Armory crashed and encrypted an unencrypted wallet?

[lxpeery]

So, I have a bit of a problem. I sold about a bitcoin and a half to a friend who was supposed to have Armory installed and ready to go. Turns out that he had created an unencrypted wallet and used that address to receive the coin. No problem, right? Apparently that wasn't the case. Armory crashed on his macbook about halfway through downloading the blockchain. When he went back to re-open the wallet, his previously unencrypted wallet was locked with a password that he doesn't know. We now have a wallet that is encrypted with an unknown password. Did he make a paper backup? No. Of course he didn't. All we have are a bunch of encrypted digital backup files. I can load them up fine on my computer (he never got the [Suspicious link removed]pletely downloaded), but of course, there's the pesky password prompt that keeps me from doing anything.

I guess my question is this: does anyone have any idea at all what that password might be? Is there something that Armory might have set as a default? Any string that it might use? Because if not, I'm either going to have a very pissed friend when I keep his money, or I'm going to be the one out like $900.

Thanks in advance for the help.

[achow101]

Armory does not just set a default encryption on a wallet.

How did your friend even create an unencrypted wallet? Armory forces you to set a password when you create a wallet.

What version of Armory is he using? Can you please post the log files? If they are too large, put them in http://pastebin.com/ and post the link to the paste.

I suspect he somehow got the datadirs messed up and it is just opening an old wallet that he previously had that was encrypted.

[lxpeery]

Armory does not just set a default encryption on a wallet.

How did your friend even create an unencrypted wallet? Armory forces you to set a password when you create a wallet.

What version of Armory is he using? Can you please post the log files? If they are too large, put them in http://pastebin.com/ and post the link to the paste.

I suspect he somehow got the datadirs messed up and it is just opening an old wallet that he previously had that was encrypted.

Yeah, I honestly don't know. I'm just going off of what he says. I know that he was supposed to download Armory (0.93.3) specifically for this transaction, so I know that he's never even had a wallet before this one. I can get the log files, but as Armory has never even been online on his computer, will they still be helpful?

Thanks for the quick response.

[achow101]

Log files are always needed, even if they are not helpful.

Tell him to use 0.94.1 which he can download from https://btcarmory.com/0.94.1-release/

[lxpeery]

Log files are always needed, even if they are not helpful.

Tell him to use 0.94.1 which he can download from https://btcarmory.com/0.94.1-release/

Ok, I'll get him to send those over. Will 0.94.1 be at all helpful in recovering the password?

[achow101]

Log files are always needed, even if they are not helpful.

Tell him to use 0.94.1 which he can download from https://btcarmory.com/0.94.1-release/

Ok, I'll get him to send those over. Will 0.94.1 be at all helpful in recovering the password?

Probably not but it doesn't hurt to try.

[achow101]

Have your friend try doing this:

Go to Wallet > Fix Damaged Wallet. Click Choose Loaded Wallet and choose the wallet that he has issues with (should only be one and should be loaded). Then select Full Recover and click Recover. This will attempt to recover the wallet and to fix any problems that Armory can find.

[lxpeery]

Have your friend try doing this:

Go to Wallet > Fix Damaged Wallet. Click Choose Loaded Wallet and choose the wallet that he has issues with (should only be one and should be loaded). Then select Full Recover and click Recover. This will attempt to recover the wallet and to fix any problems that Armory can find.

Hey again,

Tried those suggestions, and I'm afraid that we're still locked out. I moved his wallet onto my computer, but without that password, we're still stuck.

You requested that I give his log files. Here they are: http://pastebin.com/b5uq8T8G

I had to comment out a bunch of block updates to make it fit on pastebin, but I don't see why that should be of any use.

Thanks again for your help.

-Alex

[achow101]

Go to /Users/James/Library/Application Support/Armory/ and post a screenshot of all of the files inside that folder. I have a hunch that Armory picked up an encrypted backup (you said your friend made encrypted backups?) from that folder because the original from the folder got corrupted.

[goatpig]

Code:

2016-10-08 19:10 (WARNING) -- ArmoryQt.py:2789 - ***WARNING: Duplicate wallet detected, 2i9jR2jWX
2016-10-08 19:10 (WARNING) -- ArmoryQt.py:2799 - Second wallet is more useful than the first one...
2016-10-08 19:10 (WARNING) -- ArmoryQt.py:2800 -      Wallet 1 (skipped): /Users/James/Library/Application Support/Armory/armory_2i9jR2jWX__02.wallet
2016-10-08 19:10 (WARNING) -- ArmoryQt.py:2801 -      Wallet 2 (loaded):  /Users/James/Library/Application Support/Armory/armory_2i9jR2jWX_.wallet
2016-10-08 19:10 (WARNING) -- ArmoryQt.py:2789 - ***WARNING: Duplicate wallet detected, 2i9jR2jWX
2016-10-08 19:10 (WARNING) -- ArmoryQt.py:2799 - Second wallet is more useful than the first one...
2016-10-08 19:10 (WARNING) -- ArmoryQt.py:2800 -      Wallet 1 (skipped): /Users/James/Library/Application Support/Armory/armory_2i9jR2jWX_encrypt.wallet
2016-10-08 19:10 (WARNING) -- ArmoryQt.py:2801 -      Wallet 2 (loaded):  /Users/James/Library/Application Support/Armory/armory_2i9jR2jWX_.wallet
2016-10-08 19:10 (INFO) -- ArmoryQt.py:2822 - Number of wallets read in: 1

Clearly there are 3 copies of that wallet file in your datadir, and Armory is prioritizing one of them.

