Beginner Issues

[margzy]

I apologize in advance if this is redundant to anyone, but unfortunately I cannot search the forum so I have to ask my question here.

So I downloaded Bitcoin Core. I purchased bitcoins on Coinmama. I created a new wallet in Bitcoin Core, and verified it with Coinmama. Little did I know, Bitcoin Core has to download, now, 200gigs of blocks to display my transaction, because obviously mine is fairly recent.

Now I verified on https://explorer.bitcoin.com/btc/ that my wallet ID does indeed have the funds in there.

However, I dont have the computer memory to support 200gigs. I just went out and bought a 128gig SD just for this, and only THEN found out its 200 gigs.

Now I tried going into Help > Debug Window to try to turn the wallet into a private key so I can transfer it into another app by doing this:

16:52:32 walletpassphrase(…)

16:52:32 null

16:56:52 dumpprivkey "wallet ID in here"

It gave me an alphanumeric string starting with L.

When I tried to enter that into a new bitcoin wallet app called Bither, it asked me for a password. I entered my passphrase from Bitcoin core, yet it doesnt work.

Now my question is, in order to transfer the bitcoins, do I need to have them be delivered to my wallet in bitcoin core first?

Also what can I do about the space issue? I tried pruning, which from what I understand is when you open bitcoin.conf and write "prune" in there. Of course, it didnt work.


Please Help!

[wyospl]

You don't need to use Bitcoin Core. Take a look at https://bitcoin.org/en/choose-your-wallet

That would be the simple solution. You should definitely choose one that doesn't require the entire blockchain to be downloaded

[margzy]

IS there any way I can go in the console and type to download my bitcoins to my wallet address off the block?

I know, i've downloaded several others. but I cant seem to transfer my funds and wallet out of bitcoin core because it still says I'm at $0.00 and it will take 3 days to download the rest of the block. I made a huge mistake downloading that app.

[buwaytress]

Many options to choose from but you want an SPV wallet that doesn't download the blockchain.

I use and recommend Electrum, easy enough to use and learn, and good enough for more advanced use. Should be really easy, since you seem to have your private key already. Just install, and on the very first window to create a new wallet, select the last option "import Bitcoin addresses or private keys".

Also, seems yr private key is compressed... Get the uncompressed key via https://www.bitaddress.org (run offline) and import that.

[bob123]

IS there any way I can go in the console and type to download my bitcoins to my wallet address off the block?

You can not download any bitcoins. The coins are 'stored' on the blockchain (better: are assigned to your address).
To spend them, you can export your private key (which you already did, the string starting with L..) and import it into a lightweight client (which does not need to download the whole blockchain).

The best would be if you do the following:

• Choose a suitable lighweight client (i recommend electrum: https://electrum.org/#home)
• Create a (main-) wallet
• Create another wallet (a 'trash wallet')
• Import the private key into the 'trash wallet'
• Send your coins from the 'trash wallet' to your 'main wallet'
• Delete or rename your trash wallet
• Now, your 'main' wallet will be your actual wallet
• Make sure you have a backup of the seed of the main wallet (given to you upon creation). This is the only way to recover your funds in case your PC will somehow no longer work.

I know, i've downloaded several others. but I cant seem to transfer my funds and wallet out of bitcoin core because it still says I'm at $0.00 and it will take 3 days to download the rest of the block. I made a huge mistake downloading that app.

You'll be able to send the funds once it is synced. Exporting the private key does always work.
A full node is only advised if you really want to support the network. Else, you can always choose to use a lightweight client (but please do never use an online wallet, those are the least safest).

[margzy]

Thank you all for the feedback. I downloaded Electrum.

Now, my problem is that the private key generates another address, not my original one. Maybe it is compressed, if it is, how do I change that? How do I get a working private code out of bitcoin core?

[Rath_]

Now, my problem is that the private key generates another address, not my original one. Maybe it is compressed, if it is, how do I change that? How do I get a working private code out of bitcoin core?

How does your address look like? Does it start with 1, 3 or bc1? It is very important because:

- if your address starts with 3 then you have to type "p2wpkh-p2sh:<private key>" in the "Import Bitcoin addresses or private keys",
- if your address starts with bc1 then you have to type "p2wpkh:<private key>" in the "Import Bitcoin addresses or private keys".

