives the new wallet like Electrum 4.1.5 gives before watching only switch.

Does this make any sense? Any idea how to approach new information?
Anything will be appreciated. Thanks in advance

AFAIK, that's my reply to the other thread (with different author and issue).

Unfortunately I don't think that it's related to your issue since it only affects the keys that the wallet derive from the seed.
In other words, those versions' seed when restored to an earlier versions will still create a standard wallet (not watching only)
but with different set of addresses and private keys.

If you're telling the truth... I'm stumped.
Honestly, I don't have any idea on what's happening in your case. Sorry.

But Electrum doesn't randomly choose which wallet file to open. You have to explicitly choose which wallet to open from the menu and next time you run Electrum it will open the last opened wallet (not a random one). So if you did indeed create the wallet using your keys (lets call it wallet1) next time you open your Electrum it will open wallet1 file not something else like the other watch only file.

Does someone have access to your computer that may have created and opened the other file between your attempts?

Yes sorry I meant it brings up different addresses if importing the private key - not wallets.

Sorry about that.

My issue is still the private key import a new address in new Electrum (anything after 1.4 I tested) . When importing in old Electrum 0.34 bring up my original address.

I am totally confused.

Thanks for the help so far

Electrum seeds can by default not be imported into any other wallet because they are not compatible with the BIP-39 standard. However, if the wallet isn't empty, it can be imported and recovered with BlueWallet. Your issue is with private keys, but maybe you can still give it a try and see if BlueWallet can recover the correct addresses because that wasn't the case when you tried doing the import into blockchain.com.

Check if it works with BlueWallet, but only for funded addresses:
https://github.com/BlueWallet

The only possibility that I can think of which would cause this is if there were some sort of bug in 0.34 that is creating an "invalid" address from your private key whereas the new versions are creating the valid address which is the reason for the difference. (BTW I already pointed out this is not a compressed/uncompressed (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5380670.msg59071404#msg59071404) issue).

I'm curious, can you spend from your address or sign a message from it in Electrum 0.34? Because that would clarify a lot of things.

Thank you

I am going to give it a try. I'll come back to you on this

I am not sure because my son is not at the same premises at the moment. All I know is that it is not watching only and it brings up the correct address moment it is imported. When I have more detail I will post it here.

Do you have a link to the 0.34 version of Electrum you downloaded which is showing you the "correct" address when you import your private keys? I can try downloading and running it locally with the private key you provided previously via PM to see if I can recreate this issue.

Thank you sir. It is for Linux. I will post it here shortly

Good day oeloe

Here is the download link for Electrum 0.34 (Linux version)

https://parazyd.org/git/electrum/commit/c0bf69e3b36ca0023651ee759d23a11c11a25f35.html


Thank you very much

I'm not sure what you've downloaded, but that links to a git clone of the Electrum source code as of version 4.0.9. There is no version 0.34 available to download from that link. Are you sure you are running version 0.34? It's not going to be a simple process to get a 10 year old piece of software running, given the actual 0.34 source code (https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum/tree/c0bf69e3b36ca0023651ee759d23a11c11a25f35/client) does not say what version of Python is required and you may well have trouble finding the compatible modules/dependencies.

ETFbitcoin had successfully installed v0.30 on a Debian10 OS based from this reply: /index.php?topic=5379817.msg58942538#msg58942538 (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5379817.msg58942538#msg58942538)
Version is not that far from 0.34, it might work.

With same environment (good thing i didn't delete the VM), i can run Electrum 0.34. However, i couldn't find option to import private key whether when you create/restore wallet.

P.S. I download it from https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum/tree/c0bf69e3b36ca0023651ee759d23a11c11a25f35 (https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum/tree/c0bf69e3b36ca0023651ee759d23a11c11a25f35). It has same commit hash with link mentioned by @Bennas.