MultiBit HD 0.2.0 released - Buy/Sell bitcoin using Glidera

[bitterbug]

You could try installing Mycelium if your phone doesn't have the pre-reqs for bread wallet.

Hmm. Even if my phone had the pre-reqs for Bread wallet, I prefer to use a desktop wallet. Sorry, should have said.

If you can't install mycelium you can use the instructions in the post linked below to generate individual private keys from each address you want from your multibit HD wallet, then import them into electrum using the instructions in the quote above.

Yes, I gave that a go - using my wallet words - and it produces a list of keys as you said.

I have a question though: what are the private keys it shows? Are they all the keys used to generate receiving addresses, in Multibit? And why is there an option at the bottom of the list to increase the size of the list? As though it could go on and on. How do I identify only the keys I'm interested in?

I suppose I could look at my MultibitHD transaction list(and match the public keys) but I'm not sure I understand the statuses of some of the transactions so I don't have a lot of confidence in  my ability to collect the necessary addresses generated on your linked-to offline page.

Thanks btw, for your time on this.

ps. multibit-HD statuses which I don't understand: 'sending', 'Part paid' and 'Receiving'. All of these are transactions from months ago.

[1714160506]

1714160506

[1714160506]

1714160506

[HI-TEC99]

If you can't install mycelium you can use the instructions in the post linked below to generate individual private keys from each address you want from your multibit HD wallet, then import them into electrum using the instructions in the quote above.

Yes, I gave that a go - using my wallet words - and it produces a list of keys as you said.

I have a question though: what are the private keys it shows? Are they all the keys used to generate receiving addresses, in Multibit? And why is there an option at the bottom of the list to increase the size of the list? As though it could go on and on.

The private keys it shows are the keys Multibit used to generate receiving addresses. The keys are all generated using the same wallet words, and Multibit can generate an almost unlimited number of them. I think it might be 2³² = 4294967296 addresses. After you send coins to one address Multibit generates another.

How do I identify only the keys I'm interested in?

I suppose I could look at my MultibitHD transaction list(and match the public keys) but I'm not sure I understand the statuses of some of the transactions so I don't have a lot of confidence in  my ability to collect the necessary addresses generated on your linked-to offline page.

It depends how many times your Multibit wallet sent or received coins. Each time it received it would have generated a new receiving address. Each time it sent some, but not all coins in an address it would have sent the change to the next down in another list of change addresses it generates.

You could search in a block explorer like blockchain.info for addresses that contain coins, and only import those private keys into electrum.

https://blockchain.info/

Otherwise if there's too many addresses to search you could try importing giant lists of private keys generated by that webpage into electrum.

If you made less than a hundred transactions from multibit you could import the first 100 private keys generated in the list of receiving addresses, together with the first 100 private keys generated in the list of change addresses.

The more private keys you import into electrum, the longer it will take to sync. The post below says electrum kept crashing when importing 13000 private keys, but eventually synced after a long time. Importing anything above a few hundred keys will probably be time consuming.

I tried to import almost 13000 private keys but Electrum is crashing each time... I've got them all in a single file, maybe I should try by spliting the file.

So let say I import private keys in a wallet_1, is it possible to add more adress later in the same wallet_1 ? Or do I need to create a new wallet ?

EDIT : Finally importing the 13000 private worked but took a while  

[bitterbug]

Right. I think I'm starting to get the picture now.

So am I correct in saying multibit generates a key-pair for each distinct transaction? Or does it create 1 private key to many public keys, and then another private key to many public keys again, and so on? I've always wondered about that.

The list of keys generated, by your linked-to page, will show the keys - top to bottom - in the order in which the wallet would have generated them. Correct? So if that is the case, I'd expect to see the first transaction right at the top of the list.

[HI-TEC99]

So am I correct in saying multibit generates a key-pair for each distinct transaction?

Yes for every time you receive coins, and yes if you send some, but not all, of the coins in an address elsewhere because the change gets sent to a newly generated multibit change address.

The list of keys generated, by your linked-to page, will show the keys - top to bottom - in the order in which the wallet would have generated them. Correct? So if that is the case, I'd expect to see the first transaction right at the top of the list.

Yes

[bitterbug]

Ok.

Thanks for this.

Is it only addresses(corresponding private keys) with positive balances, that I should import into Electrum? Or is it necessary to import all preceding keys, even ones which no longer contain a positive balance?

