Help! Asked for two-factor authentication but never set it up, money stuck!

[username91]

I'm using Electrum and have some money stuck in my wallet. Please can someone help and tell me how to get it out?

I'll say this now - I really don't have my head around bitcoins that well. I basically have this wallet because I live near one of the machines where you can buy bitcoins with cash, so I opened a wallet so that I can buy them on the machine on behalf of a friend and transfer them to my friend's wallet. That much I'm ok with doing. So if anyone can help me in really basic, idiot language, I'd appreciate that.

I set up this Electrum wallet about a year ago. Last time I used it was about three months ago and it worked fine - I've used it about ten times overall and it's been really easy so not sure why it's gone wrong now.

I tried to transfer money out of my wallet today and I can't  as it's asking me for two factor authentication which I never set up and have not used on previous transactions. I don't even really know what it's asking me for as I've never used two factor authentication on anything. How can I get past this screen? I can't seem to find anywhere in the wallet settings to turn this option on or off.

EDIT: if I click the little shield in the bottom right corner, it says "this wallet is protected by TrustedCoin's two-factor authentication." - this wasn't there previously so how do I turn it off? The link to the TrustedCoin website doesn't tell me how to turn it off,  it just tells me how to set up a new wallet with this two-factor thingy, but I'm assuming if I set up a new wallet my money will still be stuck in the old one? Help! I've paid £60 of my friend's money into this thing and I need to get it back out!

[1715331422]

1715331422

[jackbox]

I'm using Electrum and have some money stuck in my wallet. Please can someone help and tell me how to get it out?

I'll say this now - I really don't have my head around bitcoins that well. I basically have this wallet because I live near one of the machines where you can buy bitcoins with cash, so I opened a wallet so that I can buy them on the machine on behalf of a friend and transfer them to my friend's wallet. That much I'm ok with doing. So if anyone can help me in really basic, idiot language, I'd appreciate that.

I set up this Electrum wallet about a year ago. Last time I used it was about three months ago and it worked fine - I've used it about ten times overall and it's been really easy so not sure why it's gone wrong now.

I tried to transfer money out of my wallet today and I can't  as it's asking me for two factor authentication which I never set up and have not used on previous transactions. I don't even really know what it's asking me for as I've never used two factor authentication on anything. How can I get past this screen? I can't seem to find anywhere in the wallet settings to turn this option on or off.

EDIT: if I click the little shield in the bottom right corner, it says "this wallet is protected by TrustedCoin's two-factor authentication." - this wasn't there previously so how do I turn it off?

Do you have your seed? I would suggest uninstalling Electrum, resintalling the latest verison and restore the wallet from the seed and see if that fixes things.

[username91]

Quite honestly, no. From googling, it sounds like this is some kind of security code I should have been given when I set the wallet up, but I actually don't remember this happening. I always write stuff like that down and don't have this so I'm a bit confused. Can I download and reinstall without it or will that mess things up more?

[jackbox]

Quite honestly, no. From googling, it sounds like this is some kind of security code I should have been given when I set the wallet up, but I actually don't remember this happening. I always write stuff like that down and don't have this so I'm a bit confused. Can I download and reinstall without it or will that mess things up more?

No. When you created the wallet there was a 12 or more word seed. It told you to write down and save the words. Without the seed you can never recreate the same wallet and any bitcoins will be lost if you lose the wallet file for the current wallet.

[username91]

I have something in a file that is 12 random words. I'm guessing this is the seed as for some reason I didn't write down what it was for! Will try it.

[username91]

Ok - I deleted the app, reinstalled it, the seed was right. But it's still asking for the authentication! Help?!

[altcoinhosting]

Ok - I deleted the app, reinstalled it, the seed was right. But it's still asking for the authentication! Help?!

It shouldn't do that... Are you sure you downloaded a clean version straight from the electrum website, not from that trustedcoin website...

I haven't looked up trustedcoin, but are you sure it's completely uninstalled before re-installing electrum???

