Will look at that next. Have not explored that area yet.

Actually I do like to do the installer version like qt client, and have a feel of holding the backup of the wallet file    But the name "portable" sounds so convenient. I can just bring a usb stick and move around without a need for the full machine when travelling.

Why is it not recommended btw?

@ranochigo

There are in fact quite many reported this runtime error. I just randomly pick one here:
https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum/issues/1000

Sorry, I can't remember what I had clicked and gone through that stage. I can see my wallet. Though am unsure if it will work well since I ignore that runtime error. Can you help suggest anything that I can do to ensure the wallet is working? Sending some coins to try? Or files that I should check?

For the 3 different wallets, it seems that all will achieve what I wanted - no download of blockchain. And, I really don't need to bother about the wallet file like qt client. I just need to safely keep the seed info. Is there any other thing that I have to take care of the wallet file here? Or anything else I need to do to ensure no coin lost?

Thanks @longbob72

@Abdussamad, What are you trying to advise me from that link? Basically what I gather from that link is about backup and restoring at the wrong place. From what @longbob72 had mentioned, I could just safely restore from seed, hence can ignore the backing up of wallet file and hence no headache from restoring at the wrong place. Am I right here?

I need to leave a watch-only wallet open 24x7 to monitor payment.

On a separate machine, I want to setup a wallet that I can sometimes run the wallet to do payment. Hence, the watch-only wallet and this wallet will be online together sometimes.

At the same time, I want to setup a mobile wallet on my Android, which I can carry anytime and spend anytime I go.

In this scenario, will it work? Will there be any issue with change addresses here if I have to recreate from seed? Or is there any need to do any backup of the wallet file?

I just learned about Electrum wallet and was told it's very useful. Gone to the home page and there were 3 downloads option. The most striking option is the "Portable" version.

As there is no description on that download page, I assumed this version is the one without the whole chain of ledger needed to be synced with my machine, hence I go for that.

1st problem: During installation, it gave me this error:
Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime Library
Runtime Error!
R6034
An application has made an attempt to load the C runtime library incorrectly.
(I did not copied my own exact error, but above was copied from somewhere over the net, which looks similar.)

After installation, I can't find the wallet file, which was told to be supposedly at:
UsersYourUserNameAppDataRoamingElectrumwallets

But there is nothing there. I can't even see the directory being created.

So, without a documentation to understand what is this wallet or what are the differences between the wallets, I don't dare to start using. Listed are 3 downloads but without any single explanation at all (refering to windows):
Standalone Executable (signature)
Windows Installer (signature)
Portable version (signature) (security advice)


Basically, what I'm looking for is:
1. No need for downloading the chain, which should be Electrum
2. An explanation on the file structure, focusing on where and how to save/backup/protect the wallet file. BTW, what is the filename of the Electrum wallet file?
3. Or do I really need to backup the wallet file here since Electrum is implementing the seed for recovery?
4. Any more detailed explanation of 3 wallets?

Have been searching around for 2 days but without an answer.