Armory Wallet - Coin lost - Desperately need help!!

[dripfeed]

Hi, if you use Armory please read this post and share any advice that you have.

I am new to the whole bitcoin scene. I didn't read the Armory instruction manual and so I accidentally lost my first and only bit coin. Having now read the Armory instructions I still don't know how to recover my coin so here I am asking for your advice.

What Happened?
I purchased a bit coin from bit bargain
I dowloaded & installed armory wallet on one computer which is connected to the web
Within Armory I clicked 'Recieve' and generated an address.
I input this exact address into bitbargain and the coin sent (it now has 15 confirmations).
I checked my armory and the coin never arrived (I'm writing this 12 hours after the coin was sent).

Armory says its off line even though I am connected to the web. I suspect this is because it is not meant to go online as its an offline wallet.
I dont really have a second 64 bit computer to set up Armory properly as per Armory instuctions and Im not sure that if I did it would help.

All I want to do is (a) see my coin (b) move my coin to a new simple wallet (c) spend my coin

I cant be fussed with all this armory business of having two computers and a memory stick. I just want a simple solution for storing bitcoins. But first I need to get my bitcoin back!

Please please help!

Yours gratefully,
Dripfeed

[K1773R]

Hi, if you use Armory please read this post and share any advice that you have.

I am new to the whole bitcoin scene. I didn't read the Armory instruction manual and so I accidentally lost my first and only bit coin. Having now read the Armory instructions I still don't know how to recover my coin so here I am asking for your advice.

What Happened?
I purchased a bit coin from bit bargain
I dowloaded & installed armory wallet on one computer which is connected to the web
Within Armory I clicked 'Recieve' and generated an address.
I input this exact address into bitbargain and the coin sent (it now has 15 confirmations).
I checked my armory and the coin never arrived (I'm writing this 12 hours after the coin was sent).

Armory says its off line even though I am connected to the web. I suspect this is because it is not meant to go online as its an offline wallet.
I dont really have a second 64 bit computer to set up Armory properly as per Armory instuctions and Im not sure that if I did it would help.

All I want to do is (a) see my coin (b) move my coin to a new simple wallet (c) spend my coin

I cant be fussed with all this armory business of having two computers and a memory stick. I just want a simple solution for storing bitcoins. But first I need to get my bitcoin back!

Please please help!

Yours gratefully,
Dripfeed

you did NOT loose your 1BTC, you just cant access it since ur offline.
You need to install Bitcoin-QT (official bitcoin client) as it servers as network connection for armory.
after the Bitcoin-QT got synced (synchronised with the network) your transaction will show up @ armory.

[dripfeed]

Okay that sounds pretty simple. I installed Bitcoin QT and its syncing but looks like its gonna take a whole day  to sync is this normal?
Right now its at 1 percent synced and no coin showing up yet.

Once the sync is complete and coin shows up do I move the coin to a new wallet using Bitcoin QT or Armory? Both seem to have the same send /recieve ability

Thanks again K1773R

[ranlo]

Okay that sounds pretty simple. I installed Bitcoin QT and its syncing but looks like its gonna take a whole day  to sync is this normal?
Right now its at 1 percent synced and no coin showing up yet.

Once the sync is complete and coin shows up do I move the coin to a new wallet using Bitcoin QT or Armory? Both seem to have the same send /recieve ability

Thanks again K1773R

Depends on your net connection. The blockchain it has to download is like 8.7 GB's right now, so your connection is going to determine how long it takes.

[dripfeed]

Very interesting. So when the blockchain is downloaded, can will my BTC be in both Bitcoin QT and Armory?

Assuming that it is in both can i just uninstall Armory and simply use Bitcoin QT as my wallet instead
OR do I need to transfer from Armory to Bitcoin QT before i uninstall Armory.

is it worth keeping Armory since the computer that Armory is installed on is connected to the web or does having Armory on an online PC void the benefit of Armory dispite the fact that Armory always says its offline anayway?

[ranlo]

Very interesting. So when the blockchain is downloaded, can will my BTC be in both Bitcoin QT and Armory?

Assuming that it is in both can i just uninstall Armory and simply use Bitcoin QT as my wallet instead
OR do I need to transfer from Armory to Bitcoin QT before i uninstall Armory.

is it worth keeping Armory since the computer that Armory is installed on is connected to the web or does having Armory on an online PC void the benefit of Armory dispite the fact that Armory always says its offline anayway?

My knowledge about Armory is limited so I'm not sure about that.

But your BTC are associated with your private/public keys, not any specific program. As long as you have those, you could have no client installed and still have your BTC's.

[dripfeed]

is the 'public/private key' the same as the alpha numerical address to where i sent the BTC?

So can I install any new client and input my public/private key and then my bitcoin will appear?

[Birdy]

is the 'public/private key' the same as the alpha numerical address to where i sent the BTC?

So can I install any new client and input my public/private key and then my bitcoin will appear?

The address you send the BTCs to is the public "key". It's public so obviously it's not the one giving you access to the Coins.
The private key is another longer set of characters and this is really a key to your public address. (How you can see the private key differs from client to client, I don't know how it's done on Armory)
If you input this in any client, the Bitcoins will appear. (A wallet is a collection of those private keys, you will just add anther one)

[ranlo]

is the 'public/private key' the same as the alpha numerical address to where i sent the BTC?

So can I install any new client and input my public/private key and then my bitcoin will appear?

The address you send the BTCs to is the public "key". It's public so obviously it's not the one giving you access to the Coins.
The private key is another longer set of characters and this is really a key to your public address.
If you input this in any wallet, the Bitcoins will appear.

This. Basically an analogy that I've heard is to consider it like this:

The public key is like a see-through safe. Anyone can see what's inside, but nobody can enter without the actual key.
The private key is what opens the safe. This allows you to not only see what's inside, but also remove its contents.

The private key should never be known to anyone but you. This is stored in your wallet.dat file and it is IMPORTANT that you keep backups of this. Losing your private key means the coins stored on it are lost forever.

[Birdy]

It's also important to note that the coins aren't actually stored in any of the wallet, they are stored publicily in the blockchain.
It's only the access to them that is stored in your wallet.

[dripfeed]

Finally this bitcoins stuff is actually starting to make sense. You have explained this so well and you hyave solved my problem. Thanks so much!!   

[ranlo]

Finally this bitcoins stuff is actually starting to make sense. You have explained this so well and you hyave solved my problem. Thanks so much!!   

No problem! I'm still learning as well so I try to help where I can, .

[K1773R]

Very interesting. So when the blockchain is downloaded, can will my BTC be in both Bitcoin QT and Armory?

Assuming that it is in both can i just uninstall Armory and simply use Bitcoin QT as my wallet instead
OR do I need to transfer from Armory to Bitcoin QT before i uninstall Armory.

is it worth keeping Armory since the computer that Armory is installed on is connected to the web or does having Armory on an online PC void the benefit of Armory dispite the fact that Armory always says its offline anayway?

you can export the PrivateKey of the BTC Address where u did send your coins and afterwards import it to Bitcoin-QT.
il advice you to stay @ armory as its the most feature rich client available which will help you not to get into troubles in the future