[lxpeery]

Go to /Users/James/Library/Application Support/Armory/ and post a screenshot of all of the files inside that folder. I have a hunch that Armory picked up an encrypted backup (you said your friend made encrypted backups?) from that folder because the original from the folder got corrupted.

Sorry for taking so long on getting that. I have to get him to bring his laptop over every time I have to get something. I'll try to get it tonight.

[lxpeery]

Code:

2016-10-08 19:10 (WARNING) -- ArmoryQt.py:2789 - ***WARNING: Duplicate wallet detected, 2i9jR2jWX
2016-10-08 19:10 (WARNING) -- ArmoryQt.py:2799 - Second wallet is more useful than the first one...
2016-10-08 19:10 (WARNING) -- ArmoryQt.py:2800 -      Wallet 1 (skipped): /Users/James/Library/Application Support/Armory/armory_2i9jR2jWX__02.wallet
2016-10-08 19:10 (WARNING) -- ArmoryQt.py:2801 -      Wallet 2 (loaded):  /Users/James/Library/Application Support/Armory/armory_2i9jR2jWX_.wallet
2016-10-08 19:10 (WARNING) -- ArmoryQt.py:2789 - ***WARNING: Duplicate wallet detected, 2i9jR2jWX
2016-10-08 19:10 (WARNING) -- ArmoryQt.py:2799 - Second wallet is more useful than the first one...
2016-10-08 19:10 (WARNING) -- ArmoryQt.py:2800 -      Wallet 1 (skipped): /Users/James/Library/Application Support/Armory/armory_2i9jR2jWX_encrypt.wallet
2016-10-08 19:10 (WARNING) -- ArmoryQt.py:2801 -      Wallet 2 (loaded):  /Users/James/Library/Application Support/Armory/armory_2i9jR2jWX_.wallet
2016-10-08 19:10 (INFO) -- ArmoryQt.py:2822 - Number of wallets read in: 1

Clearly there are 3 copies of that wallet file in your datadir, and Armory is prioritizing one of them.

Yeah, I can see that. Can you tell me what that means, and if I can do something with the copies to access the bitcoin?

Thanks a million.

[Carlton Banks]

Yeah, I can see that. Can you tell me what that means, and if I can do something with the copies to access the bitcoin?

1. DO NOT DELETE ANY OF THE COPIES
2. Move 2 copies out of your Amory user folder into any other folder
3. Check the filename of the copy remaining in Armory folder. If not 2i9jR2jWX.wallet, change it to 2i9jR2jWX.wallet
4. Run Armory, check for the coins after initial Db setup
5. If that wallet is corrupted, rename it slightly (any change to the filename will do), then move that wallet file to where you moved the other 2
6. Repeat steps 3-4 for the other wallet files (move to Armory user folder, check the name is right, run Armory)

[lxpeery]

Yeah, I can see that. Can you tell me what that means, and if I can do something with the copies to access the bitcoin?

1. DO NOT DELETE ANY OF THE COPIES
2. Move 2 copies out of your Amory user folder into any other folder
3. Check the filename of the copy remaining in Armory folder. If not 2i9jR2jWX.wallet, change it to 2i9jR2jWX.wallet
4. Run Armory, check for the coins after initial Db setup
5. If that wallet is corrupted, rename it slightly (any change to the filename will do), then move that wallet file to where you moved the other 2
6. Repeat steps 3-4 for the other wallet files (move to Armory user folder, check the name is right, run Armory)

Will do. The problem isn't that I can't see the coins though; they're sitting right there, taunting me. It's that it's a password protected wallet, though my friend swears he never set a password. Will the steps above have any effect on that?

Thanks!

[Carlton Banks]

The problem isn't that I can't see the coins though; they're sitting right there, taunting me. It's that it's a password protected wallet, though my friend swears he never set a password. Will the steps above have any effect on that?

Don't worry, I read the thread. There is no guarantee that one of the three wallet files is unencrypted, I can't tell you that without understanding how this happened to begin with (which is not obvious). All you can do is check each wallet separately, and because they're all the same wallet file, Armory won't handle all 3 at once. Hence cycling the wallets in and out of the Armory folder in between reloads.

[lxpeery]

Thanks a million, that's what I'll try.