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Author Topic: How to recover btc after windows reinstall  (Read 6620 times)
ikezar
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July 18, 2017, 07:30:49 PM
 #81

I suggest looking into Disk Drill by Cleverfiles, I have successfully used that tool to recover files deleted and from drives that have been re-partitioned.  Wallet files are small enough you can recover anything the approximate right size you find for free with the trial version.

For clarity, in this recovery attempt you are only reading from the drive in question correct?  Not trying to run or write anything to the drive anymore?  The less you do to the drive the better.

You might also consider talking to someone like "Dave Bitcoin" (you can find him easily) who has many years experience helping people recover wallets for a 20% bounty (only on the ones he is successful on).
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papercoins
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July 19, 2017, 01:18:28 AM
 #82

what files are required to recover your BTC?  I am having same issue with my bitcoin core and did not back up the private passkey.
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July 19, 2017, 01:32:24 AM
 #83

If you don't know your wallet passphrase, then trying to recover your coins from Bitcoin Core will be quite difficult. There is no way to recover the private keys from an encrypted wallet.dat file without the passphrase.

You'll need your wallet.dat file and to use a script like btcrecover (https://github.com/gurnec/btcrecover) to be able to try and recover the passphrase.


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July 19, 2017, 01:50:45 AM
Last edit: July 19, 2017, 02:14:26 AM by papercoins
 #84

is the passphrase the same as the password used to send transfers with?  if so I have that.  Can I use only the passphrase to recover my coins?
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July 19, 2017, 03:13:01 AM
 #85

... and did not back up the private passkey.
oh... so you mean you didn't backup your private keys?  How old was your wallet... was it setup before v0.13? or is it relatively new (ie. was it an HD wallet)?

You cannot recover with just the passphrase... you need a copy of your wallet.dat file!

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papercoins
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July 19, 2017, 04:54:34 AM
 #86

iv had the wallet for at least 4 years.  I was able to access the files they look to still be intact I found bitcoin-core1 but it was in a .js file and also a .svg file
not sure how to access the wallet.dat file
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July 19, 2017, 06:36:49 AM
 #87

Ok, so you mean you deleted/reformatted your drive and you're trying to recover files?

Well, the actual wallet file for Bitcoin Qt/Core is "wallet.dat". If you don't have a wallet.dat file, then your wallet is gone. Unless you can recover the wallet.dat file, there is nothing else for you to do at this point except consider professional recovery services that may be able to run deeper scans on your drive.

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morbius55 (OP)
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July 19, 2017, 06:36:12 PM
 #88

I'm trying to install pywallet in Windows 10 but can't get any further. I am trying to follow achow101's instructions but where it says shift and right click at the ez setup folder, I don't get an option to open a command window here. Could someone give me some pointers so I can progress further with the install. Thanks.
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July 19, 2017, 07:10:02 PM
 #89

Make sure you haven't highlighted a file when you shift+right click...

highlight the folder and shift+right click and you should get either "open a command window here" or possibly "open Powershell window here" (as I think one of the recent Windows 10 updates tried to make Powershell the default instead of command)...

If you really need a command prompt... Press "start"... type cmd and press enter... it will open a command prompt... but probably not at the correct location... you'll need to figure out the path to this "ez setup" folder... and use the "cd" command (http://www.digitalcitizen.life/command-prompt-how-use-basic-commands)

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July 19, 2017, 07:33:19 PM
 #90

It opens a command shell window, do I type ez_setup.py in there? do I leave any spaces and do I press enter?. thanks.
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July 19, 2017, 08:29:18 PM
 #91

Maybe try recuva

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July 20, 2017, 11:33:33 AM
 #92

It opens a command shell window, do I type ez_setup.py in there? do I leave any spaces and do I press enter?. thanks.
I have no idea what instructions you're following... or what exactly you're doing... so once you have the command prompt (or powershell) opened where you need it, I guess you should just continue following the instructions

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July 20, 2017, 03:15:25 PM
 #93

 Undecided thanks for any info in here.
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July 25, 2017, 10:29:24 PM
 #94

