Paper Backups Only and Would Like to Check Balances. Help pls.

[boosblock]

i have paper backups of wallets i created in armory several years ago.  i do not want to move the coins, but just check on the balances for sanity's sake.  is there an easy way to do this without entering private keys or any other sensitive information? i believe there is but i just cant recall how. 

i was hoping someone could either walk me through this or direct me to a tutorial.  again, i dont want to move the coins, just check on the balances.

thanks!

[boosblock]

to be clear, i also have access to the offline laptop which i purchased for the explicit purpose of creating these wallets.  its been so long that i dont recall what i did though.  the wallet version on my sheets read 1.35c

thanks.

[goatpig]

Just write down the addresses on the offline machine and check them up on a blockchain explorer.

[U2]

i was hoping someone could either walk me through this or direct me to a tutorial.  again, i dont want to move the coins, just check on the balances.

thanks!

That should be easy enough. Do you have paper wallets that show public key and private? The easiest thing to do would be to import the public key as a watch only address. If you just have the public and private key written down on paper just type out the public key as a watch only address. The private key will still only be known by you, but you can watch your balance in a easy to access wallet.

[boosblock]

i was hoping someone could either walk me through this or direct me to a tutorial.  again, i dont want to move the coins, just check on the balances.

thanks!

That should be easy enough. Do you have paper wallets that show public key and private? The easiest thing to do would be to import the public key as a watch only address. If you just have the public and private key written down on paper just type out the public key as a watch only address. The private key will still only be known by you, but you can watch your balance in a easy to access wallet.

the sheets have the root key printed out and phrases which i created that i handwrote on there.  i realize how ignorant i sound but its been so long since i've done this. again, appreciate everyone's patience

one wallet has a secure print code which i transcribed.  the rest do not.

[U2]

If you don't want your root key on the internet at all I'd try and find the public key or address that's holding your coins. If you want to be able to spend them some day you could just import the root key and it'll show you the balance in your wallet.

[boosblock]

correct. i'd rather not have the root key online whatsoever.  how do obtain the public keys or the address(es)? i did a quick google search just now but came up empty.

i created this in 2014 using armory version 0.90 beta and i still have the old machine used to generate the wallets.  hopefully i'm missing something obvious but i dont see where to get this info from on the old machine.

i'm also scared to play around with it *too* much but realize i'm probably being paranoid.

thoughts?
thanks.

[boosblock]

sorry to bump my own thread, but wondering if anyone can help with this pls.
thanks.

[goatpig]

Just write down the addresses on the offline machine and check them up on a blockchain explorer.

[Stroto]

Does your offline wallet have the possibility to show a QR code?

Wallet properties > addresses > address information

scan that with a phone and see on a blockexplorer.

[boosblock]

Just write down the addresses on the offline machine and check them up on a blockchain explorer.

its possible the version on the old machine is very different?

i go to wallet properties and dont see anything listed under "addresses in wallet."  its all blank.
my options are: send bitcoins, receive bitcoins, change or remove passphrase, change wallet labels, backup this wallet, created watching only copy, delete/remove wallet, import/sweep private keys and remove imported addresses.

[goatpig]

1) Run expert mode

2) Make sure checkboxes like "hide unused" are unchecked. The offline machine does not know that these addresses are in use or not if you never signed a spending tx from them.

3) If the list is still empty, click "Receive" to reveal new addresses. While the wallet maintains a lookup of the address chain, it won't just display addresses that have never been requested (whether they are used after being requested or not).

That's if you're just an offline wallet and never setup the online part. Other, go through the steps to get a WO wallet sync'ed to the network.

[boosblock]

1) Run expert mode

2) Make sure checkboxes like "hide unused" are unchecked. The offline machine does not know that these addresses are in use or not if you never signed a spending tx from them.

3) If the list is still empty, click "Receive" to reveal new addresses. While the wallet maintains a lookup of the address chain, it won't just display addresses that have never been requested (whether they are used after being requested or not).

That's if you're just an offline wallet and never setup the online part. Other, go through the steps to get a WO wallet sync'ed to the network.

this worked! thank you! 

one last question if you wouldnt mind.  each wallet has several addresses associated with it.  i have all of these written down. 

the balances in many of them (within the same wallet) are identical.  so lets say i have one wallet with 5 addresses all with identical balances.  how do i know these are unique and i'm not being given an alternate address? hopefully that question makes sense.

[goatpig]

the balances in many of them (within the same wallet) are identical.  so lets say i have one wallet with 5 addresses all with identical balances.  how do i know these are unique and i'm not being given an alternate address? hopefully that question makes sense.

I'm not sure I understand the question. At the blockchain level, the difference is evident. Now you could pretend the software is faulty and what you see in the GUI is not what's on chain, but if you get 2 separate services report the same balance, then that's out cleared as well.