Two Bitcoin Wallets on Same PC

[Spangles]

Hi Guys

A friend who's PC died asked me to load Bitcoin Core on my PC and retrieve his wallet which he had stored on a USB stick. He now wants to give me two Bitcoins.   Is it possible to run two separate wallets on the same PC in Bitcoin Core or better to keep them separate?   Can I run a separate Bitcoin client on the same PC?

Cheers.

[mocacinno]

Hi Guys

A friend who's PC died asked me to load Bitcoin Core on my PC and retrieve his wallet which he had stored on a USB stick. He now wants to give me two Bitcoins.   Is it possible to run two separate wallets on the same PC in Bitcoin Core or better to keep them separate?   Can I run a separate Bitcoin client on the same PC?

Cheers.

You can keep as many wallets as you want on the same PC. However, if using core, you can only have one of them open at the same time.

You can open them from the commandline, in windows, it's "bitcoin-qt.exe -wallet=<file>". In windows, you can just make 2 shortcuts: one to each wallet. In linux, you can create an alias for each wallet.

[Spangles]

Hi Guys

A friend who's PC died asked me to load Bitcoin Core on my PC and retrieve his wallet which he had stored on a USB stick. He now wants to give me two Bitcoins.   Is it possible to run two separate wallets on the same PC in Bitcoin Core or better to keep them separate?   Can I run a separate Bitcoin client on the same PC?

Cheers.

You can keep as many wallets as you want on the same PC. However, if using core, you can only have one of them open at the same time.

You can open them from the commandline, in windows, it's "bitcoin-qt.exe -wallet=<file>". In windows, you can just make 2 shortcuts: one to each wallet. In linux, you can create an alias for each wallet.

Cheers dude.  So I only need one Core client and just ask it to boot a different wallet each time?

[OmegaStarScream]

The last version (0.15.0.1) support multi-wallet apparently (more will come in a future version):

Code:

Multi-wallet support
--------------------

Bitcoin Core now supports loading multiple, separate wallets (See [PR 8694](https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/8694), [PR 10849](https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/10849)). The wallets are completely separated, with individual balances, keys and received transactions.

Multi-wallet is enabled by using more than one `-wallet` argument when starting Bitcoin, either on the command line or in the Bitcoin config file.

**In Bitcoin-Qt, only the first wallet will be displayed and accessible for creating and signing transactions.** GUI selectable multiple wallets will be supported in a future version. However, even in 0.15 other loaded wallets will remain synchronized to the node's current tip in the background. This can be useful if running a pruned node, since loading a wallet where the most recent sync is beyond the pruned height results in having to download and revalidate the whole blockchain. Continuing to synchronize all wallets in the background avoids this problem.

That's assuming you are both using Bitcoin Core. If you are using different wallets then you shouldn't face any problems as each wallet software put the files in a different location in AppData.

[mocacinno]

Cheers dude.  So I only need one Core client and just ask it to boot a different wallet each time?

Correct, or even better after readin OmegaStarScream's post:

The last version (0.15.0.1) support multi-wallet apparently (more will come in a future version):

Code:

Multi-wallet support
--------------------

Bitcoin Core now supports loading multiple, separate wallets (See [PR 8694](https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/8694), [PR 10849](https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/10849)). The wallets are completely separated, with individual balances, keys and received transactions.

Multi-wallet is enabled by using more than one `-wallet` argument when starting Bitcoin, either on the command line or in the Bitcoin config file.

**In Bitcoin-Qt, only the first wallet will be displayed and accessible for creating and signing transactions.** GUI selectable multiple wallets will be supported in a future version. However, even in 0.15 other loaded wallets will remain synchronized to the node's current tip in the background. This can be useful if running a pruned node, since loading a wallet where the most recent sync is beyond the pruned height results in having to download and revalidate the whole blockchain. Continuing to synchronize all wallets in the background avoids this problem.

That's assuming you are both using Bitcoin Core. If you are using different wallets then you shouldn't face any problems as each wallet software put the files in a different location in AppData.

Didn't read the release notes yet, so, OP, even with an old version you could load the 2 wallets, but you could only load one wallet at a time... If you upgrade to 0.15.0.1, you can even load the 2 wallets at the same time (which might be confusing since you'll be managing both your own, and your friends funds at the same time in this case... So it might still be a good idear to load one at a time)

[Spangles]

The last version (0.15.0.1) support multi-wallet apparently (more will come in a future version):

Code:

Multi-wallet support
--------------------

Bitcoin Core now supports loading multiple, separate wallets (See [PR 8694](https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/8694), [PR 10849](https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/10849)). The wallets are completely separated, with individual balances, keys and received transactions.

