Can't dump private keys or wallet in core

[Bigpiggy01]

I find an old unencrypted (the wife's laptop) backup wallet 2011-2012 from the wife's laptop.

I install Core v0.15.0.1 and open it as normal. (The chain hasn't finished downloading yet)

I try to dump the wallet and keys from the console and get the following errors:

dumpwallet with the appropriate string etc:

Cannot open wallet dump file (code -8)

Exporting individual private keys produces:

Private key for address XYZ is not known (code -4)



Is this some kind of comparability issue where I need to use an older version of core/qt or?

[HCP]

The first error is probably a "pathing" error with Bitcoin Core... I've found that on Windows you need to specify the FULL path...

dumpwallet "E:\path\to\dumpfile.txt"

NOTE: the drive letter also seems to be case sensitive??!? I've had errors using "e:\path\to\dumpfile.txt"!


Your second error would indicate that the address you are attempting to dump is a "watch-only" address and that the wallet file does not hold the private key for that address?

[Bigpiggy01]

The first error is probably a "pathing" error with Bitcoin Core... I've found that on Windows you need to specify the FULL path...

dumpwallet "E:\path\to\dumpfile.txt"

NOTE: the drive letter also seems to be case sensitive??!? I've had errors using "e:\path\to\dumpfile.txt"!


Your second error would indicate that the address you are attempting to dump is a "watch-only" address and that the wallet file does not hold the private key for that address?

I'm afraid not, the pathing is just fine as per your quote. I've done this multiple time before with 0 issues so this is a bit of a riddle to me.

I think core may be grabbing some of the transactions as addresses as I've checked them against old records from other wallets.

Also this wallet might be older than that as I remember using it to mine with the laptop itself using the builtin miner and finding a few blocks.

Could it be the newer DB structure of current core that is messing it up somehow?

[HCP]

Quite possibly... You could try the following:

1. Make a backup of your wallet file!...
2. Put the COPY into the Bitcoin Core datadir
3. Start Bitcoin Core with commandline argument -upgradewallet

Hopefully, that will then allow you to dump the keys etc. If that doesn't work, then PyWallet might be able to dump the addresses/keys.

One last thought... Are you 100% sure this is a BITCOIN wallet? Any chance it could be a DOGE or LTC wallet or some other altcoin?

[Bigpiggy01]

Quite possibly... You could try the following:

1. Make a backup of your wallet file!...
2. Put the COPY into the Bitcoin Core datadir
3. Start Bitcoin Core with commandline argument -upgradewallet

Hopefully, that will then allow you to dump the keys etc. If that doesn't work, then PyWallet might be able to dump the addresses/keys.

One last thought... Are you 100% sure this is a BITCOIN wallet? Any chance it could be a DOGE or LTC wallet or some other altcoin?

Thanks HCP I'll give that a go.

It's not an alt wallet, it predates LTC and DOGE by a fair bit  The laptop has been at the bottom of a moving box for ages. It's just an exercise in claiming dust on BCH and BTC chains before their tx fees grow.