Did I just lose my wallet?

[fooledme1000]

My computer crashed but I had my bitcoin address and password in my password manager so I thought I was good. I installed the Bitcoin core app again, but can't figure out how to open my existing wallet and realized the password I have isn't the seed-like sequence of words I thought it was. Am I screwed?

[Bitcoin_Arena]

To some extent you could be screwed unless you get the right password to the wallet.
Another question is, did you write down the seed phrase somewhere? That kind of wallet back up could be a big savior to you right now.

[sheenshane]

My computer crashed but I had my bitcoin address and password in my password manager so I thought I was good. I installed the Bitcoin core app again, but can't figure out how to open my existing wallet and realized the password I have isn't the seed-like sequence of words I thought it was. Am I screwed?

We had a different name on that but the same meaning, that is a mnemonic phrase, or they called the 12 words seeds phrase or must be known in the name of a private key.  Upon creation of a wallet, you must write it down on a sheet of paper to have a backup of your wallet anytime even your computer used was crashed or damage.  So now, without the private key, you can't able to open your wallet, it should have a password and the private key must be kept safe.

Try to explore on this board, Beginners & Help, there's basic information regarding Bitcoin wallet there on how to create and how to recover your wallet through your private key or seed phrase.

Anyway, welcome to the Bitcointalk forum, here, you will learn a lot, and next time you were handling Bitcoin with proper knowledge of storing your crypto, a digital asset.

[fooledme1000]

To some extent you could be screwed unless you get the right password to the wallet.
Another question is, did you write down the seed phrase somewhere? That kind of wallet back up could be a big savior to you right now.

No seed phrase... I only have password that looks like similar to this: Ha2yD4Il47h28Ve4e9c3eb

[Evilish]

I am assuming you re-installed your operating system? A couple Qs. I think we will be able to help better if we have clarity on these.

Do you recall ever creating a backup of your "wallet.dat" file?

Are you still using the same hard drive?

And what did you choose as your data directory when you installed Bitcoin Core last time? Did you keep it as default (%APPDATA%\Bitcoin) or choose a different drive/location. Your "wallet.dat" file can usually be found in that directory.

Assuming you didn't create a backup previously nor can find the old "wallet.dat" in your hard drive then it would be a little tougher. All hope is not lost though, because if you're using the same hard drive then with some luck you might be able to recover the old "wallet.dat" file with a data recovery tool.

[BlackHatCoiner]

No seed phrase... I only have password that looks like similar to this: Ha2yD4Il47h28Ve4e9c3eb

If you don't have the seed phrase, then you have to regain access to your computer. Specifically to your HDD/SSD. You have to get that .dat file back. Then once you do, you can access your bitcoins if you have the password. How did it crash? Did it suddenly happen?

[hosseinimr93]

Another question is, did you write down the seed phrase somewhere?

Bitcoin core doesn't support seed phrase at all.

To OP:

What do you mean by crash? Have you lost all your files?
If you are using windows and you have access to your files, the wallet file should be found in the following location.

Code:

%APPDATA%\Bitcoin

If the passphrase is correct, you should be able to open your wallet.

Note that the passphrase can only be used to decrypt your wallet file. If you don't have your wallet file, that's useless.
For accessing your fund without any need to the wallet file, you need the private key.

[Zionatin]

Ok. This might sound obvious but in these situations, you need to take a deep breath and step back. Do not use your hard drive if you can help it. This is because you are going to want to run recovery software and the more you write to the HDD the harder it is to retrieve. To try to set your mind at ease, I used easeuse file recovery and I retrieve my private key for another currency I wanted to sell.

The other things you can do and I recommend you do this first, most password management software keeps a backup. If you log in you should be able to still see the passwords.

[Fatunad]

My computer crashed but I had my bitcoin address and password in my password manager so I thought I was good. I installed the Bitcoin core app again, but can't figure out how to open my existing wallet and realized the password I have isn't the seed-like sequence of words I thought it was. Am I screwed?

As long the HDD is still fine you can still make out some recoveries of the files inside it. As long you do know the password then it wont really be needing some seed.

[Wisbrown]

The problem there is that he doesn't have the password,  have you check your email if there is a drop message during the process of your trier?

[fooledme1000]

I am assuming you re-installed your operating system? A couple Qs. I think we will be able to help better if we have clarity on these.

Do you recall ever creating a backup of your "wallet.dat" file?

