Help with Armory 0.93.3 on Mac OSX 7.5 - cannot go online!!

[big_julius]

I'm in a bit of a dilemma... here's the full story: I bought some bitcoins on Localbitcoins.com
I Generated a wallet address on Armory (which is in offline mode) and sent them to that address
When I try to double click on the address I sent these to (in the Armory 'wallet properties' window) the whole app just crashes straight away.

Any help would be really appreciated. I don't know how to get online, and worried I'm not going to be able to access any of the bitcoins I just sent myself.

I am aware that by downloading Bitcoin Core (and the whole 100GB+ blockchain) seems to be a solution, but the issue is that my mac (OSX 7.5) is not compatible with the program. Furthermore, I do not have nearly enough space to download the full blockchain. I would have to download that to an external hard drive, but I imagine that would then cause additional problems.

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[achow101]

Armory will not function without Bitcoin Core running and synced. It is an absolute requirement to have Bitcoin Core installed, running, and synced in order for Armory to even work. If you cannot install Bitcoin Core and download the entire blockchain, then you cannot use Armory.

[big_julius]

Ok, thanks for clearing that up.

Now that the funds have been sent to the armory address, would there be a way I could get access to them without having to install the new operating system on my mac so that bitcoin core works?

And it is possible to store the blockchain on a hard drive and still ensure that this connects to armory so I can eventually get online?

Thanks again for getting back to me. I've been quite stressed out fearing that I've lost the money I spent on the coins.
 

[achow101]

If you have another computer that has the disk space and requisite OS, you can move your Armory wallet there and be able to use it there. If you do that, I recommend that you upgrade Armory to the latest version, 0.96 (or 0.95.1 for Mac).

Otherwise, you should be able to export the private keys from Armory and sweep/import them into another wallet like Electrum in order to access your Bitcoin. To export the private keys, open the wallet properties and choose Backup This Wallet. Chose the Export Key Lists option and enter your password. In the dialog that appears, uncheck everything except for Private Key (Plain Base58) and check the box at the bottom which says Omit Spaces in Key Data. The list that is in the box is list of private keys for your address. They should all begin with a "5" and be 51 characters long. You can then take those to another wallet to import.

[big_julius]

Thanks a lot, that sounds achievable!

As I haven't yet been online and the funds have thus not appeared in my armory wallet, will exporting the private keys still work? I also tried sweeping the wallet with the bitcoin phone app by scanning the QR code of the 'paper backup', but it said it cannot recognise input. If this is a straightforward solution, I'd rather do this than have to download the blockchain, and would happily use a different wallet to armory.

[achow101]

As I haven't yet been online and the funds have thus not appeared in my armory wallet, will exporting the private keys still work?

Yes. You do not need to be online to receive Bitcoin. So long as your transactions have confirmed, then it will work.

I also tried sweeping the wallet with the bitcoin phone app by scanning the QR code of the 'paper backup', but it said it cannot recognise input.

Armory's QR code and backup stuff is completely unrelated to any other wallet and is Armory specific.

If this is a straightforward solution, I'd rather do this than have to download the blockchain, and would happily use a different wallet to armory.

It should be fairly straightforward. Follow the instructions I gave to get the private keys. Then you should download and install Electrum and sweep those private keys into your new Electrum wallet.

[big_julius]

Amazing! Thanks for all your help.

One last thing if you could be so kind: I previously downloaded Electrum but it doesn't work on my mac as my OS is too old. Do you know which other wallets might work on an OS X 7.5 and that feature the sweep wallet function?

Cheers 

[big_julius]

I managed to get Electrum working on another computer and have successfully imported the private keys. Now I'm just waiting for the transaction to be confirmed on blockchain.info, but it's been stuck on unconfirmed for a while. Any advice on this? If there is something I can do from the Electrum wallet side of things, let me know! I'll let it process overnight but a bit concerned if nothing has happened by the morning

[gangtraet]

The "unconfirmed" problem is because the Bitcoin network is running at maximum capacity.  If the fee you paid is low, it will take a while to confirm.  I think you can check your fee directly in the Electrum client, otherwise find it on tradeblock.com or blockchain.info.  If the fee is around 150 satoshi/byte, it will eventually confirm.

In the absolutely worst case your transactions will be lost from the memory pool within a few days to perhaps a week.  Then Electrum will see that the money in reality never left the original private keys, and you can try to sweep again with a higher fee.   You may also be able to trigger an earlier confirmation through "child pays for parent" by making a transaction that moves the unconfirmed bitcoins to a new address in your wallet, this time with a high fee.  If you need help with that you probably need to ask in an Electrum forum.