Can not create a new wallet with my private key

[tschoartschi]

Hey!

I created a new paper wallet with bitaddress. Now I wanted to create a new wallet with the created addresses in electrum, but when I enter my private key, the next button is always disabled. I made some screenshot to demonstrate what I tried (I tried all variants of my private and public key, next is always disabled):

I'm on Mac OS Sierra and Electrum Version 3.0.2

https://img1.picload.org/image/drcgroir/01.jpg
https://img1.picload.org/image/drcgroia/02.jpg
https://img1.picload.org/image/drcgroil/03.jpg
https://img1.picload.org/image/drcgroii/04.jpg

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[Bitfort]

I'm not completely sure. You should be entering master private key but you are entering just private key (I don't think that will work)

quote to ease the img reading.

[xdrpx]

To reproduce your situation, I've created a sample public and private key address from bitaddress.org

Can you test with this sample and empty private key that I had generated -

Code:

L5Wc2Xo4fttFSBrpnfGTckUNm2KMpEwEzD7qPzAS3GYx66s3qR8X

I'm able to see the next button. Make sure that the format of the private key you've entered is accurate.

If it still doesn't work try using the 'Read QR code' feature. If it still doesn't work do let me know.

[tschoartschi]

@xdrpx it still does not work  I think QR is not available on MAC

https://img1.picload.org/image/drcgrlca/05.jpg
https://img1.picload.org/image/drcgrlcl/06.jpg
https://img1.picload.org/image/drcgrlpa/07.jpg

[tschoartschi]

When I try to install Electrum from Source for Mac I get the following error on the terminal:

Error: Could not import PyQt5 on Linux systems, you may try 'sudo apt-get install python3-pyqt5'

[xdrpx]

When I try to install Electrum from Source for Mac I get the following error on the terminal:

Error: Could not import PyQt5 on Linux systems, you may try 'sudo apt-get install python3-pyqt5'

About the QR code, sorry about that, wasn't aware about the MacOS limited support for QR codes.

Ahh! It could be cause of PyQT5 dependencies missing. Could you try to install the following dependencies? Type the following in your macOS terminal:

Code:

brew install qt5 pyqt5 gettext

If that still doesn't work you can also try installing PyQT5 from pip:

Code:

python3 -m pip install PyQt5

Edit: To run brew you may have to install Homebrew: https://github.com/mxcl/homebrew

To do that you can run the following:

Code:

/usr/bin/ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"

Source of homebrew installation command: https://brew.sh/


Note: Not sure yet, how this does disable the next button though, cause it was enabled in previous instances of the wizard. But, hey lets try to install the dependencies to ensure they aren't missing, if any and retry.

[Abdussamad]

See this guide: https://bitcoinelectrum.com/importing-your-private-keys-into-electrum/ . Step 2 is where you are making a mistake. This change took place with version 3.0. Before that your way would have done the job.

[xdrpx]

See this guide: https://bitcoinelectrum.com/importing-your-private-keys-into-electrum/ . Step 2 is where you are making a mistake. This change took place with version 3.0. Before that your way would have done the job.

Oh damn, Nice catch! I missed noticing that one. I myself was selecting 'Import Bitcoin Addresses or Private keys' to reproduce the scenario, but didn't notice OP's selection. @OP: Select that radio option as Abdussamad has mentioned, should work out fine I hope. Sorry for the inconvinience!

@Abdussamad: Also, thanks for letting know about the change between versions. I wasn't aware about the keystore function upto until now. I just did some search online to get to know more about its restore functionality.

[ycir]

Is this a way to recover BTG with the segwit address? It seems like this is on the right track... if I use my previous public key / private key (that had btc at time of fork) to create a NEW wallet... will this generate a "1" address in my new wallet? Or will I still not be able to recover my BTG....?

[TryNinja]

Is this a way to recover BTG with the segwit address? It seems like this is on the right track... if I use my previous public key / private key (that had btc at time of fork) to create a NEW wallet... will this generate a "1" address in my new wallet? Or will I still not be able to recover my BTG....?

Are you saying that you have BTG in a Segwit address and want to be able to spend them?

I'm not sure if the Bitcoin Gold Core wallet supports Segwit. But if it does, you should be able to use it to see and spend your coins. The only problem is that you will need to download the whole BTG blockchain and this should take some time and need at least 150gb of your HD space.

Other than that, the only lightweight that BTG currently has is Coinomi for Android, and they don't support Segwit addresses.

[ycir]

Is this a way to recover BTG with the segwit address? It seems like this is on the right track... if I use my previous public key / private key (that had btc at time of fork) to create a NEW wallet... will this generate a "1" address in my new wallet? Or will I still not be able to recover my BTG....?

Are you saying that you have BTG in a Segwit address and want to be able to spend them?

I'm not sure if the Bitcoin Gold Core wallet supports Segwit. But if it does, you should be able to use it to see and spend your coins. The only problem is that you will need to download the whole BTG blockchain and this should take some time and need at least 150gb of your HD space.

Other than that, the only lightweight that BTG currently has is Coinomi for Android, and they don't support Segwit addresses.

Yes - this is what I'm saying. Why wouldn't the BTG core wallet support segwit if it states on the website that BTG is segwit activated?  That doesn't make sense to me.... I downloaded the core wallet and I can't import my private keys.

Can I create a new electrum wallet on my other Dell PC that has been giving out "1" address's and import my public / private key here to get a "1" address?

[tschoartschi]

Actually I made 2 mistakes! First was like Abdussamad mentioned. I did it like with wallet versions before 3.0.0 and then I didn't enter the Private Key WIF, I entered Private Key BIP38. So it didn't work. The main problem was, that I didn't get any feedback from Electrum Wallet. So maybe you could add some "error messages" to guid the users better.

Thanks for your help

[Janjoep]

Hi!

I want to continue on this subject, or actually a bit back. I have created a watching only wallet (don't ask how) on electrum (not able to 'spent' btc) and want to change it so i can do something with these. I have tried some steps as mentioned above but it doesn't seem to help. What to do?

Thanks in advance.

[Abdussamad]

You need the corresponding private key or seed. IF you don't have that you can't spend from your watching only wallet.

[Janjoep]

I have these, 'receiving address' is private key right? I also have my seed.

[TryNinja]

I have these, 'receiving address' is private key right? I also have my seed.

No. These are the address (the ones you give publicly to receive coins and starts with a 1, 3 or bc1). Private-keys are 51/52 characters long and starts with a 5, L or K.

If you have the seed, you can use it to restore your wallet by choosing: Standard Wallet -> I already have a seed -> Paste the seed -> Next.