I am paying a professional company to do a raw recovery on my hard drive.  Question what exactly is needed to recover my bitcoins from bitcoin core?  wallet.dat file only?
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July 26, 2017, 03:12:33 AM
 #95

I am paying a professional company to do a raw recovery on my hard drive.  Question what exactly is needed to recover my bitcoins from bitcoin core?  wallet.dat file only?
Yes, from Bitcoin Core, the wallet.dat file is everything... If you have that, it is generally a simple matter of reinstalling Bitcoin Core, running it once so that it sets up a wallet.dat... shutting it down and replacing the new wallet.dat with your recovered wallet.dat. Start Core up and all your addresses should be available. NOTE: unless the new instance of Bitcoin Core is sync'd, you may not see the transaction history or correct balance (but you can still access private keys/addresses etc).

Obviously, you'll also need to know the passphrase (if any) for your recovered wallet.dat file to be able to access the private keys and/or spend coins Wink

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July 26, 2017, 06:33:09 AM
 #96

I am paying a professional company to do a raw recovery on my hard drive.  Question what exactly is needed to recover my bitcoins from bitcoin core?  wallet.dat file only?
Make sure you trust them 100%, you would never know if they had or hadn't recovered it. I presume it is a fair value of BTC that you are trying to recover. is the company experienced in Bitcoin recovery particularly?. Good luck.
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August 26, 2017, 09:42:21 AM
 #97

Was the wallet encrypted (did it have a password)? If it wasn't encrypted then attempting salvaging the coins will be easier than if it was.

There is an alternative to using pywallet, but it requires more time and effort.

If it wasn't encrypted you could use a hex editor capable of searching a whole hard drive to search for this string of bytes 0201010420. The next the thirty-two bytes after that string could be a private key.

If you find one you can change it from raw hex to a normal format by pasting the thirty-two bytes into an offline copy of this webpage, which will also give you its associated address.

https://www.bitaddress.org/

This post explains how to use the webpage.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1961924.msg19522772#msg19522772

This hex editor is capable of searching a whole hard drive.

https://sourceforge.net/projects/wxhexeditor/

These screenshots explain how to open a disk, then search it for the hex string.

Click "devices", then "open disk device", then select the disk letter you want to search.



Click "edit", then "find".



This window should open. Paste the hex string into the the text box labelled "search", then click the button labelled "find all" and wait a very long time for it to search the whole drive.



If you try it run all software offline inside a virtual machine like virtualbox or vmware. Don't ever risk putting a private key on a computer that will ever be connected to the internet.

If you find any private keys you can install the electrum wallet and either import or sweep them into it using these instructions.

http://docs.electrum.org/en/latest/faq.html#can-i-import-private-keys-from-other-bitcoin-clients

http://docs.electrum.org/en/latest/faq.html#can-i-sweep-private-keys-from-other-bitcoin-clients

Electrum should sync almost immediately and give you fast access to your coins.

Don't ever boot from that hard drive again because doing so could wipe all traces of your coins.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       So I have been trying this method by searching through the corrupt wallet.dat after moving it onto a usb stick. I have searched for the 0420 pattern and it has returned 400 odd results, but I don't know if these results will be possible private keys. I followed the advice of it possibly being the 32 bytes following the sequence and have run the first two through bitaddress which gave me a private key in WIF. I then imported them into my Electrum wallet and unsurprisingly the balance is zero. So I have some questions and would be grateful for any answers. 1. Will any 64 hex character number that is run through bitaddress produce a private key, real or not. 2. Is the fact that I can search this wallet.dat with a hex editor mean it is unencrypted?. 3. How accurate is the 0420 sequence in finding private keys and is over 400 of these in a wallet.dat a usual amount. Thanks again for any info.
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February 06, 2023, 10:22:29 PM
 #98

Was the wallet encrypted (did it have a password)? If it wasn't encrypted then attempting salvaging the coins will be easier than if it was.

There is an alternative to using pywallet, but it requires more time and effort.

If it wasn't encrypted you could use a hex editor capable of searching a whole hard drive to search for this string of bytes 0201010420. The next the thirty-two bytes after that string could be a private key.

