yes but you could also just set a password in electrum to encrypt the wallet and then use file menu > save copy to backup the wallet file. you don't really need the whole data directory.

seed option is greyed out for watch-only wallets and 2fa wallets. is your wallet a 2fa wallet?

gtk about the mini private keys

That private key is not his. It is the one from the wiki article I've linked above. He posted it here to tell me that his key was in that format (WIF).

You should create your own thread but the answer to your question is that, yes, you should use the same wallet software on every device.

Both compressed and uncompressed private keys are supported by Electrum. In fact electrum's own private keys are compressed.

Perhaps you mean something else by compressed and uncompressed private keys? The private keys themselves are not compressed or uncompressed. It's the public keys that are compressed or uncompressed. The private keys are encoded in a slightly different way to signify that the compressed or uncompressed public key should be used. The page below explains it but the gist of it is that uncompressed private keys begin with 5 and compressed ones with L or K:

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Private_key#Base58_Wallet_Import_format

I don't know whether electrum supports things like mini private key. It does not support bip38 private keys. Those have to be decrypted prior to use in electrum.

It takes keys in wallet import format which is what you posted above and which i linked to above too. The problem is that you are typing them in incorrectly. Check again that you are getting it all exactly right. If you still can't get it to work try again in a day or so (we sometimes notice details we missed after taking a break).

Alternatively if you have a web cam you could try scanning in the QR code for the private key. You can try clicking on the little qr code icon in the bottom right of the field on the keystore screen. IT doesn't work for me but might work on your system.

well your post was far too long and not very clear about what you wanted to do. i thought you wanted to create a wallet you could spend from. a watch-only wallet will not allow you to spend from. i'm just stating that so there is no misunderstanding going forward.

to create a watch-only wallet begin the process of creating a new wallet by using file >new/restore or just running electrum if you have no wallet already then select "watch bitcoin addresses" and after that it becomes self-explanatory. so instead of selecting "standard wallet" you select "watch bitcoin addresses".

you don't use the address to create a wallet that you can spend from in electrum. you use the private key and the private key alone.

here's a detailed guide: https://bitcoinelectrum.com/importing-your-private-keys-into-electrum/

addresses aren't accounts. there are no accounts in bitcoin. don't fixate on individual addresses. your electrum wallet consists of many addresses and you look at the wallet as a whole not at individual addresses. you will find your wallet balance in the bottom left of the electrum window and your transaction history on the history tab.

The private key you've entered is incorrect which is why you are getting this error. You should double check that you typed it in correctly. Case matters.

The private key looks like this in case you have trouble differentiating it from the address: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Private_key#Base58_Wallet_Import_format

Sorry you are right. I tried it myself and it only displays one private key. Even restoring from the xprvs+xpub.

There is a risky way to get your address specific private keys. You can download this webpage and run it offline:

https://bip32jp.github.io/english/

Enter your xprv in "BIP32 Extended Key" and scroll down to "Derivation path" and set it to custom. If your address is the first in the list of address in electrum then you enter "m/0/0" (without quotes) in the "custom path" field, if it is the second then enter  "m/0/1" and so on.


You'll have to do that for each of the xprvs.

I'm still not sure how this will help you claim your funds. p2sh addresses also involve a redeem script which you can create with the createmultisig command i gave you before.

what happens when you right click on an address and select private key? you should get two address specific private keys.

when recovering your wallet you have to choose not to continue using trusted coin as a cosigner when it asks you that question. did you do that?

you don't have just one private key. you have 3 behind each address. you need 2 out of 3 to spend money from an address. when you restore your wallet it will contain 2 out of 3 and they will be displayed if you right click on an address and choose private key.

but ultimately it depends on what software you are using to sweep these addresses. does it support multisig addresses? if it doesn't then your tokens are lost.

When you restore your wallet in electrum it generates the multisig address. Does that not help?

You can also generate the address on the command line using the createmultisig command.


You will need any combination of the 3 public or private keys behind that address (the address specific ones not the master ones). You can right click on the address in your restored wallet and get most of that info there.

how did you do this? electrum doesn't allow you to copy paste that.


did you check the wordlist that pooya posted above? are all the words in your seed in that list and spelled correctly?

where did you download tails os from? what website?

master public keys are a feature of deterministic wallets. a wallet with imported private keys is not a deterministic wallet.

a wallet with imported private keys is not a watch-only wallet. you should be able to sign messages with such a wallet.

however if it is truly a watch-only wallet with no private keys then you can't sign messages because you need the private key for that.

these are multisig addresses with more than one private key behind them. you only have one in your wallet. another one is with your co-signer trustedcoin. the third is encoded in the seed mnemonic that you were shown during the wallet creation process and which you were supposed to write down.

we've had a few posts here from users wanting to claim various alt-coin "air drops" i.e. altcoins handed out to existing bitcoin holders. they've had to generate signatures using 2 out of the 3 private keys behind their multisig addresses and then submit those on websites. Is something like this possible for your ICO?

you have either a multisig or 2fa wallet. what does it say in the window title bar? default_Wallet is just the file name. the wallet type will be given in the title bar too.

you need to create a new standard wallet which you can do by following this guide: https://bitcoinelectrum.com/creating-an-electrum-wallet/ .