Or doesn't it matter?

[HI-TEC99]

Ok.

Thanks for this.

Is it only addresses(corresponding private keys) with positive balances, that I should import into Electrum? Or is it necessary to import all preceding keys, even ones which no longer contain a positive balance?

Or doesn't it matter?

You only need to import addresses(corresponding private keys) with positive balances. If you do that electrum will sync almost instantly. If you also import preceding keys which no longer contain a positive balance it doesn't matter unless there are a lot of them. If there's over a hundred electrum will probably take a while to sync, if there's over a thousand electrum will probably take a very long time to sync.

I recommend you install electrum version 2.6.4 because the newer electrum 2.7.x versions are buggy.

https://download.electrum.org/2.6.4/

[bitterbug]

I recommend you install electrum version 2.6.4 because the newer electrum 2.7.x versions are buggy.

Yes, I'm using Electrum version 2.6.4 .

You only need to import addresses(corresponding private keys) with positive balances.

Okay. Got that. I managed to import the first few keys successfully. I have fewer than 30 transactions.

But it seems Electrum won't allow me to create a new non-watching-only wallet by importing addresses/private keys.

I initially opted for a watching-only wallet because a) it prompted me, and b) it seemed like a sensible thing to do while using the software for the first time. Now when I create a new wallet (because watching-only means you can't access your funds), it no longer prompts me to choose watching-only or non-watching-only. It defaults to watching-only. Which is not what I want. I want a real usable wallet with access to all my funds.

The only other way to create a wallet, it seems, is to select 'Create a new wallet' instead of 'Restore a wallet or import keys'.

Am I correct in saying that for the purposes of migrating from a buggy multibithd to electrum264 I should be doing a 'restore' and not a 'create'?

[HI-TEC99]

I recommend you install electrum version 2.6.4 because the newer electrum 2.7.x versions are buggy.

Yes, I'm using Electrum version 2.6.4 .

You only need to import addresses(corresponding private keys) with positive balances.

Okay. Got that. I managed to import the first few keys successfully. I have fewer than 30 transactions.

But it seems Electrum won't allow me to create a new non-watching-only wallet by importing addresses/private keys.

I initially opted for a watching-only wallet because a) it prompted me, and b) it seemed like a sensible thing to do while using the software for the first time. Now when I create a new wallet (because watching-only means you can't access your funds), it no longer prompts me to choose watching-only or non-watching-only. It defaults to watching-only. Which is not what I want. I want a real usable wallet with access to all my funds.

The only other way to create a wallet, it seems, is to select 'Create a new wallet' instead of 'Restore a wallet or import keys'.

Am I correct in saying that for the purposes of migrating from a buggy multibithd to electrum264 I should be doing a 'restore' and not a 'create'?

Try the instructions below if you are using windows. Even if you already installed the normal electrum wallet you can still install the portable one. All the portable version's wallet files install into the same folder as electrum-2.6.4-portable.exe, so the portable version doesn't interfere with the regular version.

Download electrum 2.6.4 portable from here (because the latest 2.7 versions are buggy).

https://download.electrum.org/2.6.4/electrum-2.6.4-portable.exe

Create a new folder and copy electrum-2.6.4-portable.exe into it, then double click it to start the wallet.

An install wizard window should open. At the top of it select the "Restore a wallet or import keys" option, then click the "next" button.

Another window will open with a box in it that you can type your list of private keys into.

After that click the "next" button and another series of windows should open. Leave each window's settings as they are and click the "next" button in each one until the wallet opens.

You can leave the password boxes blank, the electrum wallet can work without a password, and its password is not the same as your multibit wallet's password.

When the wallet opens it should sync within minutes and show your Bitcoins. You can use it to send them wherever you like.

[bitterbug]

Hm.... I'm on Linux.

Would it be safe to remove Electrum and re-install it, at this stage of the process, do you think?

[HI-TEC99]

Hm.... I'm on Linux.

Would it be safe to remove Electrum and re-install it, at this stage of the process, do you think?

I haven't tried the linux version of electrum yet, and I don't know if its GUI is different to the windows version.

First try clicking the file menu, then 'New/Restore' as shown below.



Afterwards try 'Restore a wallet or import keys' using the settings in the screenshot below.




If that doesn't work (or the linux GUI is different) I guess it would it be safe to remove Electrum and re-install it.

