Locked out of bitcoin wallet, can I get another wallet?

[Primrose]

Sadly, I lost the passphrase to my bitcoin qt wallet, and therefore I am locked out of it.
As I have lost coins, i would like to buy more and store them in a new wallet.
I want to keep my old wallet on my computer, just in case I remember the passphrase.

I know I can buy more bitcoin, but would I be able to get a new wallet i can get into, whilst keeping my own locked ones in case I find the passphrase?

thanks in advance

[CIYAM]

Move the wallet.dat file to somewhere safe (maybe rename it to wallet.dat.old so you don't confuse it with your new wallet) then start bitcoin-qt - it should automatically create a new empty wallet for you.

You would be advised to keep some copies of the old wallet also (and the new wallet after you have given it a passphrase).

[PenAndPaper]

Check that thread here. Guy had the same problem as you https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=90010.0

[Primrose]

Move the wallet.dat file to somewhere safe (maybe rename it to wallet.dat.old so you don't confuse it with your new wallet) then start bitcoin-qt - it should automatically create a new empty wallet for you.

You would be advised to keep some copies of the old wallet also (and the new wallet after you have given it a passphrase).

Hi

I tried to rename it wallet.dat.locked (as I cannot get into it without a passphrase), but, it would not let me do that, so I tried to rename it wallet_locked.dat, and I got a warning messge, warning me that trying to rename the file would make it unusable.

I thought it best to come back here and check this, before going ahead and renaming it, as I did not want to risk making it unusable.

Please could you tell me how to rename it correctly, so it is useable.

Thanks

Also, thanks to, Penandpaper for giving me that link.

[rarkenin]

That's just Windows' stupidity. Rename the file to wallet_locked.dat and it may say that it's unusable, but  it's only a rename. Start bitcoin-qt and a new wallet will be created.

If you ever recover the passphrase to the old wallet (hopefully you keyloggered your own machine  ) then just transfer over the private keys from the new wallet to an external text file (it's in the form of 5JTPBZBZ2zdiTnaGxphVZ9Q58ToXdq4EGozXiB9oB7pBrrVSaCN ). You can then rename wallet.dat to wallet_new.dat and wallet_locked.dat to wallet.dat, and reimport the keys from the new wallet.

n.b. that private key doesn't have any bitcoin on it, if anyone is trying to swipe some free bitcoin.

[Primrose]

That's just Windows' stupidity. Rename the file to wallet_locked.dat and it may say that it's unusable, but  it's only a rename. Start bitcoin-qt and a new wallet will be created.

If you ever recover the passphrase to the old wallet (hopefully you keyloggered your own machine  ) then just transfer over the private keys from the new wallet to an external text file (it's in the form of 5JTPBZBZ2zdiTnaGxphVZ9Q58ToXdq4EGozXiB9oB7pBrrVSaCN ). You can then rename wallet.dat to wallet_new.dat and wallet_locked.dat to wallet.dat, and reimport the keys from the new wallet.

n.b. that private key doesn't have any bitcoin on it, if anyone is trying to swipe some free bitcoin.

Hi Rarekenin.

Thanks for the info above.
I don't know what keyloggered means.

I have another question pls, for my second wallet, is it ok to install armory wallet, as that takes up less memory?

Thanks

[Kouye]

Backup that old wallet of yours, and write down anything you remember about what the passphrase might contain (patterns, words, dates, numbers, anything you can think of!).
There are easy ways to recover passphrases if you remember enough.

Armory might not be the most suited wallet for you, I'd suggest using a more user friendly one such as multibit or electrum (which is not fully endorsed by bitcoin.org).

[Primrose]

Backup that old wallet of yours, and write down anything you remember about what the passphrase might contain (patterns, words, dates, numbers, anything you can think of!).
There are easy ways to recover passphrases if you remember enough.

Armory might not be the most suited wallet for you, I'd suggest using a more user friendly one such as multibit or electrum (which is not fully endorsed by bitcoin.org).

Hi

My luck is really running out, because the computer keeps overheating and the longer I wait to buy bitcoin, the more it is going up in price, and it doesn't seem like the last bubble.
It just seems to be gathering speed upwards, so I don't want to be priced out of the market.
I will back up my wallet onto a flash drive, if my computer will let me, but I think I need to do something about this overheating.

Thank you for mentioning the passphrase. I opened up notebook and started listing down passwords that I have put in qt wallet, just so that I remember what passwords I have tried. The list is getting longer. 

[PenAndPaper]

Armory might not be the most suited wallet for you, I'd suggest using a more user friendly one such as multibit or electrum (which is not fully endorsed by bitcoin.org).

What do you mean it is not fully endorsed by bitcoin.org? It is 100% endorsed and i think gavin andresen himself talked many times about the importance of having different wallets around the network. The warning is for people to understand that the client reads the blockchain from another server. That's all.

[Primrose]

Backup that old wallet of yours, and write down anything you remember about what the passphrase might contain (patterns, words, dates, numbers, anything you can think of!).
There are easy ways to recover passphrases if you remember enough.

Armory might not be the most suited wallet for you, I'd suggest using a more user friendly one such as multibit or electrum (which is not fully endorsed by bitcoin.org).

