Quick MyEtherWallet Question

[silversurfer7]

Hello 

I have an option on myetherwallet: to print my private keys to ONE of my ethereum addresses. So, my thought is that I want to look at the private keys by pushing the show button BUT I also know that there is a small chance that someone watching could screenshot? I know this is unlikely, but it leads to my question:

- If I show those keys to write down or print, is it the private keys to JUST that ethereum address or ALL of my ethereum addys? Since I plug in with a Nano s ledger will I be showing myself my private Ledger Keys or just keys for the ether address on myetherwallet (the blockchain)?
Thanks. I need to know so that I can back up my private keys in case myetherwallet goes down.
Happy "end of the correction" to you all!!!!
Never sell low! 

[mpufatzis]

Hello  

I have an option on myetherwallet: to print my private keys to ONE of my ethereum addresses. So, my thought is that I want to look at the private keys by pushing the show button BUT I also know that there is a small chance that someone watching could screenshot? I know this is unlikely, but it leads to my question:

I am not sure if I understand what you are asking, but If someone is able to watch your screen, yes he will be able to see your private key too if you are watching it.

- If I show those keys to write down or print, is it the private keys to JUST that ethereum address or ALL of my ethereum addys? Since I plug in with a Nano s ledger will I be showing myself my private Ledger Keys or just keys for the ether address on myetherwallet (the blockchain)?
Thanks. I need to know so that I can back up my private keys in case myetherwallet goes down.
Happy "end of the correction" to you all!!!!
Never sell low!  

As far as I know, when you use the MEW with the Nano, the Nano is your cold wallet and your MEW your hot wallet.
It means, that Nanor (cold) has the private key and signs the transaction and MEW (hot) sends the data to Ethereum blockchain. It is supposed to be a secure transaction (according to Nano's company).

[nascrypto]

Hardware wallets, as described by the experts, is safer option till date. But, since every account is bonded with a single private key (and you cannot change it in any circumstances) if the private key is breached, your account is breached. The only option is to move all your resources to a different account. There should have been a better way to deal this issue.

[silversurfer7]

Nice point.
BUT.....when u print the private keys for your address on MEW I'm guessing it's only the keys to that account on the blockchain (mew), I believe the ledger s nano is incapable of sharing it's own private keys.
that being said I'm asking to be sure lol, ledger takes FOREVER to reply to their tickets!!!!!

[DannyHamilton]

I only use the Ledger Nano for Bitcoin, and in that case I use Electrum as the "online" portion instead of MyEtherWallet.  Therefore, it is possible that MyEtherWallet has some additional features that I am unaware of.

However, typically when using a hardware wallet, the private keys are all stored internally in the hardware wallet.  They are not available to the software that you are using, and therefore the software is incapable of displaying the private keys.

The ENTIRE PURPOSE of a hardware wallet is to make it impossible for ANY software to EVER access ANY of the private keys.

If you want to create a backup of your Ledger Nano, then that is what the recovery words are for.  If you stored your recovery words somewhere safe, then your entire Nano (and all the private keys that it will EVER have) IS backed up.  You can make as many secure copies of those recovery words as you like.

If you REALLY want to find out what the private keys are which can be generated from the recovery words, then there are websites that you can download and run offline.  These websites use the exact same algorithms to generate private keys from the recovery words as the Ledger Nano uses, therefore if you provide your recovery words to the website, then it can generate the addresses and private keys.  NOTE HOWEVER that if the website has any malware, and you reconnect your computer to the internet, then there is potential for the malware to report ALL the private keys that will ever exist for those recovery words back to a hacker.  As such, you probably don't want to do that unless you REALLY REALLY need to know your private keys.

Also, if you never stored your recovery words (or if you've lost them), then it is impossible to get a new copy of those same words from the Ledger Nano.  This is intentional, remember, the ENTIRE PURPOSE of a hardware wallet is to make it impossible for ANY software to EVER access ANY of the private keys.  Therefore, you should create a temporary wallet(s) of some sort somewhere, and send all of your coins to the temporary wallet(s).  Then ONLY AFTER YOU ARE 100% certain that you've safely moved your coins off of that Nano, you should reset the Nano by entering an incorrect PIN 3 times.  Then set it up as a NEW wallet. It will generate and provide you with a NEW set of recovery words.  MAKE SURE THAT YOU STORE THEM SECURELY THIS TIME.  Then once you have the wallet set back up, you can transfer all of your coins from the temporary wallet(s) back to the NEW addresses on the Nano.