Problem with Bitcoin Core Wallet, I can't get my coins

[Ardzii]

Hey there guys!

This is definitely going to be the post of a total newbie so please keep up with me!
OK, just so you've got the context:

• I was able to buy 0.081 coins from an exchange (so far so good)
• I wanted to transfer it to my wallet (which is Bitcoin Core's wallet) and to do that I clicked "Receive" in the wallet app (Win 7, 64 bits just FYI).
• I hadn't read all the Bitcoin wallet description (that you need at least 80Gb of free space to install fully the Bitcoin core wallet). I know, first newbie dumb step... but you already know how we are.
• As you can imagine my HD rapidly went full and I couldn't access my bitcoin wallet anymore. Once I clicked on the wallet it gave me the error: "Not enough free space" and immediately shut down...
• So like any other newbie I tried to fix it myself.... I figured, the wallet app is just downloading all the past bitcoin transactions, I simply delete all these downloaded transactions, well I'll be able to access my wallet again and import it in my new online based wallet (I created an online based wallet in the meantime).
• Now I know that the transfer was done (I can trace the transfer on Blockchain.info) and I could import that into my online based wallet but as "Watch only", I can't seem to get to funds or use them. (I would like to transfer the funds from the address I generated with Bitcoin Core Wallet to my online based wallet).[

Can you help me?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Best!

[Red-Apple]

it depends on what you have deleted in this step:

So like any other newbie I tried to fix it myself.... I figured, the wallet app is just downloading all the past bitcoin transactions, I simply delete all these downloaded transactions, well I'll be able to access my wallet again and import it in my new online based wallet (I created an online based wallet in the meantime).

i am not sure about where bitcoin core saves your wallet file, but the file name is wallet.dat and as long as you have that file and also if you have set any password for it, that password you haven't lost anything.

just export the private keys from your wallet and sweep it into the new wallet.

[achow101]

Hey there guys!

This is definitely going to be the post of a total newbie so please keep up with me!
OK, just so you've got the context:

• I was able to buy 0.081 coins from an exchange (so far so good)
• I wanted to transfer it to my wallet (which is Bitcoin Core's wallet) and to do that I clicked "Receive" in the wallet app (Win 7, 64 bits just FYI).
• I hadn't read all the Bitcoin wallet description (that you need at least 80Gb of free space to install fully the Bitcoin core wallet). I know, first newbie dumb step... but you already know how we are.
• As you can imagine my HD rapidly went full and I couldn't access my bitcoin wallet anymore. Once I clicked on the wallet it gave me the error: "Not enough free space" and immediately shut down...
• So like any other newbie I tried to fix it myself.... I figured, the wallet app is just downloading all the past bitcoin transactions, I simply delete all these downloaded transactions, well I'll be able to access my wallet again and import it in my new online based wallet (I created an online based wallet in the meantime).
• Now I know that the transfer was done (I can trace the transfer on Blockchain.info) and I could import that into my online based wallet but as "Watch only", I can't seem to get to funds or use them. (I would like to transfer the funds from the address I generated with Bitcoin Core Wallet to my online based wallet).[

Can you help me?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Best!

First of all, I highly recommend that you not use an online wallet. You had the right idea that the historical transactions (they are actually blocks) can be deleted, but you need to tell Bitcoin Core that that is happening. This is called pruning. You have to enable pruning. To do so, go to the Bitcoin data directory (see https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Data_directory#Default_Location for defaults). Find the file named "bitcoin.conf". If it does not exist, create it. Just make a text file, but make sure that the extension of the file is .conf and not .txt. Then just put

Code:

prune

into that file, save it, and restart Bitcoin Core. It will delete part of the blockchain for you, and continue syncing. It should only be using a few Gb, not the full 80 Gb. Once it is done syncing, you can use the wallet as normal.

[Ardzii]

Hey guys!

