Help wanted: restoring a bitcoin wallet

[AK Bitcoin]

Hi all,

I've been making backups of my bitcoin wallet (on a Windows 7 PC) and storing them on a USB drive.  I recently restored the PC to the factor settings because it was getting slow.  I then re-installed bitcoin-qt, let it sync to the blockchain, and copied the most recent wallet backup back into that directory.  I then ran bitcoin-qt with the -rescan command.  The wallet is showing 0 bitcoins, no transaction history -  nothing.  I'd appreciate any advice from experienced bitcoin users. 

I had the wallet encrypted within bitcoin-qt, and I couldn't figure out where to enter the encryption password when I restored it - could this be the problem and reason it is showing 0 bitcoins?

Thanks in advance.

[hunnaryb]

I had the wallet encrypted within bitcoin-qt, and I couldn't figure out where to enter the encryption password when I restored it - could this be the problem and reason it is showing 0 bitcoins?

No, only when you signing message or sending coins you need to ulock your wallet

You made rescan already so i dont believe it helps, but delete blockchain, copy your old wallet file first and try to sync again

[Anon135246]

Good luck!

[marcovaldo]

Hi all,

I've been making backups of my bitcoin wallet (on a Windows 7 PC) and storing them on a USB drive.  I recently restored the PC to the factor settings because it was getting slow.  I then re-installed bitcoin-qt, let it sync to the blockchain, and copied the most recent wallet backup back into that directory.  I then ran bitcoin-qt with the -rescan command.  The wallet is showing 0 bitcoins, no transaction history -  nothing.  I'd appreciate any advice from experienced bitcoin users.  

I had the wallet encrypted within bitcoin-qt, and I couldn't figure out where to enter the encryption password when I restored it - could this be the problem and reason it is showing 0 bitcoins?

Thanks in advance.

What is the btc address?
Maybe you created a new address in the process.
Maybe you did not synch it.

[DannyHamilton]

- snip -
and copied the most recent wallet backup back into that directory.
- snip -

Into "that" directory?  Which directory did you copy the wallet.dat into?  Was there already a wallet.dat in the directory?  I suspect you may have copied the wallet.dat into the wrong directory.

[AK Bitcoin]

- snip -
and copied the most recent wallet backup back into that directory.
- snip -

Into "that" directory?  Which directory did you copy the wallet.dat into?  Was there already a wallet.dat in the directory?  I suspect you may have copied the wallet.dat into the wrong directory.

Hi Danny - I copied the wallet.dat into the directory where the bitcoin-qt.exe file is located.  There was already a wallet.dat file there when I downloaded bitcoin-qt, so I copied over that file. 

Is there any way that my wallet could have been rendered not usable while it is not in use?

Thanks again for the help.

[rpg]

- snip -
and copied the most recent wallet backup back into that directory.
- snip -

Into "that" directory?  Which directory did you copy the wallet.dat into?  Was there already a wallet.dat in the directory?  I suspect you may have copied the wallet.dat into the wrong directory.

Hi Danny - I copied the wallet.dat into the directory where the bitcoin-qt.exe file is located.  There was already a wallet.dat file there when I downloaded bitcoin-qt, so I copied over that file. 

Is there any way that my wallet could have been rendered not usable while it is not in use?

Thanks again for the help.

the wallet.dat file goes into c:\users\_you_user_name\appdata\roaming\bitcoin
you may have to type it in the address bar as appdata is hidden. Just replace the wallet.dat file on that folder and you're all set

[AK Bitcoin]

- snip -
and copied the most recent wallet backup back into that directory.
- snip -

Into "that" directory?  Which directory did you copy the wallet.dat into?  Was there already a wallet.dat in the directory?  I suspect you may have copied the wallet.dat into the wrong directory.

Hi Danny - I copied the wallet.dat into the directory where the bitcoin-qt.exe file is located.  There was already a wallet.dat file there when I downloaded bitcoin-qt, so I copied over that file. 

Is there any way that my wallet could have been rendered not usable while it is not in use?

Thanks again for the help.

the wallet.dat file goes into c:\users\_you_user_name\appdata\roaming\bitcoin
you may have to type it in the address bar as appdata is hidden. Just replace the wallet.dat file on that folder and you're all set

Hi Danny - thank you!  Worked perfectly.  I really appreciate your help.  Miss being good at this stuff.  Back in the 80's you could be called a computer wiz just by knowing how to turn the darn thing on...