Since you need only one specific address, you can type "dumpprivkey <address you have received your coins to>" in the Bitcoin Core's console.

[margzy]

The private key the console gave me starts with L14, my bitcoin address starts with 3d

[Rath_]

The private key the console gave me starts with L14, my bitcoin address starts with 3d

As I wrote above, you have to type in "p2wpkh-p2sh:<your private key>" while importing your keys to Electrum. It should look like this:

[margzy]

Oh thank you thank you thank you!!!!  Now I can start uninstalling that huge bitcoin core nonsense!

[LoyceV]

When I tried to enter that into a new bitcoin wallet app called Bither, it asked me for a password. I entered my passphrase from Bitcoin core, yet it doesnt work.

Using the same password in different applications is a security risk. Bither asks for your Bither password, not your Bitcoin Core password.

Now my question is, in order to transfer the bitcoins, do I need to have them be delivered to my wallet in bitcoin core first?

No.

Also what can I do about the space issue? I tried pruning, which from what I understand is when you open bitcoin.conf and write "prune" in there. Of course, it didnt work.

Enter this:

Code:

prune=550

This reduces the blockchain to the last 550 blocks. Including chainstate, it will take less than 10 GB (but still requires downloading the full 190 GB blockchain).

I use and recommend Electrum, easy enough to use and learn, and good enough for more advanced use. Should be really easy, since you seem to have your private key already. Just install, and on the very first window to create a new wallet, select the last option "import Bitcoin addresses or private keys".

Agreed. I would choose Electrum over Bither too.

Also, seems yr private key is compressed... Get the uncompressed key via https://www.bitaddress.org (run offline) and import that.

The uncompressed key would lead to another address. Importing the compressed key into Electrum should just work. Unless you're using a SegWit address, in that case you're going to want to read this guide.

Now I can start uninstalling that huge bitcoin core nonsense!

Don't dispose of Bitcoin Core for the wrong reasons. Being "huge" makes it not depend on third parties, which is one of the unique features of Bitcoin.
I use both Bitcoin Core and Electrum, they both have some benefits.

[margzy]

Now I can start uninstalling that huge bitcoin core nonsense!

Don't dispose of Bitcoin Core for the wrong reasons. Being "huge" makes it not depend on third parties, which is one of the unique features of Bitcoin.
I use both Bitcoin Core and Electrum, they both have some benefits.
[/quote]

I understand. I just happen to have one of those computers that only has 30 gigs of memory on it to begin with. I just purchased an SD card with 128 gigs just because of bitcoin core, but it will work out handy because I've run out of room for windows updates.

With Electrum, I clicked send, entered the address which started with 3EN. And then I clicked Send. However, it remains unconfirmed. I read something about having to Broadcast it? How would I do that?

I just saved it and it said "Note: this is an offline transaction, to send you need to broadcast it"

[margzy]

Do I need to broadcast the transaction or am I in OK shape, just gotta wait for the person to confirm? I would post a screen shot but iIdont have anywhere to host it.

[LoyceV]

I understand. I just happen to have one of those computers that only has 30 gigs of memory on it to begin with.

That sounds like a phone, not a real computer

With Electrum, I clicked send, entered the address which started with 3EN. And then I clicked Send. However, it remains unconfirmed. I read something about having to Broadcast it? How would I do that?

Did you import the private key (starting with L14) and did Electrum show you a balance?

I just saved it and it said "Note: this is an offline transaction, to send you need to broadcast it"

I'm not sure what you did exactly. Electrum should do this on it's own when you send a transaction.
If you've saved a raw transaction, you can broadcast it through https://www.blockchain.com/btc/pushtx , but that's not how Electrum is supposed to be used.

[Stedsm]

Do I need to broadcast the transaction or am I in OK shape, just gotta wait for the person to confirm? I would post a screen shot but iIdont have anywhere to host it.

According to the post below, Electrum shouldn't actually ask you to do that:

Electrum is an SPV wallet, it does NOT broadcast transactions like a Full node. you make the transaction and then send it to an electrum node which is a full node and that broadcasts your tx to the network and your tx is now propagated throughout the bitcoin network and now all bitcoin nodes are "broadcasting" it

to bump fees you should have marked it as an RBF transaction so that you could easily bump the fees up.

As LoyceV said, we really don't know what you actually did but rebroadcasting isn't needed in an SPV wallet because it doesn't ask us to (at least I haven't witnessed any such problems with that).