If you find one you can change it from raw hex to a normal format by pasting the thirty-two bytes into an offline copy of this webpage, which will also give you its associated address.

https://www.bitaddress.org/

This post explains how to use the webpage.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1961924.msg19522772#msg19522772

This hex editor is capable of searching a whole hard drive.

https[Suspicious link removed]ditor/

These screenshots explain how to open a disk, then search it for the hex string.

Click "devices", then "open disk device", then select the disk letter you want to search.

https://i.imgur.com/p77Eyja.png

Click "edit", then "find".

https://i.imgur.com/IkAmEMY.png

This window should open. Paste the hex string into the the text box labelled "search", then click the button labelled "find all" and wait a very long time for it to search the whole drive.

https://i.imgur.com/Yufvs5K.png

If you try it run all software offline inside a virtual machine like virtualbox or vmware. Don't ever risk putting a private key on a computer that will ever be connected to the internet.

If you find any private keys you can install the electrum wallet and either import or sweep them into it using these instructions.

http://docs.electrum.org/en/latest/faq.html#can-i-import-private-keys-from-other-bitcoin-clients

http://docs.electrum.org/en/latest/faq.html#can-i-sweep-private-keys-from-other-bitcoin-clients

Electrum should sync almost immediately and give you fast access to your coins.

Don't ever boot from that hard drive again because doing so could wipe all traces of your coins.



Hello I recently find back an old hdd which was having my wallet.dat with a few bitcoin in it unfortunately it was partially rewritten with new data... but i still want to be sure the private key is not there anymore.
So before doing it on my disk image i decided to test it on a simple wallet that i created my self using bitcoin core "recent version" and it don't find the "0201010420" when I open it using Hex editor. So I have a few questions ...

1) Does the byte before the private key have changes with the version of bitcoin core that was use to create the wallet.dat ?
2) When you mean encrypted wallet you mean  the wallet as a whole or just the private key ?

Have a nice day Smiley
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February 07, 2023, 04:34:36 AM
 #99

-snip-
-snip- i decided to test it on a simple wallet that i created my self using bitcoin core "recent version" and it don't find the "0201010420" when I open it using Hex editor. So I have a few questions ...

1) Does the byte before the private key have changes with the version of bitcoin core that was use to create the wallet.dat ?
2) When you mean encrypted wallet you mean  the wallet as a whole or just the private key ?
- Those bytes will only appear on unencrypted "non-descriptor" wallet.dat files, however wallet.dat created by v23.0+ are descriptor by default.
For testing older wallets, create a new wallet but untick "Descriptor Wallet" during wallet creation;
In bitcoin-cli, it's the sixth argument of createwallet command which should be set to false: e.g.: bitcoin-cli createwallet "testwalletname" false false "" false false

- Bitcoin Core doesn't encrypt the whole wallet.
Otherwise, the user will have to provide the passphrase every time he needs to open/load an encrypted wallet.

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KG17
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February 07, 2023, 08:07:37 AM
 #100

-snip-
-snip- i decided to test it on a simple wallet that i created my self using bitcoin core "recent version" and it don't find the "0201010420" when I open it using Hex editor. So I have a few questions ...

1) Does the byte before the private key have changes with the version of bitcoin core that was use to create the wallet.dat ?
2) When you mean encrypted wallet you mean  the wallet as a whole or just the private key ?
- Those bytes will only appear on unencrypted "non-descriptor" wallet.dat files, however wallet.dat created by v23.0+ are descriptor by default.
For testing older wallets, create a new wallet but untick "Descriptor Wallet" during wallet creation;
In bitcoin-cli, it's the sixth argument of createwallet command which should be set to false: e.g.: bitcoin-cli createwallet "testwalletname" false false "" false false

- Bitcoin Core doesn't encrypt the whole wallet.
Otherwise, the user will have to provide the passphrase every time he needs to open/load an encrypted wallet.

Thank you for you quick response. Also my hdd disk image is around 300 Go and when i launch a search using whexeditor it crashes after a few hours do you have any  better software or other way to do this job ?
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