Ok I'll be patient and let it (hopefully) eventually load.

Appreciate the replies.

Thanks for the thorough reply.

I'm on the latest version of Bitcoin Core which DOES have the restore option, however I'm following what you said.

I've made "fakewallect" directory -
D:\BitcoinDownload\fakewallet

I've renamed the fake wallet to wallet.dat
‪D:\BitcoinDownload\fakewallet\wallet.dat

I've ran Bitcoin Core as Administrator, and used the "Open" feature.

Now it's just "Opening Wallet fakewallet.." (5 minutes and counting)

Does the "fake wallet" open instantly for you? (of course you may not want to risk this incase it's an infected file idk).

I just have a feeling what something with my Bitcoin Setup is incorrect.

I'm working under pretty secure conditions etc, fresh virtual machine with the important data isolated.

Just trying to understand the functionality of Bitcoin Core.

This will be my last post hopefully regarding Bitcoin Core.

I have bought a 1TB SSD and downloaded the entire blockchain + synced.

Here's the current situation:

I have this directory (D:\Bitcoin) - 89.8 MB - which contains:
daemon, share, bitcoin.conf, bitcoin-qt.exe COPYING.txt readme.txt and uninstall.exe

I have this directory (D:\BitcoinDownload) - 585 GB - which contains:
blocks, chainstate, DefaultWallet, .lock banlist.json bitcoind.pid
deblug.log, fee_estimates.dat, mempool.dat, peers.dat, settings.json

"DefaultWallet" is just simply what I created after everything downloaded/synced.

I have my own old 2013 wallet.dat I'm trying to open, but first, I thought I'd find an example wallet.dat
and test it out to ensure Bitcoin Core is functioning correctly (i have made multiple .dat backups).

So I browsed the forum and came upon this post:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5242967.0

"- Balance = 362.00495819 BTC. (Main Bitcoin Address: 1Jkn9wg1WbJdASNBPtQqdmm7wtrcSiATbf). Fake "wallet.dat". Download here. Password: "Hunnibear9"."

I've downloaded this file, which is from a trusted user (i'm aware it's fake)
"wallet_fake_008.dat"

And I've placed it within:
‪D:\BitcoinDownload\wallet_fake_008.dat

Now, I'm opening Bitcoin Core (as Administrator)
File > Restore Wallet > D:\BitcoinDownload\wallet_fake_008.dat

It asks for "Wallet Name" and my name is "Fake"

Now following this, all I see is "Restorting Wallet Fake..."

My questions are:
Is what I'm doing fine?
Is there a difference between Restoring and Opening?
What is the usual ETA for Restoring a Wallet?

@nc50lc

Thank you so much for the detailed reply.

To prevent any issues and hopefully have things run smoothly, I've plugged in a 1TB SSD and will just download the entire thing.

I've purged all instances/files related to Bitcoin Core - and then re installed.

I've unchecked all "purged" options, and once fully downloaded/synced.

I'm going to place the .dat directly into the folder instead of trying to restore.

Hopefully I'm following all advice correctly + will have no issues.

Thanks for your reply.

In the event I want to import an old wallet.dat and see transaction history from possibly 2013.

Do I need to download the entire blockchain?

This is how I installed Bitcoin Core yesterday, and I think I did it incorrectly.
https://imgur.com/afzKvBm

I think the mistake is, I had the "Limit block chain storage" ticked.

Please let me know, thankyou

Hi thankyou for the quick reply.

I've managed to use Bitcoin2john.py and the hash extracted is something like this: $bitcoin$64$

I have also added the flag -walletcrosschain but Bitcoin Core seems to close abruptly when I attempt to restore the wallet.

I'm not 100% sure it's a Bitcoin wallet.dat but maybe the hash extraction confirms it is?

Another potential issue I'm receiving:
"Wallet loading failed. Prune: last wallet synchronisation goes beyond pruned data. You need to -reindex (download the whole blockchain again incase of pruned node).

If I want to see my balance, and view historical transactions (years ago) do I still need to store the ENTIRE blockchain? or can I use the prune feature. I think I have only stored 2GB (or whatever the default Bitcoin Core size was).

Hi I have came across a few old wallet.dat files on my PC.

After letting Bitcoin Core sync for 24 hours, the program is now ready.

I have a few questions.

I have pasted the file inside of this directory
C:\Users\Admin\AppData\Roaming\Bitcoin

I then opened BTC core and did the following:
File > Restore Wallet > C:\Users\Admin\AppData\Roaming\Bitcoin\wallet.dat

It the asked for "Wallet Name" I just entered anything.

After this I had the error:
Wallet loading failed. Wallet files should not be reused across chains. Restart bitcoind with -walletcrosschain to override.

I'm wondering do I simply just add the this (-walletcrosschain) or am I importing the wallet incorrectly?

Any help is appreciated!

Do you not think your prices are a little too high? @MA40

I'd be willing to purchase a couple of these if they were priced reasonably.

Also there is no video proof for any of the wallets "This video is unavailable"

Also the price for "0.29957903 BTC" wallet is incorrect, when opened in Satoshi disk it's 3x higher.