Thanks a lot for your fast replies! Going through your answers, step by step:

i am not sure about where bitcoin core saves your wallet file, but the file name is wallet.dat and as long as you have that file and also if you have set any password for it, that password you haven't lost anything.

just export the private keys from your wallet and sweep it into the new wallet.

It looks like everything is OK! I still have my wallet.dat file (actually I decided not to delete it, oufff! ). I just don't know how to tranfer my private key to my new wallet... Actually I don't know what exactly know what the private key is.... :s

First of all, I highly recommend that you not use an online wallet. You had the right idea that the historical transactions (they are actually blocks) can be deleted, but you need to tell Bitcoin Core that that is happening. This is called pruning. You have to enable pruning. To do so, go to the Bitcoin data directory (see https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Data_directory#Default_Location for defaults). Find the file named "bitcoin.conf". If it does not exist, create it. Just make a text file, but make sure that the extension of the file is .conf and not .txt. Then just put
Code:
prune
into that file, save it, and restart Bitcoin Core. It will delete part of the blockchain for you, and continue syncing. It should only be using a few Gb, not the full 80 Gb. Once it is done syncing, you can use the wallet as normal.

That looks like a great solution! I'll try it, but for now my bitcoin core wallet has the following error:"No block source available..." How can I get Bitcoin Core wallet to work again?

Thanks guys!!!!

[achow101]

That looks like a great solution! I'll try it, but for now my bitcoin core wallet has the following error:"No block source available..." How can I get Bitcoin Core wallet to work again?

Thanks guys!!!!

Did you delete any files? If you did, you will need to delete the the entire blocks folder. Otherwise, you just need to start Bitcoin Core with the -reindex option. In windows, right click the shortcut for Bitcoin Core and choose "Properties". Then in the box labeled "target", move the cursor all the way to the right and type -reindex. Make sure there is a space between that and what is already in the box. Click "OK" then double click the shortcut to start Bitcoin Core. When it fully starts, you can do the same thing again to remove the option so it doesn't do that every time you start.

[Red-Apple]

your private key is like a key or think of it as a password that anybody who has that key can have access to the funds inside that bitcoin address.

since i am not so much familiar with bitcoin QT here is a link that can be helpful: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Transferring_coins_from_Bitcoin-Qt_to_Electrum
and by the way, electrum is a good desktop wallet that is lightweight (SPV) and will only download 30 MB of data (only headers)

do this if you didn't want to keep bitcoin core after using the solution knightdk gave you.

[Ardzii]

Worked like a charm!!! Thanks Red! I will dig more to find the perfect wallet!!!

[socks435]

it depends on what you have deleted in this step:

So like any other newbie I tried to fix it myself.... I figured, the wallet app is just downloading all the past bitcoin transactions, I simply delete all these downloaded transactions, well I'll be able to access my wallet again and import it in my new online based wallet (I created an online based wallet in the meantime).

i am not sure about where bitcoin core saves your wallet file, but the file name is wallet.dat and as long as you have that file and also if you have set any password for it, that password you haven't lost anything.

just export the private keys from your wallet and sweep it into the new wallet.

I think you can find that wallet.dat in C:\Users\admin\AppData and check the 3 folder if you can find bitcoin core folder after that open it and look for wallets backup it..
Also i think he can try to  export and import it to other wallet try to import it in block chain..

[Ardzii]

I think you can find that wallet.dat in C:\Users\admin\AppData and check the 3 folder if you can find bitcoin core folder after that open it and look for wallets backup it..
Also i think he can try to  export and import it to other wallet try to import it in block chain..

Thanks socks435! Red-Apple's solution actually worked perfectly!! I guess that your solution could work as well but in my case, the wallet was never locally backed up since the block info (7+ years) was never fully downloaded...

 

Did you delete any files? If you did, you will need to delete the the entire blocks folder. Otherwise, you just need to start Bitcoin Core with the -reindex option. In windows, right click the shortcut for Bitcoin Core and choose "Properties". Then in the box labeled "target", move the cursor all the way to the right and type -reindex. Make sure there is a space between that and what is already in the box. Click "OK" then double click the shortcut to start Bitcoin Core. When it fully starts, you can do the same thing again to remove the option so it doesn't do that every time you start.

