HELP, newbie to all of this

[Perez360]

So because I got sort of scammed by virwox I had to buy 0,044 BTC in order to withdraw my money fro there. So i downloaded bitcoin core and clicked on request pay and put the receiving code in virwox to get my payment. Not knowing anything about bitcoins I asked support for help on why I didn't receive my bitcoins.The operator linked me to a page on https://blockchain.info and said that probably my client has not yet read the whole block chain yet. I checked bitcoin core and it doesn't say anything about "reading the block chain". But in the bottom of the client something like syncing with the net (1 year and 33 weeks), is it going to take that long?? Please help, I don't want to lose my money)

[DarkHyudrA]

Can you share your public address?
In the www.blockhain.info you can input there and see if the address got any payment/transaction.

And about your sincing client, the 1 year and 33 weeks means that your latest block is 1 year and 33 weeks late, altought it won't last that long to download, there's tons of blocks to download yet, maybe 24 hours since you're probably running connected only on 8 nodes.

[Perez360]

https://blockchain.info/address/12pyd2y5dJN4V6QQFPva9yQiEy5dgkdjsT

[ensurance982]

Can you share your public address?
In the www.blockhain.info you can input there and see if the address got any payment/transaction.

And about your sincing client, the 1 year and 33 weeks means that your latest block is 1 year and 33 weeks late, altought it won't last that long to download, there's tons of blocks to download yet, maybe 24 hours since you're probably running connected only on 8 nodes.

Yep, if you're using Bitcoin Core, you need to download the whole blockchain and verify it (well, your computer does it for you. but it still takes quite some time). You could try and export your private keys and import them into Electrum or MultiBit, those are light wallets that don't need to download the whole chain and work instantly.

[sdmathis]

So because I got sort of scammed by virwox I had to buy 0,044 BTC in order to withdraw my money fro there. So i downloaded bitcoin core and clicked on request pay and put the receiving code in virwox to get my payment. Not knowing anything about bitcoins I asked support for help on why I didn't receive my bitcoins.The operator linked me to a page on https://blockchain.info and said that probably my client has not yet read the whole block chain yet. I checked bitcoin core and it doesn't say anything about "reading the block chain". But in the bottom of the client something like syncing with the net (1 year and 33 weeks), is it going to take that long?? Please help, I don't want to lose my money)

Yeah. The Bitcoin blockchain is huge. Personally, I use the Multibit wallet. From what I understand, it doesn't download the entire blockchain. I do know that it doesn't take long to sync.

Perhaps you can export your private key from the wallet you're using and import it into Multibit and not have to wait for the entire blockchain to download.

Good luck.

Edit: I see that someone said the same thing while I was typing this up. That's what I get for having slow fingers.

[DannyHamilton]

So because I got sort of scammed by virwox I had to buy 0,044 BTC in order to withdraw my money fro there. So i downloaded bitcoin core and clicked on request pay and put the receiving code in virwox to get my payment. Not knowing anything about bitcoins I asked support for help on why I didn't receive my bitcoins.The operator linked me to a page on https://blockchain.info and said that probably my client has not yet read the whole block chain yet. I checked bitcoin core and it doesn't say anything about "reading the block chain". But in the bottom of the client something like syncing with the net (1 year and 33 weeks), is it going to take that long?? Please help, I don't want to lose my money)

If you don't want to lose money, it might be a good idea in the future to learn a little bit about what you are trying to do BEFORE you do it.

There are many different bitcoin wallets available.

Some, like Multibit and Electrum, are "lightweight" wallets.  They use SPV (Simplified Payment Verification) to keep track of the bitcoins that you've received.  These wallets are able to get up and running very quickly since they don't need to store the entire blockchain.

Others, like Bitcoin Core and Armory, are "full nodes".  These are fully participating peers on the peer-to-peer bitcoin network.  They store and validate the entire transaction history of EVERY single bitcoin transaction that has ever occurred since the beginning of bitcoin in 2009.

Since you didn't bother learning about the wallets first, you chose to run a "full node".  Thank you, the network appreciates your willingness to dedicate 33 GB of disk space to store the transaction history, and your willingness to dedicate some of your computer's processing power to enforce all the consensus rules while relaying transactions and confirmation blocks.

In order to act as a "full node", your wallet will first need to synchronize ALL the past transactions that have occurred.  The "1 years and 33 weeks" isn't how long it will take, but rather how long ago you are caught up through in your synchronization.  Depending on the processing power of your computer, it will take anywhere from a few hours to a week for your computer to get fully caught up with synchronization.  Once it is caught up, you will see your bitcoins in your wallet.

In the meantime, you should probably create a backup of your wallet.  That way if your computer dies, or you accidentally delete your wallet, you'll be able to recover and still be able to access your bitcoins.

[AtheistAKASaneBrain]

You don't even need to download actual software. You can create a new wallet in blockchain.info and store your coins there, even tho if you got a considerable amount it's always advices to have local backups. I use QT because im too used to it to change.

[Perez360]

How do I export the private key thing?? After importing that key onto a lightweight wallet, can I just uninstall Bitcoin Core.

Thank you all for the help btw.  

[Yakushi]

So because I got sort of scammed by virwox I had to buy 0,044 BTC in order to withdraw my money fro there. So i downloaded bitcoin core and clicked on request pay and put the receiving code in virwox to get my payment. Not knowing anything about bitcoins I asked support for help on why I didn't receive my bitcoins.The operator linked me to a page on https://blockchain.info and said that probably my client has not yet read the whole block chain yet. I checked bitcoin core and it doesn't say anything about "reading the block chain". But in the bottom of the client something like syncing with the net (1 year and 33 weeks), is it going to take that long?? Please help, I don't want to lose my money)

Yes, Maybe you won't lose your money. You must wait for Bitcoin Core sync full with the network. It's just take you 3-4 more days if your computer

open 24/24 and connecting with network or longer time if you do not open it continiously.

