Importing an encrypted wallet.dat

[Viscera]

Are there any special requirements when importing an encrypted wallet.dat file. 

Also

If I've already downloaded the blockchain with a new wallet that has a zero ballance is there a way to update the wallet.dat that will allow it to work with the blockchain that's already downloaded or will I need to download the entire blockchain again.

Thanks

[achow101]

Are there any special requirements when importing an encrypted wallet.dat file. 

Also

If I've already downloaded the blockchain with a new wallet that has a zero ballance is there a way to update the wallet.dat that will allow it to work with the blockchain that's already downloaded or will I need to download the entire blockchain again.

Thanks

It will work automatically. All you need to do is replace the wallet.dat in the data directory with yours. If it doesn't show the correct balance then you will need to have Bitcoin Core rescan the blockchain, but this does not involve resyncing or redownloading anything. It is usually fairly quick. Normally you won't need to do that.

[unholycactus]

Unless you are working with a very old version of Bitcoin core, everything should be fine if you close Core, swap wallet files, and relaunch.

[Viscera]

Thanks, it's working

[vileygroun]

Well, You need to replace the old wallet.dat with the newly created one. If you want the address from the other wallet.dat file, you need to import the private key from one to the other.