Multi-wallet is enabled by using more than one `-wallet` argument when starting Bitcoin, either on the command line or in the Bitcoin config file.

**In Bitcoin-Qt, only the first wallet will be displayed and accessible for creating and signing transactions.** GUI selectable multiple wallets will be supported in a future version. However, even in 0.15 other loaded wallets will remain synchronized to the node's current tip in the background. This can be useful if running a pruned node, since loading a wallet where the most recent sync is beyond the pruned height results in having to download and revalidate the whole blockchain. Continuing to synchronize all wallets in the background avoids this problem.

That's assuming you are both using Bitcoin Core. If you are using different wallets then you shouldn't face any problems as each wallet software put the files in a different location in AppData.

Thanks. How do I create a new wallet for myself within Bitcoin Core to receive the bitcoins he wants to send me?

[mocacinno]

The last version (0.15.0.1) support multi-wallet apparently (more will come in a future version):

Code:

Multi-wallet support
--------------------

Bitcoin Core now supports loading multiple, separate wallets (See [PR 8694](https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/8694), [PR 10849](https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/10849)). The wallets are completely separated, with individual balances, keys and received transactions.

Multi-wallet is enabled by using more than one `-wallet` argument when starting Bitcoin, either on the command line or in the Bitcoin config file.

**In Bitcoin-Qt, only the first wallet will be displayed and accessible for creating and signing transactions.** GUI selectable multiple wallets will be supported in a future version. However, even in 0.15 other loaded wallets will remain synchronized to the node's current tip in the background. This can be useful if running a pruned node, since loading a wallet where the most recent sync is beyond the pruned height results in having to download and revalidate the whole blockchain. Continuing to synchronize all wallets in the background avoids this problem.

That's assuming you are both using Bitcoin Core. If you are using different wallets then you shouldn't face any problems as each wallet software put the files in a different location in AppData.

Thanks. How do I create a new wallet for myself within Bitcoin Core to receive the bitcoins he wants to send me?

Just start bitcoin-qt without any parameters for the first time... A new wallet.dat will be created in the correct folder (depending on your OS*). It's a good idear to encrypt this wallet.dat (this encryption feature is accessible trough the gui interface) , especially since you told us you'd be receiving 2 BTC. Might i even suggest using 0.02-0.03 of those 2 BTC to buy a hardware wallet?

Afterwards, rename your friends wallet.dat to friendsname.dat, and place it in the same folder, then create 2 shortcut's to "\pathtobitcoincoreinstallation\bitcoin-qt.exe -wallet=wallet.dat" and "\pathtobitcoincoreinstallation\bitcoin-qt.exe -wallet=yourfriendsname.dat" (offcourse, when you use linux, the binary won't be named bitcoin-qt.exe, but bitcoin-qt, and you can either make a shortcut on your gnome or kde's desktop, or you can chose to create an alias directly)

*https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Data_directory#Default_Location

EDIT: PS: if you have bitcoin core 0.15.0.1, you can use the feature OmegaStarScream pointed out IF you want to and IF opening the two wallets at the same time won't confuse you... In this case, the shortcut should point to "\pathtobitcoincoreinstallation\bitcoin-qt.exe -wallet=yourfriendsname.dat -wallet=wallet.dat"

[Spangles]

Cheers guys.

[meemiinii]

Hi Guys

A friend who's PC died asked me to load Bitcoin Core on my PC and retrieve his wallet which he had stored on a USB stick. He now wants to give me two Bitcoins.   Is it possible to run two separate wallets on the same PC in Bitcoin Core or better to keep them separate?   Can I run a separate Bitcoin client on the same PC?

Cheers.

You can keep as many wallets as you want on the same PC. However, if using core, you can only have one of them open at the same time.

You can open them from the commandline, in windows, it's "bitcoin-qt.exe -wallet=<file>". In windows, you can just make 2 shortcuts: one to each wallet. In linux, you can create an alias for each wallet.

i want to make sure mate about your statement, cause im a bit confused.  

so we are allowed to have two or more wallets using core but we are only allowed to open ONLY one wallet AT A TIME?

did i get you right?

