Upgrading Operating System (windows)

[romec1701]

I have a little BTC in Bitcoin Core client but need to upgrade my operating system on this machine.

I have backed up my wallet.dat file onto a USB stick (and I know my wallet's password). I dont know if the upgrade will wipe all my files or not. (or indeed keep files but wipe programs)
Is this enough to ensure the security of my bitcoin? If I reinstalled Bitcoin core on the fresh system and imported the wallet.dat file into the correct folder would it be able to read it and give me access?

Second question. What about the blockchain? I currently have run the core client pruned to 2Gb. Will I need to download the whole thing again? I really dont want to have to do this as it will take weeks.

[1714911343]

1714911343

[ranochigo]

I have a little BTC in Bitcoin Core client but need to upgrade my operating system on this machine.

I have backed up my wallet.dat file onto a USB stick (and I know my wallet's password). I dont know if the upgrade will wipe all my files or not. (or indeed keep files but wipe programs)
Is this enough to ensure the security of my bitcoin? If I reinstalled Bitcoin core on the fresh system and imported the wallet.dat file into the correct folder would it be able to read it and give me access?

Yes. You will be safe. The last time i've upgraded windows, i was given an option to upgrade and keep my files.

Second question. What about the blockchain? I currently have run the core client pruned to 2Gb. Will I need to download the whole thing again? I really dont want to have to do this as it will take weeks.

Copy the whole data folder %appdata%/Bitcoin, by default, to a safe place. Whenever you want to restore your wallet, copy the entire directory back and you won't have to download it.

[dothebeats]

I have a little BTC in Bitcoin Core client but need to upgrade my operating system on this machine.

I have backed up my wallet.dat file onto a USB stick (and I know my wallet's password). I dont know if the upgrade will wipe all my files or not. (or indeed keep files but wipe programs)
Is this enough to ensure the security of my bitcoin? If I reinstalled Bitcoin core on the fresh system and imported the wallet.dat file into the correct folder would it be able to read it and give me access?

Second question. What about the blockchain? I currently have run the core client pruned to 2Gb. Will I need to download the whole thing again? I really dont want to have to do this as it will take weeks.

When you upgrade from win7 - win10, all compatible applications would be kept and before upgrading, you will be asked whether to keep all your files or start a clean installation of win10. All userdata would be kept, but there are cases in which some of the app data would be erased (some of mine were deleted especially in the C:/ drive).

If you have an external hard drive, you can keep the appdata of bitcoin qt there, or an easier thing is to copy or move the whole folder in another partition and don't place them in the C:/ drive.

[romec1701]

I am going from Vista (I know - hence the reason for doing it) to Win 7, with a custom install to go from 32-bit to 64-bit (so I can put more RAM in).
I think I lose my programmes in doing that.

I will save the Bitcoin qt data (I know where that is stored) as well as backing up the wallet in several places. But again question comes down to when I reinstall the Core client will it a) recosgnise the wallet and be able to access it and b) despite the fact that I have pruned the blockhain down to 2Gb it will still be in synch without having to redownload the whole thing?

If answer to both is yes, I guess I am good to go.
If either is no then I dont think I will run a full node and instead go for something like Electrum, but then the question is will that software recognise and be able to access the Core wallet.dat, or do I have to open an Electrum wallet and send my BTC to it via a transaction (with fees etc)?

[zend7]

I am going from Vista (I know - hence the reason for doing it) to Win 7, with a custom install to go from 32-bit to 64-bit (so I can put more RAM in).
I think I lose my programmes in doing that.

I will save the Bitcoin qt data (I know where that is stored) as well as backing up the wallet in several places. But again question comes down to when I reinstall the Core client will it a) recosgnise the wallet and be able to access it and b) despite the fact that I have pruned the blockhain down to 2Gb it will still be in synch without having to redownload the whole thing?

If answer to both is yes, I guess I am good to go.
If either is no then I dont think I will run a full node and instead go for something like Electrum, but then the question is will that software recognise and be able to access the Core wallet.dat, or do I have to open an Electrum wallet and send my BTC to it via a transaction (with fees etc)?

1.Electrum functions differently than Bitcoin core so I am afraid it will not recognize the wallet.dat you will save from your Bitcoin core wallet.

2. Bitcoin core will recognize the wallet if you do as ranochigo said and copy all the folder where bitcoin core data is placed.

3. Normally it should not download again the blockchain if you copy paste the data directory to the new installation in Windows 7. Worst case you need to start your bitcoin core wallet with the "-reindex" command and it will download again the blockchain for you. In the end it should work normally.

[WhiteLine]

Yes upgrading from Vista to Windows 7 will wipe all data on your system partition, here is wiki how to backup your wallet:

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Backingup_your_wallet

[Mad7Scientist]

What's the memory limit for Vista 32 anyway? I think at least you can patch it to allow it to access up to 64GB physical address space. Still you're limited to either 2GB or 3GB of virtual address space for Bitcoin-qt, and 4GB of virt for 32-bit programs running on Windows 64.

[SopaXT]

If you are using Windows, you can consider your coins automatically compromised.

Seriously, get a hardware wallet - it's worth it.