Hey there knightdk! Thanks for that! It worked, Bitcoin Core restarted perfectly and was able to resync again! Great news, hahahahaha! I tried your "Prunning" solution though but the system gave me: Error: Cannot parse configuration file: the options configuration file contains an invalid line "prune". Only use key=value syntax.

[achow101]

Hey there knightdk! Thanks for that! It worked, Bitcoin Core restarted perfectly and was able to resync again! Great news, hahahahaha! I tried your "Prunning" solution though but the system gave me: Error: Cannot parse configuration file: the options configuration file contains an invalid line "prune". Only use key=value syntax.

Try

Code:

prune=550

[jackg]

Click export on your wallet and download the electrum wallet.
Then import the private keys to that electrum wallet and you're good to go!
This should work in order to get the transaction to show on an electrum wallet as it doesn't need to download the 75GB blockchain.

Link to electrum wallet

(back up the wallet.dat file just in case by copying it and changing its name to wallet.dat.1 or something similar).

[Ardzii]

Hey there knightdk! Thanks for that! It worked, Bitcoin Core restarted perfectly and was able to resync again! Great news, hahahahaha! I tried your "Prunning" solution though but the system gave me: Error: Cannot parse configuration file: the options configuration file contains an invalid line "prune". Only use key=value syntax.

Try

Code:

prune=550

It worked! Thanks a lot!

[Ardzii]

Sorry knightdk! I still have a little problem apparently... Now I get a fatal error every now and then and the wallet needs to shut down.
I'm not sure but it seems to follow a certain pattern: When I restart the soft it syncs for what 30 min maybe, and gets a fatal error. Restart again, syncs 30 mins and gets the fatal error again.

Thanks as usual!

Best!

[Mauser]

Hey there guys!

This is definitely going to be the post of a total newbie so please keep up with me!
OK, just so you've got the context:

• I was able to buy 0.081 coins from an exchange (so far so good)
• I wanted to transfer it to my wallet (which is Bitcoin Core's wallet) and to do that I clicked "Receive" in the wallet app (Win 7, 64 bits just FYI).
• I hadn't read all the Bitcoin wallet description (that you need at least 80Gb of free space to install fully the Bitcoin core wallet). I know, first newbie dumb step... but you already know how we are.
• As you can imagine my HD rapidly went full and I couldn't access my bitcoin wallet anymore. Once I clicked on the wallet it gave me the error: "Not enough free space" and immediately shut down...
• So like any other newbie I tried to fix it myself.... I figured, the wallet app is just downloading all the past bitcoin transactions, I simply delete all these downloaded transactions, well I'll be able to access my wallet again and import it in my new online based wallet (I created an online based wallet in the meantime).
• Now I know that the transfer was done (I can trace the transfer on Blockchain.info) and I could import that into my online based wallet but as "Watch only", I can't seem to get to funds or use them. (I would like to transfer the funds from the address I generated with Bitcoin Core Wallet to my online based wallet).[

Can you help me?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Best!

It is definitely not the easiest or quickest way, but if you stored all your security keys for the wallet you could just delete everything from your HD and re download everything again. This would definitely work but take some time. Depending on your internet.

[bitdumper]

can you give us the transaction detail. You should know some of the important things about a wallet , there are two part private and public/(watch only) key. your balance and all the transactions are stored into private key so if you have your private key than you can access your balance or else you canonly watch the balance with public key

[achow101]

Please ignore the two users who posted just above this, they are only posting to get paid and do not know what they are talking about. Neither of them have clearly read the thread.

Sorry knightdk! I still have a little problem apparently... Now I get a fatal error every now and then and the wallet needs to shut down.
I'm not sure but it seems to follow a certain pattern: When I restart the soft it syncs for what 30 min maybe, and gets a fatal error. Restart again, syncs 30 mins and gets the fatal error again.