[mocacinno]

Hi Guys

A friend who's PC died asked me to load Bitcoin Core on my PC and retrieve his wallet which he had stored on a USB stick. He now wants to give me two Bitcoins.   Is it possible to run two separate wallets on the same PC in Bitcoin Core or better to keep them separate?   Can I run a separate Bitcoin client on the same PC?

Cheers.

You can keep as many wallets as you want on the same PC. However, if using core, you can only have one of them open at the same time.

You can open them from the commandline, in windows, it's "bitcoin-qt.exe -wallet=<file>". In windows, you can just make 2 shortcuts: one to each wallet. In linux, you can create an alias for each wallet.

i want to make sure mate about your statement, cause im a bit confused.  

so we are allowed to have two or more wallets using core but we are only allowed to open ONLY one wallet AT A TIME?

did i get you right?

pre 0.15.0.1 that was correct. But, as OmegaStarScream pointed out, since 0.15.0.1 was released earlyer this week, it is now possible to open more than one wallet at once.

[cynical]

Would the easiest way to do this be to just create a second user or a new user on the computer and create a seperate wallet there?

[mocacinno]

Would the easiest way to do this be to just create a second user or a new user on the computer and create a seperate wallet there?

I guess that would be possible, 2 users would download the blockchain each under their own home folder, and the bitcoin-qt's lock would also be placed in their respective home folders. If you'd tweak the bitcoin.conf file to make sure each user uses different ports, i think they should be able to run at the same time. However, unless the two users would always have their wallet open at the very same time, i don't see any advantages to this approach, and the disadvantage would be that the ledger is downloaded and verified twice (doubling the load and the necessary diskspace).

Anyways, like it's been said before 0.15.0.1 should solve the problem completely since you could just load more than 1 wallet at the same time. (never tried this, since 0.15.0.1 has only been released very recently)

[meemiinii]

Hi Guys

A friend who's PC died asked me to load Bitcoin Core on my PC and retrieve his wallet which he had stored on a USB stick. He now wants to give me two Bitcoins.   Is it possible to run two separate wallets on the same PC in Bitcoin Core or better to keep them separate?   Can I run a separate Bitcoin client on the same PC?

Cheers.

You can keep as many wallets as you want on the same PC. However, if using core, you can only have one of them open at the same time.

You can open them from the commandline, in windows, it's "bitcoin-qt.exe -wallet=<file>". In windows, you can just make 2 shortcuts: one to each wallet. In linux, you can create an alias for each wallet.

i want to make sure mate about your statement, cause im a bit confused.  

so we are allowed to have two or more wallets using core but we are only allowed to open ONLY one wallet AT A TIME?

did i get you right?

pre 0.15.0.1 that was correct. But, as OmegaStarScream pointed out, since 0.15.0.1 was released earlyer this week, it is now possible to open more than one wallet at once.

now i understand. but thank you for the new update. i thought that regardless of the new update,  we can are only allowed to open one at a time. the new update seemed to be more ok than of the previous ones.

[Pfeff]

You can load as many wallets at the same time as you want; each instance of wallet must use different data directory and port (just use flags if needed)

People who say otherwise are wrong

[Hamilcar]

You can open the number you want of bitcoin wallets on the same computer.

[jerrison]

I will not advice for someone to have two bitcoin wallets on the same PC. Mistakes arise out of complications and it can be complicated when you have more than one wallet on a PC.

[Gauravbhargava]

I will not advice for someone to have two bitcoin wallets on the same PC. Mistakes arise out of complications and it can be complicated when you have more than one wallet on a PC.

It’s is not allowed to make multiple. Account

[audrey12]

I have 4 different online wallets and all in my pc I don't think there is a problem with that in fact those wallet that I have are also connected in my cellphone so I can easily access them anytime and anywhere just make sure youe authentication are all safe and kept properly otherwise if your computer and cellphone gone wrong you might experience difficulty retrieving them

[mocacinno]

I will not advice for someone to have two bitcoin wallets on the same PC. Mistakes arise out of complications and it can be complicated when you have more than one wallet on a PC.

It’s is not allowed to make multiple. Account

What?
There is nobody stopping you from making as many wallets as you want. Sure, if you want to use centralised, insecure online wallet, you'll have to follow their rules, but if you make desktop wallets, there is no limit, unless it's a technical limit built into your wallet of choice. In this case, you can always change to a wallet software that doesn't have these limit in place.