Old wallet.dat file loaded with old unconfirmed transaction

[tsvekric]

In going through some old backups I found an old bitcoin wallet.dat file and decided to download Bitcoin Core to load it and see if anything was in it, or to just see if there were old transactions listed that I could daydream about having now

Opened the file, and oddly there was a pending received transaction from December 2013 that is sitting unconfirmed. This transaction showed up immediately before I downloaded any of the blockchain yet (waiting on that to finish, estimated time ~week...)
If I search the received address or the transaction ID I find nothing.
Also, I have no recollection of where this transaction could have come from and have not used that receiving address for anything else.

Couple questions:

-If this isn't showing up anywhere (blockchain.info, for example) where did it come from? Could it be an intentional double-spend just to mess with me?
-can this transaction be rebroadcasted if the network has no record of it?
-do I need to have the entire blockchain downloaded to get my client to rebroadcast this transaction?

[jc12345]

You can just dump your wallet to get the private keys and don't have to wait for the sync to complete. Then import the private key into an online type wallet or another wallet where the blockchain is online. If there is a balance it will show up.

[tsvekric]

You can just dump your wallet to get the private keys and don't have to wait for the sync to complete. Then import the private key into an online type wallet or another wallet where the blockchain is online. If there is a balance it will show up.

I did that and it showed 0 balance. I already know that the network doesn't seem to see this transaction. So where did this unconfirmed transaction come from on my client's end?

[aleksej996]

Transactions are kept in a wallet file along with the private keys for addresses. Your wallet.dat simply stored it for a very long time. As I assume you want the coins and want that transaction to go through, you could rebroadcast it and if the fee isn't high enough, use the CPFP method to get it confirmed.

You should go to Help->Debug Window->Console and type

Code:

gettransaction "<txid>"

, that should give you the hex that you can push to any online service like this one https://blockexplorer.com/tx/send.

[tsvekric]

Transactions are kept in a wallet file along with the private keys for addresses. Your wallet.dat simply stored it for a very long time. As I assume you want the coins and want that transaction to go through, you could rebroadcast it and if the fee isn't high enough, use the CPFP method to get it confirmed.

You should go to Help->Debug Window->Console and type

Code:

gettransaction "<txid>"

, that should give you the hex that you can push to any online service like this one https://blockexplorer.com/tx/send.

So I tried blockexplorer and it returned an error: "Missing inputs. Code:-25
blockchain.info gives me "missing parents for <tx> while inserting: <other number?>

Could it be that this was spent from another unconfirmed transaction and since that one didn't confirm this one wouldn't show up? Or for some other reason was pruned by the network?

[jackg]

Transactions are kept in a wallet file along with the private keys for addresses. Your wallet.dat simply stored it for a very long time. As I assume you want the coins and want that transaction to go through, you could rebroadcast it and if the fee isn't high enough, use the CPFP method to get it confirmed.

You should go to Help->Debug Window->Console and type

Code:

gettransaction "<txid>"

, that should give you the hex that you can push to any online service like this one https://blockexplorer.com/tx/send.

So I tried blockexplorer and it returned an error: "Missing inputs. Code:-25
blockchain.info gives me "missing parents for <tx> while inserting: <other number?>

Could it be that this was spent from another unconfirmed transaction and since that one didn't confirm this one wouldn't show up? Or for some other reason was pruned by the network?

Any chance you can post the address here? Altough it probably won't be in a block explorer if it has been unconfirmed for thislong as they're normally cleared fairly quickly.

I think that the transaction you got probably got a double spend rom it also as that wasn't a bad time for transaction confimations even without a fee (as far as others say anyway).

[tsvekric]

Transactions are kept in a wallet file along with the private keys for addresses. Your wallet.dat simply stored it for a very long time. As I assume you want the coins and want that transaction to go through, you could rebroadcast it and if the fee isn't high enough, use the CPFP method to get it confirmed.

You should go to Help->Debug Window->Console and type

Code:

gettransaction "<txid>"

, that should give you the hex that you can push to any online service like this one https://blockexplorer.com/tx/send.

So I tried blockexplorer and it returned an error: "Missing inputs. Code:-25
blockchain.info gives me "missing parents for <tx> while inserting: <other number?>

Could it be that this was spent from another unconfirmed transaction and since that one didn't confirm this one wouldn't show up? Or for some other reason was pruned by the network?

