ELECTRUM ISSUES - NEED HELP TO TRACK LOST BITCOIN?

[consultant2b]

Hi,

I just did my first Bitcoin Withdrawl to my electrum wallet but seeming to have some issues.

The exchange says the transaction was completed more than 12 hours ago but my wallet shows nothing. I am always really confused with how the wallet behaves.

AT the time of installing the wallet, I set-up a password. The imstallation created no "start-up" entries or desktop icons etc and it only starts with the installer file and never asks me for the password. The wallet address shown on "receive" tab seems unchanged though and is the same as that shown on the exchange. I created the transaction on the "receive" tab before requesting the transfer, however once i restarted my laptop, the transaction was missing from there.

I wonder if I am installing and starting electrum correctly? and what are the steps I can take from here to track the ost bitcoin?

Thanks

[1714846036]

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[1714846036]

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[1714846036]

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[1714846036]

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[ranochigo]

The exchange says the transaction was completed more than 12 hours ago but my wallet shows nothing. I am always really confused with how the wallet behaves.

AT the time of installing the wallet, I set-up a password. The imstallation created no "start-up" entries or desktop icons etc and it only starts with the installer file and never asks me for the password. The wallet address shown on "receive" tab seems unchanged though and is the same as that shown on the exchange. I created the transaction on the "receive" tab before requesting the transfer, however once i restarted my laptop, the transaction was missing from there.

I wonder if I am installing and starting electrum correctly? and what are the steps I can take from here to track the ost bitcoin?

Thanks

It's likely not an issue with your wallet. Electrum does not delete private keys but it is always a good idea to have a backup of your seeds so you can recover it later on.

Did your exchange give you a transaction ID? What address did you give them? Can you go blockexplorer.com and key in the address? If there is no transaction in the address, your exchange has not sent the transaction and you have to contact them regarding it.

[HCP]

Creating a "receive" transaction in Electrum will not make the exchange send you coins... The idea of the "receive" tab was that you can create an "invoice" and send it to someone who then pays it... It should really be titled "request".

It sounds like you have downloaded either the "standalone executable" or the "portable" version of Electrum rather than the full installer... This is why you don't have desktop icons etc.

Go here: https://electrum.org/#download and make sure you select the "Windows Installer" (assuming you're using windows)

As for your missing transaction, do what ranochigo suggested... Lookup the transaction ID and/or your receive address on a block explorer.

[crairezx20]

Hi,

I just did my first Bitcoin Withdrawl to my electrum wallet but seeming to have some issues.

The exchange says the transaction was completed more than 12 hours ago but my wallet shows nothing. I am always really confused with how the wallet behaves.

AT the time of installing the wallet, I set-up a password. The imstallation created no "start-up" entries or desktop icons etc and it only starts with the installer file and never asks me for the password. The wallet address shown on "receive" tab seems unchanged though and is the same as that shown on the exchange. I created the transaction on the "receive" tab before requesting the transfer, however once i restarted my laptop, the transaction was missing from there.

I wonder if I am installing and starting electrum correctly? and what are the steps I can take from here to track the ost bitcoin?

Thanks

You issue is not clear.. . Let me know if are you using a portable version of electrum? or you are downloaded the standalone or the windows installer..
Base on my experience before i experience it in the same thing i am using portable and the windows installer.

I notice when i was make transaction and after startup my computer i didn't seen any transaction..
Now i just check carefully and why my bitcoin was gone and also the transaction list.. so my problem is if you are using portable version the wallet.dat can be save in the same folder where your portable electrum located..

try this when you open your electrum wallet try to go in this path C:\Users\admin\AppData\Roaming\Electrum\wallets
Check if you wallet.dat there just choose any .dat in wallet folder and check if you transaction is there or not.. try the other one .

If you are still not seen your true wallet also go to the path or folder where your portable electrum is. .
you can see a electrum_data folder there inside you can found wallet folder and open it into electrum..

Let me know if this solve your problem .. for future reference thanks .

[Thekool1s]

Hi,

I just did my first Bitcoin Withdrawl to my electrum wallet but seeming to have some issues.

The exchange says the transaction was completed more than 12 hours ago but my wallet shows nothing. I am always really confused with how the wallet behaves.

AT the time of installing the wallet, I set-up a password. The imstallation created no "start-up" entries or desktop icons etc and it only starts with the installer file and never asks me for the password. The wallet address shown on "receive" tab seems unchanged though and is the same as that shown on the exchange. I created the transaction on the "receive" tab before requesting the transfer, however once i restarted my laptop, the transaction was missing from there.

I wonder if I am installing and starting electrum correctly? and what are the steps I can take from here to track the ost bitcoin?

Thanks

Are you sure you are using the same "wallet" in electrum? If you have more than 1 wallet, then goto file > recently opened and see from which "wallet" you actually transferred the bitcoins from. This can happen if you don't pay attention.

Also from where did you get your electrum copy from? Did you download it from electrum.org or somewhere else?

[consultant2b]

Thanks for all the help guys. The BTC did eventually turn-up and it was an issue with the exchange (Bitfinex) which was eventually resolved.

It sounds like you have downloaded either the "standalone executable" or the "portable" version of Electrum rather than the full installer... This is why you don't have desktop icons etc.