For example: https://blockchain.info/vi/address/1H3JU9qpNgQ5B4wSNzVQQAb48YSLsT28HX

1H3JU9qpNgQ5B4wSNzVQQAb48YSLsT28HX = received address

You can take place that address by your address and then check it. if you see 0.044 BTC there. It means that your money still in that.

Or you can leave your address here. Everyone will help you to understand for better.

[fast2fix]

How do I export the private key thing?? After importing that key onto a lightweight wallet, can I just uninstall Bitcoin Core.

Thank you all for the help btw.  

you just have to drag your wallet.dat into blockchain.info then you'll be able to use your bitcoins.
find your wallet.dat file in appdata folder and open up (https://blockchain.info/wallet/import-wallet) then drag your wallet.dat file and start using blockchain.

[coinpr0n]

The syncing 1 year+ is how far behind in the date you are... eg. the last block you currently know about is that old. Your client will not take 1 year to sync, it should only take 1 or 2 days depending on your connection.

[ensurance982]

How do I export the private key thing?? After importing that key onto a lightweight wallet, can I just uninstall Bitcoin Core.

Thank you all for the help btw.  

you just have to drag your wallet.dat into blockchain.info then you'll be able to use your bitcoins.
find your wallet.dat file in appdata folder and open up (https://blockchain.info/wallet/import-wallet) then drag your wallet.dat file and start using blockchain.

I wouldn't recommend to upload your wallet.dat to an online service. Well, if you're only using Bitcoin to transfer a few coins and can afford to lose them, go ahead - but for larger sums and if you're in this for the long run, please do yourself a favour and use a safe wallet you run on your own computer!

[fast2fix]

How do I export the private key thing?? After importing that key onto a lightweight wallet, can I just uninstall Bitcoin Core.

Thank you all for the help btw.  

you just have to drag your wallet.dat into blockchain.info then you'll be able to use your bitcoins.
find your wallet.dat file in appdata folder and open up (https://blockchain.info/wallet/import-wallet) then drag your wallet.dat file and start using blockchain.

I wouldn't recommend to upload your wallet.dat to an online service. Well, if you're only using Bitcoin to transfer a few coins and can afford to lose them, go ahead - but for larger sums and if you're in this for the long run, please do yourself a favour and use a safe wallet you run on your own computer!

he could always switch to light-weight wallet like electrum, but first he should be able to access his bitcoins quickly for that he has to upload his wallet.dat (he is new to bitcoin and this is the easiest way i guess) and send the bitcoins to other wallets.

[Perez360]

when i try to upload the wallet.dat to blockchain.info it keeps telling me "connection refused".

[DannyHamilton]

You would do well not to take advice from anybody that has an advertisement in their signature space on this forum.

The vast majority of those are people that are being paid per post to advertise with those signature.  Therefore, they'll say just about anything in a discussion thread just to increase their post count.  Generally, they know less about the topic they are discussing than the person asking the questions.

If you want to get access to the Bitcoin Core private key for the address that you used:

Choose the "Help" Menu.
Choose the "Debug Window" option.
Choose the "Console" in the Debug Window.

Type:

Code:

dumpprivkey 12pyd2y5dJN4V6QQFPva9yQiEy5dgkdjsT

In the console window, you will see a string of letters and numbers about 52 characters long.

It will either start with a 'K' or 'L' (it could start with a '5' but this is VERY unlikely unless you are running an old version of Bitcoin Core).

That is your private key.

DO NOT ALLOW ANYBODY ACCESS to that private key.  Anyone that can access that private key can spend your bitcoins without your permission.

Many wallet programs provide a method to import private keys. If you choose to use some other wallet program, you'll need to learn how the program that you choose imports keys.  You can then import the private key into the new wallet program and access your bitcoins.

[fast2fix]

when i try to upload the wallet.dat to blockchain.info it keeps telling me "connection refused".

there is problem with wallet.dat upload at blockchain so try private key export and import.

You would do well not to take advice from anybody that has an advertisement in their signature space on this forum.

The vast majority of those are people that are being paid per post to advertise with those signature.  Therefore, they'll say just about anything in a discussion thread just to increase their post count.  Generally, they know less about the topic they are discussing than the person asking the questions.

If you want to get access to the Bitcoin Core private key for the address that you used:

Choose the "Help" Menu.
Choose the "Debug Window" option.
Choose the "Console" in the Debug Window.

Type:

Code:

dumpprivkey 12pyd2y5dJN4V6QQFPva9yQiEy5dgkdjsT

In the console window, you will see a string of letters and numbers about 52 characters long.

It will either start with a 'K' or 'L' (it could start with a '5' but this is VERY unlikely unless you are running an old version of Bitcoin Core).

That is your private key.

DO NOT ALLOW ANYBODY ACCESS to that private key.  Anyone that can access that private key can spend your bitcoins without your permission.

Many wallet programs provide a method to import private keys. If you choose to use some other wallet program, you'll need to learn how the program that you choose imports keys.  You can then import the private key into the new wallet program and access your bitcoins.

this and sorry i was going to post this tut for him you were fast lol..  different ways of importing private keys is here http://bitcoinvanitygen.com/bitcoinvanityaddress.php (scroll down there's tutorial for 4 different types of wallet imports)