Any chance you can post the address here? Altough it probably won't be in a block explorer if it has been unconfirmed for thislong as they're normally cleared fairly quickly.

I think that the transaction you got probably got a double spend rom it also as that wasn't a bad time for transaction confimations even without a fee (as far as others say anyway).

Receiving address is 1BAGeeR428SMRqGyXrsXzAYiFWC7SuK21Y txid is 623c4c933a0a0f93567bfaa60181f9df4e2e995a505bea9891d9e012edbce7c5
amount sent was exactly 1BTC

[tsvekric]

Either way as this (probably?) doesn't have any fees with it and since it is old and no other nodes I've checked see it, should I run as my own full node and rebroadcast and attempt to CPFP? I'm not quite familiar with this stuff, but if this was a valid transaction and the funds are still sitting there this seems like the only option, yes?

[HCP]

So I tried blockexplorer and it returned an error: "Missing inputs. Code:-25
blockchain.info gives me "missing parents for <tx> while inserting: <other number?>

This means that at least one (possibly all) of the inputs to your "unconfirmed transaction" have already been spent in another transaction, so they are no longer in the UTXO set... they effectively don't exist anymore. This is not surprising given that 4 years has passed since that transaction was originally broadcast.

So basically, there is no way for you to rebroadcast this transaction to the network. Those coins are gone.

[ranochigo]

Couple questions:

-If this isn't showing up anywhere (blockchain.info, for example) where did it come from? Could it be an intentional double-spend just to mess with me?

If you got the wallet.dat from somewhere else, someone could have modified the wallet.dat to display transactions that has never existed before.

-can this transaction be rebroadcasted if the network has no record of it?

Yes. However, if your transaction does not reference to an unspent output, the network will not relay the transaction at all.

-do I need to have the entire blockchain downloaded to get my client to rebroadcast this transaction?

No. As long as the nodes can see and verify the validity of the transaction (inputs, signature etc), you can rebroadcast it using any online tool.

Either way as this (probably?) doesn't have any fees with it and since it is old and no other nodes I've checked see it, should I run as my own full node and rebroadcast and attempt to CPFP? I'm not quite familiar with this stuff, but if this was a valid transaction and the funds are still sitting there this seems like the only option, yes?

No. You cannot use CPFP if the transaction cannot be found, there is simply no transaction for your CPFP transaction to reference to.

[jackg]

Transactions are kept in a wallet file along with the private keys for addresses. Your wallet.dat simply stored it for a very long time. As I assume you want the coins and want that transaction to go through, you could rebroadcast it and if the fee isn't high enough, use the CPFP method to get it confirmed.

You should go to Help->Debug Window->Console and type

Code:

gettransaction "<txid>"

, that should give you the hex that you can push to any online service like this one https://blockexplorer.com/tx/send.

So I tried blockexplorer and it returned an error: "Missing inputs. Code:-25
blockchain.info gives me "missing parents for <tx> while inserting: <other number?>

Could it be that this was spent from another unconfirmed transaction and since that one didn't confirm this one wouldn't show up? Or for some other reason was pruned by the network?

Any chance you can post the address here? Altough it probably won't be in a block explorer if it has been unconfirmed for thislong as they're normally cleared fairly quickly.

I think that the transaction you got probably got a double spend rom it also as that wasn't a bad time for transaction confimations even without a fee (as far as others say anyway).

Receiving address is 1BAGeeR428SMRqGyXrsXzAYiFWC7SuK21Y txid is 623c4c933a0a0f93567bfaa60181f9df4e2e995a505bea9891d9e012edbce7c5
amount sent was exactly 1BTC

Can you right click it and get the input scripts/sending address.
If you specify the sending address and the date then I'll see if that has been spent or not. If you could get the input scripts as well, they would be even more helpful.

[tsvekric]

Transactions are kept in a wallet file along with the private keys for addresses. Your wallet.dat simply stored it for a very long time. As I assume you want the coins and want that transaction to go through, you could rebroadcast it and if the fee isn't high enough, use the CPFP method to get it confirmed.