That does seem to be the case. I wonder, if I was to simply download the full windows version (and also update in the process), if it would still be able to restore the balances etc. from the current version or if I need to back-up any specific wallet files? On another note, I do not remember my seed phrase, but I do have my password, I was wondering if there is a way to get the seed phrase back or reset it?

Thanks

[Abdussamad]

Thanks for all the help guys. The BTC did eventually turn-up and it was an issue with the exchange (Bitfinex) which was eventually resolved.

It sounds like you have downloaded either the "standalone executable" or the "portable" version of Electrum rather than the full installer... This is why you don't have desktop icons etc.

That does seem to be the case. I wonder, if I was to simply download the full windows version (and also update in the process), if it would still be able to restore the balances etc. from the current version or if I need to back-up any specific wallet files? On another note, I do not remember my seed phrase, but I do have my password, I was wondering if there is a way to get the seed phrase back or reset it?

Thanks

You should definitely note down the seed phrase on paper. You can get it via the wallet menu > seed.

Just install electrum using the installer version and see if it opens your wallet by default or not.

If it doesn't then see if the wallet file is in the same directory as your standalone/portable electrum executable that you are currently using. Rename it to default_wallet and move it to the electrum wallet directory:

http://docs.electrum.org/en/latest/faq.html#where-is-my-wallet-file-located

[consultant2b]

Cheers. The issue I am having is when i click on Wallet-Seed, that option is greyed out, i.e. not clickable (unlike all other options in the Wallet Menu. Wonder what might be causing this and what's the best way to retrieve the seed?

[HCP]

If that option is greyed out then one of the following is likely to be true:

1- Your wallet file is a 2FA (Two Factor Authentication) wallet
2- Your wallet file was created using an imported BIP39 seed as opposed to an Electrum seed
3- Your wallet file is NOT a standard HD (seed based) wallet, and is an old style private key store wallet
4- Your wallet file is a watching-only wallet, created from a master public key

In all of these cases, it is impossible to "recover" the seed mnemonic if you have lost it, because it either isn't stored in the wallet file so cannot be retrieved (#1 and #2) or it simply didn't exist in the first place (#3 and #4)

[consultant2b]

Hi,

1- Your wallet file is a 2FA (Two Factor Authentication) wallet
This is the most likely scenario, as i enabled 2FA when I created the wallet. I do however have access to the Authenticator, so wondering, if I can use that to retrieve it?

If not, what are my options? Do I just withdraw the remaining BTW to an exchange and then install a new wallet?

[Abdussamad]

Hi,

1- Your wallet file is a 2FA (Two Factor Authentication) wallet
This is the most likely scenario, as i enabled 2FA when I created the wallet. I do however have access to the Authenticator, so wondering, if I can use that to retrieve it?

If not, what are my options? Do I just withdraw the remaining BTW to an exchange and then install a new wallet?

There is no need to withdraw to an exchange or "install a new wallet" (whatever that means). Electrum supports unlimited wallets so you can create a new wallet via file menu > new/restore. Make sure you write down the seed this time. Here's a guide to creating a new standard wallet. After you've created a new wallet grab a receiving address, switch to your old wallet and send all your bitcoins to the receiving address of your new wallet. Then stop using your old wallet.

Note that you have to do the above because in your current situation you are liable to lose your bitcoins if you lose your phone. Without the authenticator code trusted coin will not sign transactions from your 2fa wallet and since you don't have the seed your SOL if you lose your phone.

[consultant2b]

Hi,

Thanks for all your help so far.

1. I do currently have the 2FA Code, is it possible to retrieve my seed using that?
2. If I do set-up a new wallet (which I have) is it possible to transfer the BTC from one wallet to another without having to pay the fee?

Thanks

[HCP]

1. I do currently have the 2FA Code, is it possible to retrieve my seed using that?
2. If I do set-up a new wallet (which I have) is it possible to transfer the BTC from one wallet to another without having to pay the fee?

TL;DR:
1. No
2. No


Long version:
1. Electrum does not store the original seed in a 2FA wallet... I think it is part of the "security" to keep the parts of the 2-of-3 wallet separate... you have one lot of keys in the wallet... TrustedCoin has a 2nd... and the 3rd is only restorable from the seed. If you put the seed in the wallet file, it would effectively have 2 parts there.

2. You need to create an "on chain" transaction to move it from one wallet to another. These generally require fees to be paid... technically you could create a 0 fee transaction, however it isn't like to propogate well... and could take a long time before it is mined. If you want to try and avoid "high" fees, I'd send it with a manually set fee of at least 0.0001 BTC/kB (10 sats/byte) and use the ViaBTC TX accelerator to get it confirmed.

[maxtra]

Thanks everyone for suggestions, I was facing the same issue. I just updated the wallet version.

[Arham77]

Hi Guys you seem to be experts at this please help me recover my XVG.
Created an Electrum Wallet moved XVG from my Binance to Electrum then read the warning and downloaded the new version 3.0.5 but now cannot see the receiving address on any of the wallets. On Binance it says transaction complete. On blockexplorer it says NO MATCHING RECORDS FOUND. Please help. Thanks

[HCP]

XVG (aka Verge) is NOT BTC (aka Bitcoin). I suspect you have restored your XVG wallet to a BTC version of Electrum.

You need to make sure you are using XVG compatible version of Electrum, known as "Electrum-XVG" and available here (https://vergecurrency.com/)... most recent version seems to be 2.4.1 (NOTE: I have no idea if this has been patched for the recent security fix)