[buwaytress]

I understand. I just happen to have one of those computers that only has 30 gigs of memory on it to begin with. I just purchased an SD card with 128 gigs just because of bitcoin core, but it will work out handy because I've run out of room for windows updates.

With Electrum, I clicked send, entered the address which started with 3EN. And then I clicked Send. However, it remains unconfirmed. I read something about having to Broadcast it? How would I do that?

I just saved it and it said "Note: this is an offline transaction, to send you need to broadcast it"

I think what happened is you clicked Preview on your transaction, and then clicked "Sign" and then "Save" when previewing. You need to load the transaction again and click "Broadcast" to broadcast it to the network. You have, of course, to be connected to internet.

Congratulations!

[Abdussamad]

I apologize in advance if this is redundant to anyone, but unfortunately I cannot search the forum so I have to ask my question here.

So I downloaded Bitcoin Core. I purchased bitcoins on Coinmama. I created a new wallet in Bitcoin Core, and verified it with Coinmama. Little did I know, Bitcoin Core has to download, now, 200gigs of blocks to display my transaction, because obviously mine is fairly recent.

Now I verified on https://explorer.bitcoin.com/btc/ that my wallet ID does indeed have the funds in there.

However, I dont have the computer memory to support 200gigs. I just went out and bought a 128gig SD just for this, and only THEN found out its 200 gigs.

Now I tried going into Help > Debug Window to try to turn the wallet into a private key so I can transfer it into another app by doing this:

16:52:32 walletpassphrase(…)

16:52:32 null

16:56:52 dumpprivkey "wallet ID in here"

It gave me an alphanumeric string starting with L.

When I tried to enter that into a new bitcoin wallet app called Bither, it asked me for a password. I entered my passphrase from Bitcoin core, yet it doesnt work.

Now my question is, in order to transfer the bitcoins, do I need to have them be delivered to my wallet in bitcoin core first?

Also what can I do about the space issue? I tried pruning, which from what I understand is when you open bitcoin.conf and write "prune" in there. Of course, it didnt work.


Please Help!

you can find the option to prune under the settings in the bitcoin qt window. it's the option to limit block storage. it'll be easier to set it there than in the config file.

if you want to bail here's an article that shows you how to switch to electrum: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Transferring_coins_from_Bitcoin-Qt_to_Electrum . you don't have to wait for core to sync before you can switch to electrum.

[HCP]

I just saved it and it said "Note: this is an offline transaction, to send you need to broadcast it"

Do I need to broadcast the transaction or am I in OK shape, just gotta wait for the person to confirm? I would post a screen shot but iIdont have anywhere to host it.

You need to broadcast the transaction. If it is showing as an "offline transaction" (or local transaction) in your Electrum transaction history, then it has not left your computer yet... so it will never be added to the blockchain. If it just shows as "unconfirmed", then it has been broadcast, but not included in a block yet.

I'd suggest that you get the TransactionID (right click on the transaction in your transaction history and select "Details" or "view on blockexplorer") and check on a block explorer to see if the transaction is visible to anyone else.

If the blockexplorers come up with "unknown transaction", you will need to open the transaction and click the "broadcast" button.

[asaifi]

See, it's important to understand a basic concept here. BTC are never stored on your PC and they cannot be download into any hardware. Let it be your PC, or anything else for that matter.

The number you see in your wallet merely represents the AMOUNT of BTC assigned to your wallet address from the entire POOL of BTC circulating in the network. Remember, it's just a virtual representation. It does not exist in real form.

Some heavyweight clients demand the downloading of a complete blockchain (as mentioned above by a friend), but you could always use lighter clients to avoid that.

[Abdussamad]

Many options to choose from but you want an SPV wallet that doesn't download the blockchain.

I use and recommend Electrum, easy enough to use and learn, and good enough for more advanced use. Should be really easy, since you seem to have your private key already. Just install, and on the very first window to create a new wallet, select the last option "import Bitcoin addresses or private keys".

Also, seems yr private key is compressed... Get the uncompressed key via https://www.bitaddress.org (run offline) and import that.

why did you tell him to get the uncompressed private key? the address will be different for that. the address he received bitcoins at is only unlocked with the compressed private key. he needs to import the compressed private key in electrum i.e. exactly what bitcoin core gives him.