Thanks as usual!

Best!

What is the exact error that you get?

Can you post the debug.log file? Go to Help > Debug Window, and there should be a button there to open the debug.log file. Click that and it will open the file. Copy and paste the contents of that file into a post here. If it does not fit (the forum might give you an error), go to http://pastebin.com/, paste it there, and post the link of the paste here. Don't worry, the file does not contain any sensitive information and will not compromise your private keys.

[Ardzii]

Hey there knightdk!

First off! Thanks a lot for keeping up and sorry for the huge delay in answering. I was on vacation with limited access to my emails and Internet.

Please ignore the two users who posted just above this, they are only posting to get paid and do not know what they are talking about. Neither of them have clearly read the thread.

Dully noted! Thanks a lot for the heads up!

What is the exact error that you get?

Can you post the debug.log file? Go to Help > Debug Window, and there should be a button there to open the debug.log file. Click that and it will open the file. Copy and paste the contents of that file into a post here. If it does not fit (the forum might give you an error), go to http://pastebin.com/, paste it there, and post the link of the paste here. Don't worry, the file does not contain any sensitive information and will not compromise your private keys.

Truthfully I going to redo everything from scratch because I get all types of errors (now, I'm getting the "No source" error again). I feel like it's not really "secure" anymore...
Before I get into the whole process again, is there a specific wallet that you would recommend?

Thanks as usual and have a great day!

[achow101]

Truthfully I going to redo everything from scratch because I get all types of errors (now, I'm getting the "No source" error again). I feel like it's not really "secure" anymore...
Before I get into the whole process again, is there a specific wallet that you would recommend?

I do recommend Bitcoin Core, but seeing as you are having some issues with it, I recommend that you use Electrum. The only downside of Electrum is that it is a SPV wallet which means you have to trust a third party to provide you the right data. Of course, this also means you don't have to download and sync the entire blockchain.

[Ardzii]

Truthfully I going to redo everything from scratch because I get all types of errors (now, I'm getting the "No source" error again). I feel like it's not really "secure" anymore...
Before I get into the whole process again, is there a specific wallet that you would recommend?

I do recommend Bitcoin Core, but seeing as you are having some issues with it, I recommend that you use Electrum. The only downside of Electrum is that it is a SPV wallet which means you have to trust a third party to provide you the right data. Of course, this also means you don't have to download and sync the entire blockchain.

OK! I guess that if you still recommend Bitcoin Core I'll give it another try. Plus this time I'm installing it on a Mac so I might be luckier plus I've got the disk space required to download the thing this time hahahaha!

I'll let you know if I still have troubles!

Thanks a lot fro everything man, keep up the good work helping newbies like me! hahahaha!

[Ardzii]

Truthfully I going to redo everything from scratch because I get all types of errors (now, I'm getting the "No source" error again). I feel like it's not really "secure" anymore...
Before I get into the whole process again, is there a specific wallet that you would recommend?

I do recommend Bitcoin Core, but seeing as you are having some issues with it, I recommend that you use Electrum. The only downside of Electrum is that it is a SPV wallet which means you have to trust a third party to provide you the right data. Of course, this also means you don't have to download and sync the entire blockchain.

OK! I guess that if you still recommend Bitcoin Core I'll give it another try. Plus this time I'm installing it on a Mac so I might be luckier plus I've got the disk space required to download the thing this time hahahaha!

I'll let you know if I still have troubles!

Thanks a lot fro everything man, keep up the good work helping newbies like me! hahahaha!

Hey knightdk!

Sorry to bother you again! I just wanted to let you know that Bitcoin Qt was fully synched with the network and it seems to work like a charm, so thanks again for that.
Also, and hopefully the last time I'll bother you, would have any tuto I could use to protect as much as possible my wallet?
And last, I couldn't find a section in the forum about the Blockchain, rather than Bitcoin per se... Would you know any intelligible and serious forum?

Many thanks as usual for your valuable help and all the best!