Moving a wallet from Armory

[Matt1409]

Hello,

Could someone tell me if it's possible to move a wallet from Armory to a wallet that doesn't require download of Bitcoin Core, and hence the entire block chain (my HD doesn't have the space)? I'm a novice user of Bitcoins, didn't realize how complex Armory was before I sent coins to it and realized what it involved. I'm hoping there is a simple solution to retrieving the relatively small number of coins I sent to my wallet before I attempted to go online with it. Thanks

[Charles-Tim]

Armony wallet does not support seed phrase but it is still a HD wallet, if you want to be using light client wallet, I will advice you to buy a hardware wallet and transfer your coins to the hardware wallet. I will recommend open source hardware wallet for this purpose.

Or if you are having just little amount, you can consider using Electrum wallet by importing the master private key or the child keys, which is the extended private key. Download Electrum from https://electrum.org and verify its signature. Or set up Electrum cold storage which is an alternative option to hardware wallet.

I think I do not need to have to mention that cold wallets like paper, hardware wallet and Electrum cold storage are the safest light client wallets if their seed phrase and keys are safely generated offline.

[OmegaStarScream]

1. Export the private keys. Here's a step by step guide: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=4746784.msg43255691#msg43255691
2. Install Electrum as explained above.
3. Create a standard wallet[1] and then Sweep the private keys[2] you first exported from Armory.

If you decide to buy a hardware wallet (Ledger or Trezor) as Charles suggested, then you can still follow the above steps. Just make sure to use a hardware device when creating the wallet[3][4].

[1] https://bitcoinelectrum.com/creating-an-electrum-wallet/
[2] https://bitcoinelectrum.com/sweeping-your-private-keys-into-electrum/
[1] https://blog.trezor.io/using-trezor-with-electrum-v3-a0b9bcffe26e
[2] https://support.ledger.com/hc/en-us/articles/115005161925-Set-up-and-use-Electrum?docs=true

[Matt1409]

Thank you very much for your responses.

Will it matter that my coins never appeared in by Armory wallet? I sent them from Bitcoin Panda to Armory before I established what was necessary to get Armory online. I'm hoping the transaction is still registered on the block chain and will reconcile once I get the wallet imported to another app...

[OmegaStarScream]

Thank you very much for your responses.

Will it matter that my coins never appeared in by Armory wallet? I sent them from Bitcoin Panda to Armory before I established what was necessary to get Armory online. I'm hoping the transaction is still registered on the block chain and will reconcile once I get the wallet imported to another app...

Do you mean BitPanda?

And yes, that's normal since Armory requires downloading the whole blockchain. If you're not going to import your wallet yet, you can look up your address on blockchain.com just to make sure your funds are still there

[Matt1409]

That's good to know, thank you.

[hosseinimr93]

Or if you are having just little amount, you can consider using Electrum wallet by importing the master private key or the child keys, which is the extended private key.

There is no master private key to be exported from Armory.
Armory generates child private keys in a different way. It doesn't use the BIP32 standard which is used by electrum and many other wallets.
So, if you want to import an Armory wallet to electrum, the only option is to use child private keys.

[Matt1409]

Hello again,

I've attempted to export my key, but when following the instructions above, there is no option to backup may wallet when I highlight my wallet and click 'wallet properties'.

Any suggestions as to why would be greatly appreciated.

[hosseinimr93]

I've attempted to export my key, but when following the instructions above, there is no option to backup may wallet when I highlight my wallet and click 'wallet properties'.

Can you share a screenshot from the new window that pops up after clicking on "Wallet Properties" button?
You should see "Backup This wallet" option at right side of the window.

Note that, since you are a newbie you can't post image. Just share your image on an image hosting website like imgur and post the link here.

[nc50lc]

-snip-
I've attempted to export my key, but when following the instructions above, there is no option to backup may wallet when I highlight my wallet and click 'wallet properties'.

Any suggestions as to why would be greatly appreciated.

That's odd, even old versions have that option; but to be sure, make sure that you're using the latest version 0.96.5.
It's also available for any "User" level setting (Standard~Expert).

Double-clicking the wallet name will display the same wallet properties, try it.

The only wallet type that doesn't have that option is "Watching-Only", which doesn't contain any private keys.
It's indicated under 'Security':

[Matt1409]

Thanks again for your responses.

I guess the issue is that I am attempting to export keys for a Watch Only wallet.

Here's a link to an screenshot: https://mattcarter777.imgur.com/all/

I'm on version 0.96.2


Thanks so much for your help all, I have finally managed to get my coins into Electrum thanks to your advice.

Greatly appreciated.

[nc50lc]

I guess the issue is that I am attempting to export keys for a Watch Only wallet.
-snip-

Thanks so much for your help all, I have finally managed to get my coins into Electrum thanks to your advice.

It' would be nice if you can write the steps that you've done in order to import the funds to Electrum. (for others who are searching the web and to sum-up this thread)
Because a watching-only wallet doesn't have any keys that can be exported to another wallet.

BTW, the screenshot link doesn't work, you need to get the link from the image itself and not your imgur profile link.

[larry_vw_1955]

There is no master private key to be exported from Armory.
Armory generates child private keys in a different way. It doesn't use the BIP32 standard which is used by electrum and many other wallets.
So, if you want to import an Armory wallet to electrum, the only option is to use child private keys.

you mean sweep the individual addresses? not sure if armory has any real benefit because it's not interoperable with other wallets.

[hosseinimr93]

you mean sweep the individual addresses?

Yes, you can export your private keys from Armory and sweep/import them into any other wallet like electrum.

not sure if armory has any real benefit because it's not interoperable with other wallets.

Armory gives you a root key which is not compatible with other wallets.
As already said, for importing your wallet to other wallets, you have to use your individual private keys.

The biggest benefit Armory gives you is privacy, when comparing it with SPV wallets like electrum.

[BitMaxz]

you mean sweep the individual addresses?

Not the addresses but the private keys.

If you don't know how to export private key you can check this image below



Take note of private keys they only have Plain base58 and plain hex private key but don't worry if you are importing/sweeping them to Electrum it's supported.