EDITED

I thought I had a problem, but I have resolved it now, so I changed this post.
I do have a question though. Will a 4 gig flash drive be able to hold a wallet backup or two?
PS, computer now fixed got an expert to clean it out for a fee.

Many thanks.

[Kouye]

I do have a question though. Will a 4 gig flash drive be able to hold a wallet backup or two?

It depends on how much transactions and addresses it contains, but most likely you'll be able to store 1000 wallets at least on such a key  
Keep in mind usb sticks tend to have a very short life span, though, consider other backup methods too.

[Primrose]

I do have a question though. Will a 4 gig flash drive be able to hold a wallet backup or two?

It depends on how much transactions and addresses it contains, but most likely you'll be able to store 1000 wallets at least on such a key  
Keep in mind usb sticks tend to have a very short life span, though, consider other backup methods too.

Hi

Would you be able to suggest other ways of backing the wallets up please?
Do you mean a cd? I've copied stuff onto cd before, and many times, been unable to get onto it due to dodgy disks or something.

I'm not tech savvy, I just got into bitcoin in a small way, like a way of gambling I guess.
I only have one transaction on two wallets and two transactions on another.

Thanks in appreciation.

Many thanks

[Kouye]

As long as wallet is encrypted securely, you can push it to any cloud service, too (just rename the file not to hint about what it is), or just print the private keys and hide them under your bed.
My point was : don't rely exclusively on a usb stick as a safe backup.

[Primrose]

As long as wallet is encrypted securely, you can push it to any cloud service, too (just rename the file not to hint about what it is), or just print the private keys and hide them under your bed.
My point was : don't rely exclusively on a usb stick as a safe backup.

Hi

You have been really helpful.

Thanks

[Primrose]

In trying to familarise myself with btc wallet, so that I am not asking so many questions, I started reading this https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Wallet#Bitcoin_Qt

I created a second bitcoin wallet today, by going to the bitcoin folder, removing the wallet.dat that was there to another location, and renaming it. (I also copied it onto two flash drives so I have a backup)
I opened the client again, as described in the guidance I received above.

I am querying, though, because, when I read the page linked above, it said the following:

It is intended that a wallet be used on only one installation of Bitcoin at a time. Attempting to clone a wallet for use on multiple computers will result in "weird behavior"[2].

I'm not cloning a wallet for another computer, just creating one to put my new btc in, as the old wallet is locked due to lost passphrase.

Can I just confirm that, this is ok, and also, that when I want to view the original wallet (still trying to put passwords in the hope it opens it) will I just go to the file I renamed, and put it back in the btc folder?
There will be two wallet data files in there now, one for each btc wallet.

Oh, and if anyone can point me to some general help information on qt wallet for me to read, I would be grateful, as I am struggling to find it online.

Thanks
Thanks

[Kouye]

The weird behaviors can happen if you clone a wallet and use it on 2 different computers.

This is mainly because QT wallets have a default pool of 100 pre-generated addresses (the 100 next addresses it will use as change or show you when you click on "new address" are pre-generated). Each time you use up an address from that pool, QT creates a new (random) one to keep a 100 pool.

So if you clone a wallet to another computer and use both, you'll have the impression that they are syncrhonized, until you reach the point where you used up all 100 addresses from the "common" pool, and they begin to use random address from the "fresh" 100 pool each one will have created on his side.

What you are doing here is different. You just backed up a wallet, and created a fresh new one, not expecting that they behave the same way.
So don't be afraid about that warning.

Also, you cannot specify the wallet.dat filename when running QT, so you'll have to rename/copy/move your new wallet before copying back the locked old one (and renaming it wallet.dat if necessary), before next password cracking session.

To learn more, you may simply search in this sub for material about QT wallet.

[eternaluniverse]

don't delete your old wallet!!

http://www.walletrecoveryservices.com/

go here and they will retrieve your account for a fee, typically a % of the wallet.

[Primrose]

The weird behaviors can happen if you clone a wallet and use it on 2 different computers.

This is mainly because QT wallets have a default pool of 100 pre-generated addresses (the 100 next addresses it will use as change or show you when you click on "new address" are pre-generated). Each time you use up an address from that pool, QT creates a new (random) one to keep a 100 pool.

So if you clone a wallet to another computer and use both, you'll have the impression that they are syncrhonized, until you reach the point where you used up all 100 addresses from the "common" pool, and they begin to use random address from the "fresh" 100 pool each one will have created on his side.

What you are doing here is different. You just backed up a wallet, and created a fresh new one, not expecting that they behave the same way.
So don't be afraid about that warning.

Also, you cannot specify the wallet.dat filename when running QT, so you'll have to rename/copy/move your new wallet before copying back the locked old one (and renaming it wallet.dat if necessary), before next password cracking session.

To learn more, you may simply search in this sub for material about QT wallet.

Hi Kouye

I haven't backed up my wallet yet, because I am afraid I will mess it up.

Also, I have noticed that my wallet just closes itself, and when I re-open it, the block chain sometimes does not show on the bottom of the interface. Like, the interface does not always show the green bar which shows status of syncing.

Thanks