Are you still using the same hard drive?

And what did you choose as your data directory when you installed Bitcoin Core last time? Did you keep it as default (%APPDATA%\Bitcoin) or choose a different drive/location. Your "wallet.dat" file can usually be found in that directory.

Assuming you didn't create a backup previously nor can find the old "wallet.dat" in your hard drive then it would be a little tougher. All hope is not lost though, because if you're using the same hard drive then with some luck you might be able to recover the old "wallet.dat" file with a data recovery tool.

Yes I installed Windows 10 overtop of itself but chose the option to keep no files.

I do not recall creating a wallet.dat file, but if it was a default option I would gone along with it.

Yes I am using the same hard-drive.

I don't recall which directory I installed Bitcoin core to but it would have been whatever the default is.

Are there any data recovery tools you recommend?

[Evilish]

I am assuming you re-installed your operating system? A couple Qs. I think we will be able to help better if we have clarity on these.

Do you recall ever creating a backup of your "wallet.dat" file?

Are you still using the same hard drive?

And what did you choose as your data directory when you installed Bitcoin Core last time? Did you keep it as default (%APPDATA%\Bitcoin) or choose a different drive/location. Your "wallet.dat" file can usually be found in that directory.

Assuming you didn't create a backup previously nor can find the old "wallet.dat" in your hard drive then it would be a little tougher. All hope is not lost though, because if you're using the same hard drive then with some luck you might be able to recover the old "wallet.dat" file with a data recovery tool.

Yes I installed Windows 10 overtop of itself but chose the option to keep no files.

I do not recall creating a wallet.dat file, but if it was a default option I would gone along with it.

Yes I am using the same hard-drive.

I don't recall which directory I installed Bitcoin core to but it would have been whatever the default is.

Are there any data recovery tools you recommend?

Zionatin above seems to have a suggestion. I have also used the same tool "EaseUS" in past for data recovery on my Android phone, no experience using it to recover Windows files though.

Whatever tool you use, "wallet.dat" is the file to look for.

Wish you best of luck, and keep us updated.

[Twentyonepaylots]

Okay, your issue will require a painstaking process to get your wallet back. And since there is no customer support for cryptocurrency, you will not be able to regain access to it through conventional means. I myself have no idea how this works and what you can do to fix your issue, but you may wanna try EASEUS recovery software, it had worked wonders for files I have lost in the past, I hope it work on yours too

[Lorence.xD]

To some extent you could be screwed unless you get the right password to the wallet.
Another question is, did you write down the seed phrase somewhere? That kind of wallet back up could be a big savior to you right now.

OP is screwed to be honest, OP did an update that there is no back up so OP is doomed. The only thing that OP can do is try to access the password manager that OP is using, that might have some residual information because AFAIK, password manager can be accessed cross devices and even when the device got rebooted.

This is why I hate password managers, you do not exactly know what your password is, plus the password generator that some offer is very anti user because in the case that you need an access without the manager, you can't because you did not create the password yourself.

[w0lf0.]

I am assuming you re-installed your operating system? A couple Qs. I think we will be able to help better if we have clarity on these.

Do you recall ever creating a backup of your "wallet.dat" file?

Are you still using the same hard drive?

And what did you choose as your data directory when you installed Bitcoin Core last time? Did you keep it as default (%APPDATA%\Bitcoin) or choose a different drive/location. Your "wallet.dat" file can usually be found in that directory.

Assuming you didn't create a backup previously nor can find the old "wallet.dat" in your hard drive then it would be a little tougher. All hope is not lost though, because if you're using the same hard drive then with some luck you might be able to recover the old "wallet.dat" file with a data recovery tool.

Yes I installed Windows 10 overtop of itself but chose the option to keep no files.

I do not recall creating a wallet.dat file, but if it was a default option I would gone along with it.

Yes I am using the same hard-drive.

I don't recall which directory I installed Bitcoin core to but it would have been whatever the default is.

Are there any data recovery tools you recommend?

Unfortunately the only way you have is to use a recovery tool, a similar thing happened to me years ago and saved me the "EaseUS" tool but there are also others around very reliable, i wish you the best of luck in recovery the wallet file.

[rijaljun]

Every time you are going create a wallet there's always a seed recovery phrase have you saved it on the password manager? and in any chance have you saved a backup of that backup manager? if not, your wallet is lose forever.