Is there a way to not allow Electrum to display BTC when starting electrum?

[viking02]

I have electrum on my laptop.  Now if someone was to start up my computer or click it, they can and thus see how many btc i have in my electrum wallet.  Is there a way to prevent this?  I believe they cannot send any btc to anyone right unless they have my electrum password?


I'm the only one that uses my laptop but of course if something was to happen to it, or if someone had access to it, they could see how much btc i have right?

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[pooya87]

I have electrum on my laptop.  Now if someone was to start up my computer or click it, they can and thus see how many btc i have in my electrum wallet.  Is there a way to prevent this?  I believe they cannot send any btc to anyone right unless they have my electrum password?


I'm the only one that uses my laptop but of course if something was to happen to it, or if someone had access to it, they could see how much btc i have right?

as far as i know, there is not way that you can do that. and your addresses and the balance is shown if the electrum is opened. the password is only for signing and seeing private keys to minimize risk.

edit:

Only the seed and private keys are encrypted, and not the entire wallet file. The private keys are decrypted only briefly, when you need to sign a transaction; for this you need to enter your password. This is done in order to minimize the amount of time during which sensitive information is unencrypted in your computer’s memory.

[shorena]

I have electrum on my laptop.  Now if someone was to start up my computer or click it, they can and thus see how many btc i have in my electrum wallet.  Is there a way to prevent this?

Bios/boot password, encrypted disk, user password and lock your screen (Win + L on both windows and most *nix systems) whenever you leave the laptop.

 I believe they cannot send any btc to anyone right unless they have my electrum password?

Correct, unless you have set no password there either.

I'm the only one that uses my laptop but of course if something was to happen to it, or if someone had access to it, they could see how much btc i have right?

Yes, but if your protection scheme is a bad as you describe it, there are many more ways someone can harm you. If all it takes to install something is to start you laptop while you are on the loo and shut it down before you are back, someone "seeing" how much bitcoin you have is the least of your problems. Someone could easily get a copy of the wallet file and install a keylogger. Now they just wait and the bitcoin are no longer yours.

[twister]

You can hide your electrum wallet somewhere inside your laptop or rename it but then you'd have to move it back or revert the name, whenever you want electrum to use that wallet but as shorena pointed out, if someone has access to your laptop then they can do other more dangerous things than just look at your bitcoin balance.

[racezefi]

You could keep the wallet inside a Truecrypt container and open it whenever you need to work with it.

Yes, TC it's still safe. I use it, has been audited.
https://www.grc.com/misc/truecrypt/truecrypt.htm

The forks are still too green, had a few problems.

[shorena]

You could keep the wallet inside a Truecrypt container and open it whenever you need to work with it.

Yes, TC it's still safe. I use it, has been audited.
https://www.grc.com/misc/truecrypt/truecrypt.htm

The forks are still too green, had a few problems.

unless you use windows -> https://veracrypt.codeplex.com/wikipage?title=Release%20Notes

[viking02]

I like to ask this question again.  I believe in another thread, they said electrum allows this now?


The thing is i know in electrum ltc, they have this feature.  When i log into my electrum ltc wallet, i have to enter a password before it show how many bitcoin balance i have.  But do they have this feature for electrum with bitcoin?  The thing is even when i start up electrum and it show my bitcoin balance, i cannot send any bitcoin unless you type in the password etc.


So if i do this with electrum, will i have to put in 2 different passwords?  Thus when i start electrum, i have to enter a different password.  And when i send bitcoin, i use another one?  These can't be the same right and would not be recommended?

[viking02]

Another thing im curious is would you say its very dangerous to have the bitcoin balance available when you start up electrum?  Thus if someone see you have a big balance, well thats not good etc.  But even if they see it, if they dont know the password, would that mean thats still pretty safe etc?

[shorena]

I like to ask this question again.  I believe in another thread, they said electrum allows this now?

Yes, have not tried it yet, but since electrum 2.8.x its possible to fully encrypt the wallet file, thus it cant show you the balance until you have entered a password.

The thing is i know in electrum ltc, they have this feature.  When i log into my electrum ltc wallet, i have to enter a password before it show how many bitcoin balance i have.  But do they have this feature for electrum with bitcoin?  The thing is even when i start up electrum and it show my bitcoin balance, i cannot send any bitcoin unless you type in the password etc.


So if i do this with electrum, will i have to put in 2 different passwords?  Thus when i start electrum, i have to enter a different password.  And when i send bitcoin, i use another one?  These can't be the same right and would not be recommended?

They should be two separate passwords by design, yes. But again, I havent looked into it, its possible that its implemented poorly.

Another thing im curious is would you say its very dangerous to have the bitcoin balance available when you start up electrum?

No.

  Thus if someone see you have a big balance, well thats not good etc.  But even if they see it, if they dont know the password, would that mean thats still pretty safe etc?

You have invited someone into your house. If you have a large amount of coins on your live, every day use wallet, you need to think about your setup, not worry about your guests.

[HCP]

There are three levels of wallet security in Electrum:

1. No password
2. Password (No wallet file encryption)
3. Password + wallet file encryption

Level 1, your wallet file will be stored in plaintext and the keys/seed etc will be in plaintext. When you start the app, your wallet will open automatically and all balances/transactions/addresses are visible and actions can be completed without a prompt.

Level 2, your wallet file will be stored in plaintext, but private keys and seeds are stored encrypted. When you start the app, your wallet will open automatically and all balances/transactions/addresses are visible. Sensitive actions like sending transactions, viewing seed/private keys or signing messages will prompt for the password.

Level 3, your wallet file is totally encrypted and not human readable. When you start the app, you are prompted for password before wallet file can be opened and information displayed. Sensitive actions like sending transactions, viewing seed/private keys or signing messages will prompt for the password.



Sounds like you want level 3... so add a password to your wallet and make sure the "encrypt wallet file" box is ticked

note: there is only one password

[viking02]

There are three levels of wallet security in Electrum:

1. No password
2. Password (No wallet file encryption)
3. Password + wallet file encryption

Level 1, your wallet file will be stored in plaintext and the keys/seed etc will be in plaintext. When you start the app, your wallet will open automatically and all balances/transactions/addresses are visible and actions can be completed without a prompt.

Level 2, your wallet file will be stored in plaintext, but private keys and seeds are stored encrypted. When you start the app, your wallet will open automatically and all balances/transactions/addresses are visible. Sensitive actions like sending transactions, viewing seed/private keys or signing messages will prompt for the password.

Level 3, your wallet file is totally encrypted and not human readable. When you start the app, you are prompted for password before wallet file can be opened and information displayed. Sensitive actions like sending transactions, viewing seed/private keys or signing messages will prompt for the password.



Sounds like you want level 3... so add a password to your wallet and make sure the "encrypt wallet file" box is ticked

note: there is only one password

Hi there thanks for this post.  Can you tell me specifically step by step how to do this on electrum?  I of course am using the second level on electrum. 


Im confused.  So on level 3, the same password that i use for sending bitcoin has to be the same password as when logging into the encrypted file at the beginning to show the balance?