HELP ON SETTING UP WALLETS

[roddy5]

Hi,

I'm new on using bitcoin and trying to learn more.

I just got an ETH address from myetherwallet.com and it asked me to enter a password download the UTC file. And everything is good with this.

Then I tried getting a wallet for BTC, I downloaded bitcoin core and generated several receiving addresses. What I notices is unlike ETH address BTC don't have a password and seems like no way no access the address on other computers. no password was requested for each address.

My questions are:
Is it necessary to have a wallet to get the funds on the address?
Is it possible to migrate wallet from 1 PC to another or to an android/apple device?
What will happen if my PC crashed and needs to be replaced is there a way to retrieve my wallet bec it seems that the data is saved on the PC itself.
How does the system determine that the wallet belongs to me? based on how I understand it the address doesn't belong to me but it is with the wallet.

[1714634148]

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[1714634148]

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[1714634148]

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[1714634148]

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[ranochigo]

Then I tried getting a wallet for BTC, I downloaded bitcoin core and generated several receiving addresses. What I notices is unlike ETH address BTC don't have a password and seems like no way no access the address on other computers. no password was requested for each address.

ETH is different from BTC. But if you like your wallet file to be encrypted, go to Settings>Encrypt wallet. It just encrypts your wallet file such that no one will be able to use your private keys without the password.

Is it necessary to have a wallet to get the funds on the address?

No. If you have a valid address, you can send the funds to it. You will need a corresponding private key to spend it though.

Is it possible to migrate wallet from 1 PC to another or to an android/apple device?

Yes. You can obtain the wallet.dat and it will contain everything you need, your private keys or master private key. The compatibility of the master private key depends on which client you are using.

What will happen if my PC crashed and needs to be replaced is there a way to retrieve my wallet bec it seems that the data is saved on the PC itself.
How does the system determine that the wallet belongs to me? based on how I understand it the address doesn't belong to me but it is with the wallet.

You just need the wallet.dat to have your private keys back.

The way Bitcoin works is that you have a signature with every transaction that you create. The signature is also used to verify that you have the rights to spend the inputs (UTXO) that is in your address. For example, if you have a few inputs in address X, your client will create the transaction and sign it using your private key while also including the public key. On the network, nodes will be able to use the public key to verify that you indeed own that address and have the rights to spend the Bitcoin. ECDSA allows the signature to be verified against a public key.

Your wallet is merely a tool for you to spend Bitcoins, not to store Bitcoins. The transactions are stored on the blockchain. As long as you have the keys to address A, you can spend the coins in address A.

If you use a desktop client, all you need is the private key to spend it.

[roddy5]

Yes. You can obtain the wallet.dat and it will contain everything you need, your private keys or master private key. The compatibility of the master private key depends on which client you are using.

So if I make a wallet from electrum I won't be able to use it on bitcoin core? How to get the private and master keys?

No. If you have a valid address, you can send the funds to it. You will need a corresponding private key to spend it though.

Is it the same thing as ETH's process. just need to enter PW for the address.


Also is it possible to have two wallets on the same PC and same wallet provider. Like if I'm sharing my PC to my brother can we have two different wallets?

[ranochigo]

Yes. You can obtain the wallet.dat and it will contain everything you need, your private keys or master private key. The compatibility of the master private key depends on which client you are using.

So if I make a wallet from electrum I won't be able to use it on bitcoin core? How to get the private and master keys?

You can. You have to extract the private keys from Electrum and import it into Bitcoin Core. I don't think there is a way to import master private keys, unless something has changed since then.

That being said, I would definitely NOT recommend importing private keys in different wallets and using them at the same time. The way change is handled in the various wallet may be different and can be confusing.

Is it the same thing as ETH's process. just need to enter PW for the address.

Not particularly familiar with ETH but if the wallet is encrypted then yeah. You need the private key or the wallet file in the first place.

Also is it possible to have two wallets on the same PC and same wallet provider. Like if I'm sharing my PC to my brother can we have two different wallets?

Yes. For Bitcoin Core, if you are using different wallets, you can switch it by swapping the wallet.dat file in %appdata%/Bitcoin or whereever your data directory is. To create a new wallet, just rename the wallet.dat to wallet.dat.bak and the client will automatically create another wallet.

[roddy5]

How about for electrum? is it possible to have two different wallets

[ranochigo]

How about for electrum? is it possible to have two different wallets

Yes. After setting up your initial wallet, go to File> New/Restore and you can create a new wallet. If you want to switch between, go to Recently open and your other wallet should show up there.

[roddy5]

How about for electrum? is it possible to have two different wallets

Yes. After setting up your initial wallet, go to File> New/Restore and you can create a new wallet. If you want to switch between, go to Recently open and your other wallet should show up there.

What if I lose my private key/seed(is it the same?) then I can't regain any access to my wallet if my computer suddenly break, which is more important in retrieving my bitcoin wallet to an another computer is it the wallet.file, private keys or both

[aleksej996]

How about for electrum? is it possible to have two different wallets

Yes. After setting up your initial wallet, go to File> New/Restore and you can create a new wallet. If you want to switch between, go to Recently open and your other wallet should show up there.

What if I lose my private key/seed(is it the same?) then I can't regain any access to my wallet if my computer suddenly break, which is more important in retrieving my bitcoin wallet to an another computer is it the wallet.file, private keys or both

Wallet.dat file is all you need. It has private keys written in it. Seed is just a blueprint for a computer to make the same wallet.dat file.
If your wallet.dat file is encrypted, as it definitely should, then you will need a password as well to decrypt it in the future.
Technically all you need to spend bitcoins is a private key, that is why you need to hide it as well.

PS: Understand that you are doing very different things with your ETH and BTC. You are not a sole owner (if you are owner at all) of your ETH, but here you will be the only one that can use that BTC. That is why you need to download a client like Electrum or Bitcoin Core, since it is all you. I suggest you get private keys from your ETH as well and keep them a secret from other sites as well.