[bitterbug]

Okay re-installed... albeit with a few hiccups.

If I select 'restore.. or import..', it asks me 'Please enter a seed phrase, a master key, a list of Bitcoin addresses, or a list of private keys'.

Which of the 4 options should I select?

[HI-TEC99]

Okay re-installed... albeit with a few hiccups.

If I select 'restore.. or import..', it asks me 'Please enter a seed phrase, a master key, a list of Bitcoin addresses, or a list of private keys'.

Which of the 4 options should I select?

A list of private keys like the one below with no white spaces between them.

L2BRfUPreAzmaCwbDYXBBPoCYsPQKjnT6uEY1X7GH2qdJUrMV1Kc
Kz6jvwvAbi8DFw99MUbfrBc2rMcH3EDbv4YfqmcXpdWG1qhFZwew
KzhLdGURnKne8HvTdxmK61CXvvb99gjCWxua2t7mxn3D11d7bGFR
Kyez85nGijQATac8ej2tr44KawNe12nsoKFGMTpVrz6YnhVCD3HP
Kyh7BqAHH6gFFMfP3EaoXbg8R67UfAZuZJZcR5hBz1iFwHKc2pYr

[bitterbug]

Hm. I'ts not showing the balance I was seeing in multibit... about 3BTC short.

[HI-TEC99]

Hm. I'ts not showing the balance I was seeing in multibit... about 3BTC short.

Did you import the private keys for the change addresses as well as the private keys for the normal addresses?

Each time you spend some of the Bitcoins in an address multibit generates a new change address and sends the change to it.

If an address has had some, but not all of its Bitcoins sent out from multibit then the change gets sent to the list of addresses below. The screenshot shows the settings I used to recover those addresses.

To generate the change addresses (and their private keys) you click the BIP32 Derivation tab on that webpage, then enter m/0'/1 into the BIP32 Derivation Path instead of m/0'/0 (which you use to generate normal addresses).

This is an example of what the webpage will look like after you enter m/0'/1.

[bitterbug]

Ah, yes. Quite right. I have the rest now...   (phew!)

When it's as smooth as silk one day, I'll smile about all of this.

One thing I noticed was the number of unused addresses which appeared in the list, interspersed amongst the used addresses. Why was multibit generating these? Was that me changing my mind half-way through or what?

So does this mean I can spend from either wallet's private keys, now? Not saying I want to maintain two because it might just be too confusing and a bit pointless.

Also, it seems there are no seed words for this imported wallet. Shouldn't I be looking to generate them somehow?

[HI-TEC99]

I'm glad you got control of your coins back.

One thing I noticed was the number of unused addresses which appeared in the list, interspersed amongst the used addresses. Why was multibit generating these? Was that me changing my mind half-way through or what?

I don't know why multibit generated those addresses.

So does this mean I can spend from either wallet's private keys, now? Not saying I want to maintain two because it might just be too confusing and a bit pointless.

Yes, you can spend from either wallet's private keys now.

[bitterbug]

Thanks bud, for that help.

Shoot me a tip address and I'll send you something next time I have some work on the go.

ps. any idea about the seed words?

[HI-TEC99]

Thanks bud, for that help.

Shoot me a tip address and I'll send you something next time I have some work on the go.

We aren't allowed to post addresses in threads, but you can find mine in my profile linked below.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=325680

ps. any idea about the seed words?

What do you mean about the seed words?

[bitterbug]

I think 'seed' words, in Electrum, are the same thing as 'wallet' words, in Multibit.

So my question is where are the seed words, in my case, that are usually created with a new wallet?

Are they the same as my old multibit wallet's wallet words?

[HI-TEC99]

I think 'seed' words, in Electrum, are the same thing as 'wallet' words, in Multibit.

So my question is where are the seed words, in my case, that are usually created with a new wallet?

Are they the same as my old multibit wallet's wallet words?

Electrum can generate two different types of wallet. If you make an electrum wallet by importing private keys then that wallet has no seed/wallet words. You have to backup the wallet file itself, or the private keys you created it with. There are no seed/wallet words for that type of electrum wallet.

If you make the other type of electrum wallet by using seed/wallet words you only need those words to backup your wallet. However, electrum and multibit seed/wallet words are incompatible with each other. Electrum will generate a different list of addresses to multibit from the same seed/wallet words.