i have tried sweeping the address by entering my btc address however i simply get 'its a watching wallet only'
You can't "sweep" a bitcoin
address... as you've discovered that will show you the balance, but you can't spend it as you don't have the private key.
ah okay, so after thats done how would i go about moving my bitcoins off the cold storage to my exchange of choice?
If you goal is to simply get your BTC out of Armory and you no longer wish to use it... then I suggest you export your private keys and then sweep them into the wallet of your choice.
- Wallet Properties
- Backup This Wallet
- See other backup options
- Select Export Key Lists (then click "Export Key Lists" button)
- Select "Address String", "Private key (Plain Base58)", "Include Unused (Address Pool)" and "Omit spaces in Key data"
- All your addresses/private keys will be displayed
To avoid cluttering another thread with my big screenshots... you can see the pretty pictures here:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2803610.msg30229612#msg30229612This method does not require Bitcoin Core to be installed or synced or connected with Armory... it is simply a method to dump out the private keys from your Armory wallet.
Standard disclaimers about being careful when "exposing" private keys apply!