Ledger Nano Lost Seed Words

[bPatrick401]

Hi. I am fairly new to cryptocurrencies and have a Ledger Nano S. Like the technological idiot I apparently am, I screwed something up and can no longer get the Bitcoin option to show up on the unit. I think I may have wiped it clean. The big problem is the seed word sheet went missing and I think it may have been lost among other papers.  Needless to say, I am screwed. Is there any way to hack into the unit to either retrieve what was eliminated or figure out the seed words?  Is there anyone here who can do that or knows of someone who can?  I would be willing to compensate you well for your troubles.  There is about $8000 in there by today's prices, so the standard 20% could net you somewhere in neighborhood of $1600 for your work.  Serious replies only, please. Thanks

[Wheelige]

Hey,

Have you tried to reinstall the bitcoin app via the ledger plugin for chrome?
You may have accidentally uninstalled it, so it wouldn't show up anymore.
If this is the issue then you wont need the seed words in order to regain access to your cryptos.

I've also heard about a kid who noted that the seed could be extracted via an 'evil maid' attack. This could be something to look into if the above doesnt apply.

That said I would recommend buying another ledger and making a copy of your seed words and keeping them in a secure deposit box or safe etc.
Too much risk for that amount.

[pooya87]

Like the technological idiot I apparently am,

no you are not a "technological idiot", you are just lazy to learn how to use bitcoin and the wallet you bought first before you use them.

Is there any way to hack into the unit to either retrieve what was eliminated or figure out the seed words? 

if that was possible then Ledger Nano would have been an unsafe choice and nobody should even use it. the whole purpose of it is that nobody can "hack into it".

[mk4]

What pooya87 said.

First off, how did you even wipe your Ledger device? That's not something you can do unintentionally. Also, look for the word seed sheet. Like what the hell. Your device holds around $8000 like you said, and you just mixed your word sheet with other papers? I really don't know how people could be this careless.

[cryptosec.info]

1. Look for the recovery sheet
2. Reinstall your apps using Ledger Manager[link]
3. If you still couldn't access your funds after that, look for the recovery sheet

If your Ledger Nano S is pretty much broke for some reason, and you couldn't find your recovery sheet, then ohwell. Expensive lesson for you I guess.

[bL4nkcode]

I screwed something up and can no longer get the Bitcoin option to show up on the unit. I think I may have wiped it clean. The big problem is the seed word sheet went missing and I think it may have been lost among other papers.  

If you say the device has been wiped then you did that or you input the wrong pin 3 times which will auto reset your device OR you go in the settings (Settings->Device->Reset all) and manually reset the nano. And are you in the "Welcome" screen of the device?  if not then try reinstalling your apps (bitcoin) using the ledger manager which was linked above and choose Bitcoin there still chance to recover your funds there if and only if.

Needless to say, I am screwed. Is there any way to hack into the unit to either retrieve what was eliminated or figure out the seed words?

If someone do that then the security features of the ledger nano is useless. The whole idea of hardware wallet is completely useless.

[BQ]

Not much to be done in hindsight, sadly (and possibly thankfully since it would jeopardize crypto if one could just bypass all security of a physical device! )
To mention on earlier topic, there was actually some guy with a Trezor a while back who lost his pin and somehow (with help) managed to get the PIN-code out of the device after alot of work.
But this was patched, and we can assume that any active exploit isn't common knowledge, since it requires a lot of knowledge in the first place.
And also, it's Trezor, not Nano Ledger.
Nano Ledger is Closed-Source so it'd seem much more difficult to "reverse engineer".

With a seed phrase, you can recover your private key, but that obviously doesn't help much in this case.  

However, hopefully you only uninstalled something and didn't lose actual access.
If you do get your access back, send your BTC somewhere, generate a new wallet, send it back, and keep that seed phrase safe and in multiple locations!
(online is fine if you make sure you encrypt it, or jumble it with a dictionary or something along those lines).

A few months old discussion about someone losing his seed phrase
Long and interesting story of the guy with his Trezor

[CryptoBry]

Like the technological idiot I apparently am,

no you are not a "technological idiot", you are just lazy to learn how to use bitcoin and the wallet you bought first before you use them.

Is there any way to hack into the unit to either retrieve what was eliminated or figure out the seed words? 

if that was possible then Ledger Nano would have been an unsafe choice and nobody should even use it. the whole purpose of it is that nobody can "hack into it".

The technology is good but it is human nature that is failing. The seed words should have a copy somewhere that nobody has access to except the owner and the best thing to do is to have at least 4 copies of this distributed in different locations (maybe just within and without the house but make sure nobody can access them). This is actually a common story and I am sure we have already read many horrifying stories involving millions worth of Bitcoin lost just like a vapor.