|
The wallet is corrupted and I don't know how to get pywallet up and running unfortunately. I know it's a long shot and not being very computer savvy doesn't help, but I am not ready to give up yet when this amount is at stake. Cheers.
|
|
|
|
Is it true that private keys in a wallet are always preceded by the sequence 0420, or isn't that always the case. I don't want to follow the advice of others that say that the keys always follow that sequence if it doesn't. I would keep searching the wallet if in most cases the keys would follow this sequence. It is a lot of time consuming work, but for possibly btc it is worth it, I just don't want to be on a wild goose chase. cheers.  |
|
|
|
Was the wallet encrypted (did it have a password)? If it wasn't encrypted then attempting salvaging the coins will be easier than if it was. There is an alternative to using pywallet, but it requires more time and effort. If it wasn't encrypted you could use a hex editor capable of searching a whole hard drive to search for this string of bytes 0201010420. The next the thirty-two bytes after that string could be a private key. If you find one you can change it from raw hex to a normal format by pasting the thirty-two bytes into an offline copy of this webpage, which will also give you its associated address. https://www.bitaddress.org/This post explains how to use the webpage. https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1961924.msg19522772#msg19522772This hex editor is capable of searching a whole hard drive. https://sourceforge.net/projects/wxhexeditor/These screenshots explain how to open a disk, then search it for the hex string. Click "devices", then "open disk device", then select the disk letter you want to search.  Click "edit", then "find".  This window should open. Paste the hex string into the the text box labelled "search", then click the button labelled "find all" and wait a very long time for it to search the whole drive.  If you try it run all software offline inside a virtual machine like virtualbox or vmware. Don't ever risk putting a private key on a computer that will ever be connected to the internet. If you find any private keys you can install the electrum wallet and either import or sweep them into it using these instructions. http://docs.electrum.org/en/latest/faq.html#can-i-import-private-keys-from-other-bitcoin-clientshttp://docs.electrum.org/en/latest/faq.html#can-i-sweep-private-keys-from-other-bitcoin-clientsElectrum should sync almost immediately and give you fast access to your coins. Don't ever boot from that hard drive again because doing so could wipe all traces of your coins. So I have been trying this method by searching through the corrupt wallet.dat after moving it onto a usb stick. I have searched for the 0420 pattern and it has returned 400 odd results, but I don't know if these results will be possible private keys. I followed the advice of it possibly being the 32 bytes following the sequence and have run the first two through bitaddress which gave me a private key in WIF. I then imported them into my Electrum wallet and unsurprisingly the balance is zero. So I have some questions and would be grateful for any answers. 1. Will any 64 hex character number that is run through bitaddress produce a private key, real or not. 2. Is the fact that I can search this wallet.dat with a hex editor mean it is unencrypted?. 3. How accurate is the 0420 sequence in finding private keys and is over 400 of these in a wallet.dat a usual amount. Thanks again for any info. |
|
|
|
|
When reading sequence search results, does the sequence carry on the next line down?. I am using the wxhexeditor to find private keys by looking for the 0420 sequence and want to know if I should look at the 32bytes which follow on the same line and then on to the line below. Thanks.
|
|
|
|
Every so often it will say the word key when looking at it via notepad, is that a good sign?.
Yes. You should also see the strings version, ckey, mkey, minversion, pool, keymeta, hdchain, etc. These strings mark what type of entry a key-value pair is. You can also use BDB's db_dump utility to see what the key-pairs are. Am I right in saying that if it just says key then that is a private key. Thanks for taking the time to reply. |
|
|
|
|
Every so often it will say the word key when looking at it via notepad, is that a good sign?.
|
|
|
|
|
How can you tell whether it is encrypted or not?. Thanks.
|
|
|
|
|
How does it find private keys if the wallet.dat is encrypted?.
|
|
|
|
|
So have you got all your BTC back?.
|
|
|
|
|
At what stage does de encryption take place and what is usually left in a wallet. bak file when salvage has failed. Thanks.
|
|
|
|
I am paying a professional company to do a raw recovery on my hard drive. Question what exactly is needed to recover my bitcoins from bitcoin core? wallet.dat file only?
Make sure you trust them 100%, you would never know if they had or hadn't recovered it. I presume it is a fair value of BTC that you are trying to recover. is the company experienced in Bitcoin recovery particularly?. Good luck. |
|
|
|
|
It opens a command shell window, do I type ez_setup.py in there? do I leave any spaces and do I press enter?. thanks.
|
|
|
|
|
I'm trying to install pywallet in Windows 10 but can't get any further. I am trying to follow achow101's instructions but where it says shift and right click at the ez setup folder, I don't get an option to open a command window here. Could someone give me some pointers so I can progress further with the install. Thanks.
|
|
|
|
Just in case anything messes up can I download and run electrum with core still running and console open etc?
Yes, running electrum at the same time as core shouldn't be a problem. Before importing your key into electrum I recommend searching for its associated Bitcoin address here. If blockchain.info shows no funds in that address then there's not much point importing it into electrum. https://blockchain.info/No funds unfortunately, any idea on the BAK files that keep being created?. |
|
|
|
|
Just in case anything messes up can I download and run electrum with core still running and console open etc?
|
|
|
|
|
I know it's a big ask but could anyone post a guide on installing pywallet from scratch for a novice computer user including screenshots?.
It seems to me that a lot of people could do with a guide that is easy to follow and once one is posted it could help a lot of people, based on all the posts relating to corrupt wallets etc.
|
|
|
|
|
Is this useable with windows? and is there a computer novices guide to getting it running?.
|
|
|
|
I have just copied and pasted the receiving address into blockchain info and it didn't show any coins or transactions to that address  Is there only one receiving address showing in the window that opens when you click file, then receiving addresses? If blockchain.info shows an address doesn't contain coins then it's almost certain the address is empty. Yes just one address. Would it show all addresses before it had synched. |
|
|
|
I have just copied and pasted the receiving address into blockchain info and it didn't show any coins or transactions to that address |
|
|
|
|
Trouble is that it by default places the Bitcoin folder in c which is 250GB and there is only 70GB of space left. I copied the second wallet dat file onto the same usb stick as the first i recovered and had to name it differently.
|
|
|
|
|
Show Posts
