"bitcoin-qt.exe" closing without any errors on an old (locked&encrypted) wallet.

[omcpero]

Hi team,

I have an issue with loading my wallet.dat. The file is encrypted and locked (meaning it contains gibberish, not readable content).

Now, when I start "bitcoin-qt.exe" with an empty (newly generated) wallet.dat, everything is OK. Starting the "bitcoin-qt.exe" with my old (locked and encrypted) "wallet.dat" closes the client as soon as the "-refresh" or "-reindex" comes to my block (block is from from year 2017). Until the -refresh comes to the block that contains the transaction, the "bitcoin-qt.exe" shows my incomming transaction, this data is somehow read from my old "wallet.dat", so I would be guessing, the "wallet.dat" file is not corrupted.

I did dig into the topic all over the internet (the guy with similar issue resolved this with --reindex -rescan command, in my case "bitcoin-qt.exe" client always closes (without any error in "db.log" or "debug.log") as soon it either reindex-es  or rescan-s up to the block that includes my transaction).

My "db.log" is completely empty, I am sure the "db.log" file is located in the right folder. In the same folder is also the blockchain data (subfolders blocks,database,chainstate) and also debug.log, which contains all the sync data.

The last line in debug.log, just before closing the client are

Code:

2022-04-12T09:13:50Z UpdateTip: new best=0000000000000000006f22124ed596dad55ffff97fa656c816eabbc521a1bbd5 height=498280 version=0x20000000 log2_work=87.613905 tx=279689320 date='2017-12-08T20:21:24Z' progress=0.392590 cache=670.0MiB(5013072txo)
2022-04-12T09:13:50Z UpdateTip: new best=0000000000000000003427b58b5c4dc709993ed6782a278dc464b6094a30defc height=498281 version=0x20000000 log2_work=87.613946 tx=279691327 date='2017-12-08T20:25:58Z' progress=0.392592 cache=670.2MiB(5014436txo)
2022-04-12T09:13:50Z UpdateTip: new best=0000000000000000003853e233b0e32d07546706bdd8901716b5753991b7b4a3 height=498282 version=0x20000000 log2_work=87.613988 tx=279693702 date='2017-12-08T20:28:26Z' progress=0.392596 cache=670.6MiB(5017471txo)
2022-04-12T09:13:50Z UpdateTip: new best=00000000000000000050e6e6342a819b1b1d01aa42ca59ce73e56cab06018685 height=498283 version=0x20000000 log2_work=87.614029 tx=279696297 date='2017-12-08T20:32:02Z' progress=0.392599 cache=670.8MiB(5019804txo)

My wallet only has one address (private key) which was used for only one incomming transaction, the block number of transaction was "498282", as seen in "debug.log" this is where "bitcoin-qt.exe" client crashes (closes without errors).

Is there a way for me to start the "bitcoin-qt.exe" client, and import the external (locked and encrypted) "wallet.dat" with console (bitcoin-qt.exe > window>console) command? As said, closing the client, copying the desired "wallet.dat" into blockchain folder just closes the client. Is there another way to opening with newly generated wallet.dat postfestum import my old "wallet.dat"?

I have tried the procedure of opening client in latest version 22 and also version 17 dated with my transaction block, on two different computers, redownloded the blockchain 2 times.

contents of my debug.log:

Code:

