Lost password and seed for Electrum wallet

[AnCapFree]

From Wallet > Master public keys I was still able to private key so is there any way I can still save those coins in there or are they lost forever?

[shorena]

From Wallet > Master public keys I was still able to private key so is there any way I can still save those coins in there or are they lost forever?

The master public key is not a private key and will only help you to know how much coins are in the address, but not spend them. Do you have the seed and/or the wallet files[1]?

[1] http://docs.electrum.org/en/latest/faq.html#where-is-my-wallet-file-located

[AnCapFree]

I have an 8Kb "default_wallet" file in the folder but no, I don't have the seed for electrum.

[shorena]

I have an 8Kb "default_wallet" file in the folder but no, I don't have the seed for electrum.

If you open that wallet does it show the correct balance and addresses?

If so its the correct file. If you have no seed, do you have a relativly good idea about the password? Relativly good here means that if you can reduce it to a few billion passwords you would need to try to find the correct one, there is a high chance that you can either brute force the wallet yourself[1], ask here (e.g. me) for help or hire Dave who for all I know does it for a living[2].

[1] https://github.com/gurnec/btcrecover
[2] http://www.walletrecoveryservices.com/

[AnCapFree]

Is there a specific way to open that file? I'm just trying open with... and electrum and it's not opening anything

I don't have a clue of what the password may be, probably something random I came up at the time but it ends up I started using electrum to receive some coins after my qt broke and didn't realize this about password until I tried to spend my first coins. So, without password and seed does it mean I lost my coins?

[achow101]

Is there a specific way to open that file? I'm just trying open with... and electrum and it's not opening anything

I don't have a clue of what the password may be, probably something random I came up at the time but it ends up I started using electrum to receive some coins after my qt broke and didn't realize this about password until I tried to spend my first coins. So, without password and seed does it mean I lost my coins?

Open electrum and go to File > Open wallet (something like that) and then select that wallet file and it should open it.

[AnCapFree]

it works! it's the right file. now what?

[achow101]

it works! it's the right file. now what?

Do you see the correct balance? If you do, then you can spend the Bitcoin normally.

[AnCapFree]

I could open the file and it showed my balance correctly. I am still asked for a password when I want to send money and I don't have the password. Is there a way to bypass this?

[shorena]

I could open the file and it showed my balance correctly. I am still asked for a password when I want to send money and I don't have the password. Is there a way to bypass this?

No, but if you know enough about it you (or someone helping you) might be able to brute force it. How much or little do you know about the password?

[AnCapFree]

I have absolutely no idea. So there's no way to dump the private key like on core-qt?

[achow101]

I have absolutely no idea. So there's no way to dump the private key like on core-qt?

There is, but you will still need your password just like in bitcoin core.

[shorena]

I have absolutely no idea. So there's no way to dump the private key like on core-qt?

How do you usually set low importance passwords? E.g. I usually use abc123, qwert12345 or something like that for test wallets. Maybe you do something similar.

[AnCapFree]

I was just testing at the time, I was pretty sure I would never use the program so I probably just looked at some random thing, added 123 in the end and that was it but it's impossible to know.. I mean I can try a bunch of things but so far I've got nothing. Don't they have protection from brute force anyway?

If I don't remember the password does that mean I can't recover the coins?

[achow101]

I was just testing at the time, I was pretty sure I would never use the program so I probably just looked at some random thing, added 123 in the end and that was it but it's impossible to know.. I mean I can try a bunch of things but so far I've got nothing. Don't they have protection from brute force anyway?

In the sense that if you have absolutely know idea what to look for, then it will pretty much be impossible. Although weak passwords are of course still vulnerable. The unlocking mechanism and hash could also take time and that will slow down brute force attacks.

If I don't remember the password does that mean I can't recover the coins?

Yeah, pretty much.

[AnCapFree]

my password is probably very weak, probably a word followed by numbers. Is there any way I could brute force this with software or is it a highly technical job?

[achow101]

my password is probably very weak, probably a word followed by numbers. Is there any way I could brute force this with software or is it a highly technical job?

There is software that can help you. Shorena linked one above. Just do a google search and you should be able to find some tools that can help. Just be careful since some of them might be viruses.

[AnCapFree]

sorry for taking so long but it wasn't easy finding that password. Ok great now I have the password and with that I could get the seed. Now how do I get my private key with this info?

[achow101]

sorry for taking so long but it wasn't easy finding that password. Ok great now I have the password and with that I could get the seed. Now how do I get my private key with this info?

Now you just need to restore the wallet from the seed and you will have access to those coins again.

[AnCapFree]

how do I restore the wallet from the seed?