You should go to Help->Debug Window->Console and type

Code:

gettransaction "<txid>"

, that should give you the hex that you can push to any online service like this one https://blockexplorer.com/tx/send.

So I tried blockexplorer and it returned an error: "Missing inputs. Code:-25
blockchain.info gives me "missing parents for <tx> while inserting: <other number?>

Could it be that this was spent from another unconfirmed transaction and since that one didn't confirm this one wouldn't show up? Or for some other reason was pruned by the network?

Any chance you can post the address here? Altough it probably won't be in a block explorer if it has been unconfirmed for thislong as they're normally cleared fairly quickly.

I think that the transaction you got probably got a double spend rom it also as that wasn't a bad time for transaction confimations even without a fee (as far as others say anyway).

Receiving address is 1BAGeeR428SMRqGyXrsXzAYiFWC7SuK21Y txid is 623c4c933a0a0f93567bfaa60181f9df4e2e995a505bea9891d9e012edbce7c5
amount sent was exactly 1BTC

Can you right click it and get the input scripts/sending address.
If you specify the sending address and the date then I'll see if that has been spent or not. If you could get the input scripts as well, they would be even more helpful.

It doesn't seem to see the inputs unless I'm missing something.
I think this is probably right, unfortunately:

This means that at least one (possibly all) of the inputs to your "unconfirmed transaction" have already been spent in another transaction, so they are no longer in the UTXO set... they effectively don't exist anymore. This is not surprising given that 4 years has passed since that transaction was originally broadcast.

So basically, there is no way for you to rebroadcast this transaction to the network. Those coins are gone.

Which would make sense since I have no idea where this transaction came from.

Is there a chance though that this is just an 'orphaned transaction'? (Not a transaction in an orphaned block)
I can't seem to find a lot of info about those since it's hard to filter out the posts about blocks.

[ranochigo]

Is there a chance though that this is just an 'orphaned transaction'? (Not a transaction in an orphaned block)
I can't seem to find a lot of info about those since it's hard to filter out the posts about blocks.

Transactions cannot be orphaned. There are two possible explanations:
1) The wallet.dat was modified to display transactions that does not exist or is invalid.
2) The transaction had an extremely low fee and it was forgotten by the network and the inputs were spent in another different transaction.

[SM23031997]

you should not waste the time on downloading the 100GB data, you can dump your wallet and check the all the addresses for balance.
Try this command, it will help you to convert wallet into human readable form, to do that
Open Bitcoin-Qt and click help - Debug - console and use code

Code:

dumpwallet c:\walletdump.txt

If it is Encrypted then you can use this command to decrypt it for 3600 sec(6 min) then try the above command.

Code:

walletpassphrase yourpasswordhere 3600

After that Download a lightweight wallet like electrum https://electrum.org/

Click File --> New/Restore --> proceed further --> In place of Standard Wallet select Watch Bitcoin Addresses --> Paste all the addresses there

It will take you time to sort the file, you can use notepad++ or other applications to sort it.
After that, you are able to see all the addresses and their balance in Addresses tab. If not available then you can use CTRL + A or simply click the wallet dropdown and select addresses.

Let me know if you need further help.

[sanbashiyi]

you should not waste the time on downloading the 100GB data, you can dump your wallet and check the all the addresses for balance.
Try this command, it will help you to convert wallet into human readable form, to do that
Open Bitcoin-Qt and click help - Debug - console and use code

Code:

dumpwallet c:\walletdump.txt

If it is Encrypted then you can use this command to decrypt it for 3600 sec(6 min) then try the above command.

Code:

walletpassphrase yourpasswordhere 3600

After that Download a lightweight wallet like electrum https://electrum.org/

Click File --> New/Restore --> proceed further --> In place of Standard Wallet select Watch Bitcoin Addresses --> Paste all the addresses there

It will take you time to sort the file, you can use notepad++ or other applications to sort it.
After that, you are able to see all the addresses and their balance in Addresses tab. If not available then you can use CTRL + A or simply click the wallet dropdown and select addresses.

Let me know if you need further help.

you guys can use this way , that would be the best useful way to recover your bitcoin , just get your privatekey and Imported into the safety wallet

i suggest you can use blockchain.info online wallet  once you recover you bitcoin , turn it to other safe place