[username91]

Yep, deleted everything, redownloaded it just now straight from Electrum. When I opened it my normal wallet wasn't there, until I restored it and pasted in the seed. I definitely selected 'Standard Wallet' as well, not 'Wallet with two-factor authentication', so I really can't understand why it's still doing this.

I don't even know what TrustedCoin is to be honest, just that it comes up with that message on my Electrum wallet.

[username91]

Been searching a bit more, this website seems to imply that you can turn the two-factor off, but doesn't make sense?

http://docs.electrum.org/en/latest/2fa.html

Says to restore the wallet as a two-factor wallet and that means it won't ask for two-factor. Don't understand how that's possible, but thought I'd try it anyway. Deleted the app and reinstalled, if I select two-factor wallet it won't accept my seed! It will only accept my seed for the standard type of wallet. I assume this is because I never set it up as two-factor.

This is really starting to stress me out. Does anyone have any more ideas?

[altcoinhosting]

Try this on a livecd?
Download a linux livecd, boot it up, install electrum, use the seed to restore... This way, you're sure that the 2fa isn't somewhere in a hidden folder or your registry

I'm not an expert at this, but i guess it's defenately worth a shot, unless somebody more knowledgable has an idear (Shorena is usually really good at this stuff)

[username91]

Sorry, I don't even know what that means! I'm using a Mac and don't have a disc drive if that makes any difference?

I've definitely deleted all the files though. I use a deleter app that sweeps for all the files, and made sure the hidden folder was gone, too. This seems really screwed up.

If I can't restore my wallet to get rid of this setting, I guess I just have to borrow someone's smartphone, download the Google Authenticator app, and get a code that way? Will that work?

[GoldTiger69]

Sorry, I don't even know what that means! I'm using a Mac and don't have a disc drive if that makes any difference?

I've definitely deleted all the files though. I use a deleter app that sweeps for all the files, and made sure the hidden folder was gone, too. This seems really screwed up.

If I can't restore my wallet to get rid of this setting, I guess I just have to borrow someone's smartphone, download the Google Authenticator app, and get a code that way? Will that work?

If you have the 13 word seed, then your best shot is to install a new electrum wallet in another computer and re-build your wallet with the seed. That's your best shot.

And NEVER delete any wallet: thats the best way to loose your coins for ever (unless you have a backup, of course)

[ThomasV]

I'm using Electrum and have some money stuck in my wallet. Please can someone help and tell me how to get it out?

I'll say this now - I really don't have my head around bitcoins that well. I basically have this wallet because I live near one of the machines where you can buy bitcoins with cash, so I opened a wallet so that I can buy them on the machine on behalf of a friend and transfer them to my friend's wallet. That much I'm ok with doing. So if anyone can help me in really basic, idiot language, I'd appreciate that.

I set up this Electrum wallet about a year ago. Last time I used it was about three months ago and it worked fine - I've used it about ten times overall and it's been really easy so not sure why it's gone wrong now.

I tried to transfer money out of my wallet today and I can't  as it's asking me for two factor authentication which I never set up and have not used on previous transactions. I don't even really know what it's asking me for as I've never used two factor authentication on anything. How can I get past this screen? I can't seem to find anywhere in the wallet settings to turn this option on or off.

EDIT: if I click the little shield in the bottom right corner, it says "this wallet is protected by TrustedCoin's two-factor authentication." - this wasn't there previously so how do I turn it off? The link to the TrustedCoin website doesn't tell me how to turn it off,  it just tells me how to set up a new wallet with this two-factor thingy, but I'm assuming if I set up a new wallet my money will still be stuck in the old one? Help! I've paid £60 of my friend's money into this thing and I need to get it back out!

you are opening a wallet setup with two-factor authentication.
this cannot be the same wallet you setup a year ago, because that kind of wallet did not exist a year ago.

check the filename, and the transaction history in that wallet, to see if it is your wallet.