2022-04-12T07:34:17Z Bitcoin Core version v22.0.0 (release build)
2022-04-12T07:34:17Z Qt 5.12.11 (static), plugin=windows (static)
2022-04-12T07:34:17Z Static plugins:
2022-04-12T07:34:17Z  QWindowsIntegrationPlugin, version 330752
2022-04-12T07:34:17Z  QWindowsVistaStylePlugin, version 330752
2022-04-12T07:34:17Z Style: windowsvista / QWindowsVistaStyle
2022-04-12T07:34:17Z System: Windows 10 (10.0), x86_64-little_endian-llp64
2022-04-12T07:34:17Z Screen: \\.\DISPLAY2 3440x1440, pixel ratio=1.0
2022-04-12T07:34:18Z Assuming ancestors of block 00000000000000000008a89e854d57e5667df88f1cdef6fde2fbca1de5b639ad have valid signatures.
2022-04-12T07:34:18Z Setting nMinimumChainWork=00000000000000000000000000000000000000001fa4663bbbe19f82de910280
2022-04-12T07:34:18Z Using the 'sse4(1way),sse41(4way),avx2(8way)' SHA256 implementation
2022-04-12T07:34:18Z Using RdSeed as additional entropy source
2022-04-12T07:34:18Z Using RdRand as an additional entropy source
2022-04-12T07:34:18Z Default data directory C:\Users\localadmin\AppData\Roaming\Bitcoin
2022-04-12T07:34:18Z Using data directory F:\BitcoinCore\blockchain
2022-04-12T07:34:18Z Config file: F:\BitcoinCore\blockchain\bitcoin.conf
2022-04-12T07:34:18Z Command-line arg: datadir="F:\\BitcoinCore\\blockchain"
2022-04-12T07:34:18Z Command-line arg: rescan=""
2022-04-12T07:34:18Z Using at most 125 automatic connections (2048 file descriptors available)
2022-04-12T07:34:18Z GUI: "registerShutdownBlockReason: Successfully registered: Bitcoin Core didn't yet exit safely…"
2022-04-12T07:34:18Z Using 16 MiB out of 32/2 requested for signature cache, able to store 524288 elements
2022-04-12T07:34:18Z Using 16 MiB out of 32/2 requested for script execution cache, able to store 524288 elements
2022-04-12T07:34:18Z Script verification uses 7 additional threads
2022-04-12T07:34:18Z scheduler thread start
2022-04-12T07:34:18Z Using wallet directory F:\BitcoinCore\blockchain
2022-04-12T07:34:18Z init message: Verifying wallet(s)…
2022-04-12T07:34:18Z Using BerkeleyDB version Berkeley DB 4.8.30: (April  9, 2010)
2022-04-12T07:34:18Z Using wallet F:\BitcoinCore\blockchain\wallet.dat
2022-04-12T07:34:18Z BerkeleyEnvironment::Open: LogDir=F:\BitcoinCore\blockchain\database ErrorFile=F:\BitcoinCore\blockchain\db.log
2022-04-12T07:34:18Z init message: Loading banlist…
2022-04-12T07:34:18Z SetNetworkActive: true
2022-04-12T07:34:18Z Using /16 prefix for IP bucketing
2022-04-12T07:34:18Z Cache configuration:
2022-04-12T07:34:18Z * Using 2.0 MiB for block index database
2022-04-12T07:34:18Z * Using 8.0 MiB for chain state database
2022-04-12T07:34:18Z * Using 440.0 MiB for in-memory UTXO set (plus up to 286.1 MiB of unused mempool space)
2022-04-12T07:34:18Z init message: Loading block index…
2022-04-12T07:34:18Z Switching active chainstate to Chainstate [ibd] @ height -1 (null)
2022-04-12T07:34:18Z Opening LevelDB in F:\BitcoinCore\blockchain\blocks\index
2022-04-12T07:34:18Z Opened LevelDB successfully
2022-04-12T07:34:18Z Using obfuscation key for F:\BitcoinCore\blockchain\blocks\index: 0000000000000000
2022-04-12T07:34:25Z LoadBlockIndexDB: last block file = 2983
2022-04-12T07:34:25Z LoadBlockIndexDB: last block file info: CBlockFileInfo(blocks=104, size=131797263, heights=729514...729812, time=2022-03-29...2022-03-31)
2022-04-12T07:34:25Z Checking all blk files are present...
2022-04-12T07:34:27Z Opening LevelDB in F:\BitcoinCore\blockchain\chainstate
2022-04-12T07:34:29Z Opened LevelDB successfully
2022-04-12T07:34:29Z Using obfuscation key for F:\BitcoinCore\blockchain\chainstate: 3e8cdd09c9ddfda6
2022-04-12T07:34:29Z Loaded best chain: hashBestChain=0000000000000000009ac41747ff90b966a27ca19f599e32ecb37a50da268918 height=496989 date=2017-12-01T08:07:06Z progress=0.388514
2022-04-12T07:34:29Z init message: Verifying blocks…
2022-04-12T07:34:29Z Verifying last 6 blocks at level 3
2022-04-12T07:34:29Z [0%]...[16%]...[33%]...[50%]...[66%]...[83%]...[99%]...[DONE].
2022-04-12T07:34:32Z No coin database inconsistencies in last 6 blocks (11058 transactions)
2022-04-12T07:34:32Z  block index           14500ms
2022-04-12T07:34:32Z init message: Loading wallet…
2022-04-12T07:34:32Z BerkeleyEnvironment::Open: LogDir=F:\BitcoinCore\blockchain\database ErrorFile=F:\BitcoinCore\blockchain\db.log
2022-04-12T07:34:32Z [default wallet] Wallet File Version = 130000
2022-04-12T07:34:32Z [default wallet] Keys: 0 plaintext, 205 encrypted, 205 w/ metadata, 205 total. Unknown wallet records: 0
2022-04-12T07:34:32Z [default wallet] Wallet completed loading in              51ms
2022-04-12T07:34:32Z init message: Rescanning…
2022-04-12T07:34:32Z [default wallet] Rescanning last 496989 blocks (from block 0)...
2022-04-12T07:34:32Z [default wallet] Rescan started from block 000000000019d6689c085ae165831e934ff763ae46a2a6c172b3f1b60a8ce26f...
2022-04-12T07:35:32Z [default wallet] Still rescanning. At block 149196. Progress=0.002364
2022-04-12T07:36:32Z [default wallet] Still rescanning. At block 184413. Progress=0.005665
....
....
2022-04-12T09:00:32Z [default wallet] Still rescanning. At block 495484. Progress=0.383836
2022-04-12T09:01:25Z [default wallet] Rescan completed in         5212351ms
2022-04-12T09:01:25Z [default wallet] setKeyPool.size() = 100
2022-04-12T09:01:25Z [default wallet] mapWallet.size() = 1
2022-04-12T09:01:25Z [default wallet] m_address_book.size() = 3
2022-04-12T09:01:25Z block tree size = 729813
2022-04-12T09:01:25Z nBestHeight = 496989
2022-04-12T09:01:25Z loadblk thread start
2022-04-12T09:01:25Z Bound to 127.0.0.1:8334
2022-04-12T09:01:25Z torcontrol thread start
2022-04-12T09:01:25Z Bound to [::]:8333
2022-04-12T09:01:25Z Bound to 0.0.0.0:8333
2022-04-12T09:01:25Z init message: Loading P2P addresses…
2022-04-12T09:01:25Z Loaded 61056 addresses from peers.dat  170ms
2022-04-12T09:01:25Z Missing or invalid file F:\BitcoinCore\blockchain\anchors.dat
2022-04-12T09:01:25Z 0 block-relay-only anchors will be tried for connections.
2022-04-12T09:01:25Z init message: Starting network threads…
2022-04-12T09:01:25Z init message: Done loading
2022-04-12T09:01:25Z net thread start
2022-04-12T09:01:25Z [default wallet] Submitting wtx f676574b036a6d6a2d6735b5d5d6ece88cd1defff95fb4b59f04fa6afc18f848 to mempool for relay
2022-04-12T09:01:25Z msghand thread start
2022-04-12T09:01:25Z dnsseed thread start
2022-04-12T09:01:25Z addcon thread start
2022-04-12T09:01:25Z opencon thread start
2022-04-12T09:01:25Z Waiting 300 seconds before querying DNS seeds.
2022-04-12T09:01:34Z UpdateTip: new best=000000000000000000c3e62623676710b5be98a23f59be230f2d3fce602e52b3 height=496990 version=0x20000000 log2_work=87.565537 tx=276782758 date='2017-12-01T08:09:26Z' progress=0.388511 cache=1.2MiB(8879txo)
...
...
2022-04-12T09:13:50Z UpdateTip: new best=0000000000000000003853e233b0e32d07546706bdd8901716b5753991b7b4a3 height=498282 version=0x20000000 log2_work=87.613988 tx=279693702 date='2017-12-08T20:28:26Z' progress=0.392596 cache=670.6MiB(5017471txo)
2022-04-12T09:13:50Z UpdateTip: new best=00000000000000000050e6e6342a819b1b1d01aa42ca59ce73e56cab06018685 height=498283 version=0x20000000 log2_work=87.614029 tx=279696297 date='2017-12-08T20:32:02Z' progress=0.392599 cache=670.8MiB(5019804txo)

