I think that may be really helpful advice you've given.. I'll try that. Unfortunately, there's a lot going on in replies here and as a non tech person I'm going to have to go absorb it all and make sense of it. So if I may reply later once osmosis has occurred

Thanks for your reply

First, I have a BIP38 paper wallet with a BTC address and BIP38 encrypted private key. I used bitaddress.org and the BIP38 passphrase to decrypt the paper wallet and got a public key, and a set of private keys (Private Key WIF starting with"5..."; Private Key WIF Compressed starting with "L...", Private Key Hexadecimal starting with "6..."

(You mention Bip39 wallets but I know nothing about Bip39 wallets and as far as I know the Bip38 paper wallet I'd working with is not a Bip39 one, but maybe I'm wrong? I think maybe my use of the phrase "Bip38 address" was wrong, but as a noob really please be kind re errors)

(You also ask near the end of your post if this problem was a continuation of a previous post I'd made importing another paper wallet into Electrum -- answer is no I sorted that paper wallet, this is another paper wallet where I have a password issue. But, I must say, the problem i posted about previously persists in that my understanding is that the private key of a Bip38 wallet should by all accounts start with "6.." but Electrum does not accept that as the "NEXT" button remains greyed out if a private key starting with "6..." is entered.  

This post is about me wanting to import a Bip38 paper wallet into Electrum and then send the balance in that address to an exchange.

I successfully imported (not swept) that BIP38 paper wallet BTC address into a new Electrum wallet, and then tried to send the BTC from that address in the new Electrum wallet to an exchange.

So I created a new Electrum wallet and imported the Bip38 Paper wallet address into it (using the "Import Bitcoin addresses or private keys" option, was asked to enter the relevant Btc address or private key" and ended up with the previous posts problem that the one starting with "6..." didn't give me the "NEXT" option and ended up entering the private key starting with "5..."  - which was btw the advise of the previous post I made here). I did not set a password when going this.

The new Electrum wallet had two Btc addresses from the Bip38 paper wallet - the compressed address and the uncompressed address. The later uncompressed Btc address reflected a Btc balance that the Bip38 paper wallet contained. The compressed Btc address reflected a Btc balance of zero.

I then set a password for that new Electrum wallet and tried to send Btc from the uncompressed address to a Btc exchange address. But I was asked for my password and was told "Invalid password" by Electrum.

Any further ideas? I've got Btc stuck in the new Electrum wallet behind a password that I'm pretty much 100% sure I get right. I've repeating the process as per above (I created yet another new Electrum wallet this time entering the Private key starting with "L..." that now has the compressed Bip38 paper wallet address with zero balance.

And I'm wondering what to do next.

QUESTION: I was thinking I should sweep the Bip38 uncompressed address into another new Electrum wallet but you say that will not give me access to the funds. Can you advise how to sweep a paper wallet so that funds ARE accessible?

ANOTHER Question: You suggest I re-import the "private key/BIP39 seed" into another new Electrum wallet  - I'm happy to try that but may I ask, would I enter the Bip38 seed into Electrum? I would nto have imagined so as if I decrypt the private key why would Electum need me to enter the seed of that other wallet?

Pretty please-

I downloaded the latest version Electrum 3.3.8 Standalone for Windows 10, opened it, backed up the existing wallet, created a new wallet using the "Import/sweep" option (4th option on the list), skipped setting a password, and imported a bip39 paper wallet, which resulted in that bip38 paper wallet's address and btc balance reflecting in the new Electrum wallet I had created. That same btc balance reflects at that address on blockchain.com block explorer

At that stage I created and saved a password for that wallet

I then tried to send from that imported address but, when I was asked for a password and entered the newly created one, I was told "Invalid password".

Please advise where to from here? A solution is quite urgently needed and would be so appreciated.

Does Electrum have password issues relating to bip38 wallet imports? Would it be possible to just sweep that bip38 address into a bip-38 compatible wallet, even into another new wallet on Electrum? Would I encounter the same password issue?

Thanks

I want to import a Bip-38 paper wallet private key into a new Electrum 3.3.3 wallet, of the type to do this.

But when I decrypt the Bip-38 paper wallet I'm provided with the Private Key in various formats and I don't know which to use.

They are:

    Private key WIF (51 characters base 58, starts with a "5"

    Private Key WIF Compressed (52 characters base 58, starts with a "K" or "L";

    Private Key Hexadecimal Format (64 characters [0-9A-F]);

    Private Key Base64 (44 characters); or

    Private Key BIP38 Format (58 characters base58, starts with '6P')

I tried the first starting with "5" but Electrum's IMPORT button remains greyed out so it can't be that. I tried the next format (the Private Key WIF Compressed starting wiht "K" or "L"), and the IMPORT BUTTON became clickable so I clicked it.

But no coin has shown up in the Electrum wallet after an hour.

Could someone please assist?