How to import a private key into Electrum client?

[matt188]

Hi there,

I'm having trouble trying to import a private key/address into Electrum.  Tried asking on the newbies forum first, hopefully I'm not doing something wrong.

See my post here:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=199813.0

Basically the issue is I'm trying to add a private key/address generated from bitaddress.org:

Bitcoin Address:
1GEkrLo9F1NGosabvE3SiiP3PjkNsUZmre

Private Key (Wallet Import Format):
5HpYGkJXKBRk9YgkZFSLgHR9uXsSJUZS4pZm9NHYXjXSE2opMnv

But I receive the following error:

"The following inputs could not be imported:
5HpYGkJXKBRk9YgkZFSLgHR9uXsSJUZS4pZm9NHYXjXSE2opMnv"

Screenshots here:

http://imgur.com/a/dqW9Q

Running on OS X 10.8.3, Electrum 1.7.3.

Any help greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Matt.

[1714130347]

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[1714130347]

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[1714130347]

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[flatfly]

Are you trying to import this address into a seedless wallet? (Does it say 'seedless' in the title bar?) Seedless (watch-only) wallets don't support external keys AFAIK.

Btw: obvious remark, but I'll say it anyway just in case: do NOT put money into that address as you've just shared its private key with the entire planet! 

[matt188]

Ah, yes I was trying to import into my seedless wallet for testing. I have Electrum on another offline computer that has the seed.

If that is the reason it couldn't be imported then perhaps the error message could be improved to be a bit more helpful. At present there is no indication what the issue is.

If I do create the paper wallet then it would be nice to be able to watch the address from my seedless wallet, if only just to see that the coins are still there. Is that possible?

Yep, as noted in my post in the newbie forum I won't be putting any coins into that wallet 

Thanks flatfly.