this is where the contens of "debug.log" ends.

Hope anyone can help me.

[NeuroticFish]

* That tx you try to send was already sent out in 2017
* I've found something here that may be useful: https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/102659/upgrading-converting-bitcoin-core-wallet-between-platforms

I would try to start afresh: start the thing up without internet connection, retrieve the keys of the addresses with funds, if they're not too many and you already know them, make a completely new wallet and send the funds there.

Another direction may be to try running a version of Bitcoin Core from 2017 until you get synced with the old wallet and then see what can you do next (either follow what's in that stackexcange solution, either start afresh).

[omcpero]

NeuroticFish, thank you so much for a quick resonse.

There were no outgoing transactions from my address, only one incomming. I can also see the correct balance on my address on blockexplorer.

What I am trying to do right now, is using (bitcoin-qt > window > console) command to dump my wallet

Code:

walletpassphrase "xxx" 60

here I get the result "null", which should be OK (null is OK? ), ather that I'll run:

Code:

dumpwallet "wallet.dat.backup"

Now, I am redownloading a complete blockchain in v17 of "bitcoin-qt.exe" client on a third computer (version from 2017). I hope that as soon as all this finishes, I can run the command

Code:

importwallet wallet.dat.backup

this should start resync process (another long running process).

I will be posting my results here (client states it is on 387474 block, doing about 10 blocks per second, meaning it will take 27h to finish).

Again, thanks for your swift response.

Regards,
Peter

[hosseinimr93]

here I get the result "null", which should be OK (null is OK? )

It's OK. It means that the passphrase you entered was correct and the wallet was decrypted successfully.

importwallet wallet.dat.backup

You can also use the following command and import the private key of your address.

Code:

importprivkey "YourPrivateKey"

[omcpero]

Thank you guys, it seems this process will work. It seems import of private key (found in previously exported wallet.dat.backup with the commands:)

Code:

walletpassphrase "xxx" 60
dumpwallet "wallet.dat.backup"

the private key in the "wallet.dat.backup" file (file is now readable) seems allright, it is positioned in the line beside the by blockchain address, containing the funds.

I just used this private key and did the import of it into Electrum wallet, and now I am in process of sending the funds to Ledger and also some other wallets.

Jesus, this calls for a beer or two