Issue with Bitcoin Core 11.8. Cant get into my wallet.

[Jimbo201]

Hello,

Im trying to find my private Key in Bitcoin Core 11.2 on my Macbook to move it to Electrum since I have problems with opening the Software properly and I dont want to wait to let it synch.

I have changed some settings in the Program so it opens up every time I start the Mac and there is a popup saying "unable to reach Port 8333". Then it closes again... There is NO option opening the command line for bitcoin core.

Is there another way to find my Private Key? Can I just put my wallet.dat into electrum?

Help is appreciated!

Thanks in advance

[1715288753]

1715288753

[1715288753]

1715288753

[bob123]

Im trying to find my private Key in Bitcoin Core 11.2 on my Macbook

There is no version 11.2.
Are you talking about 0.11.2 ? In this case you should upgrade to the newest version (0.16.2): https://bitcoin.org/en/download

But make sure to make a backup/copy of your wallet.dat before upgrading, just in case (usually located in ~/Library/Application Support/Bitcoin/).

I have changed some settings in the Program so it opens up every time I start the Mac and there is a popup saying "unable to reach Port 8333". Then it closes again... There is NO option opening the command line for bitcoin core.

Are you able to start core manually? Does it always 'crash' ? Or only when run on startup ?
You don't need to wait for core to completely sync until you can dump the private keys (assuming it does not crash).

Is there another way to find my Private Key? Can I just put my wallet.dat into electrum?

There are a few (buggy) tools available to dump private keys out of a wallet.dat.
But you can not simply open the wallet.dat with electrum.

You will need to export the private keys via the console ('Help' -> 'Debug Window' -> 'Console').

[Jimbo201]

Hi,

thanks for the reply.

Sorry, its version 11.8 which I upgraded to the latest now. I have uninstalled the previous one and downloaded the dmg file.
But still the same issue. It crashes also while trying to open it manually just as before.
I can not get into my wallet nor to the "help" option.

What do you mean by "buggy" tools to extract the keys from the wallet.dat? Are they not safe to use?


Thanks in advance


J

[ranochigo]

What do you mean by "buggy" tools to extract the keys from the wallet.dat? Are they not safe to use?

Is the macbook your only computer? If you have another, you can just install Bitcoin Core and extract the private key, no synchronization needed.

Pywallet is okay and it isn't exactly risky. It might be hard to use if you're unfamiliar with it. As long as you keep several backups of wallet.dat, you would be fine and you can easily switch to another backup if you mess one up.

[Jimbo201]

What do you mean by "buggy" tools to extract the keys from the wallet.dat? Are they not safe to use?

Is the macbook your only computer? If you have another, you can just install Bitcoin Core and extract the private key, no synchronization needed.

Hi, thanks for your advise! I think that should be manageable since there is one more Computer. It is running a Windows system.

"extracting the private key" - do you mean that I have to put the wallet.dat backup from this computer to another and exchange the wallet.dat file with the one in the bitcoin folder?

I just want to be sure that I wont do any mistakes this time

 

What do you mean by "buggy" tools to extract the keys from the wallet.dat? Are they not safe to use?

Pywallet is okay and it isn't exactly risky. It might be hard to use if you're unfamiliar with it. As long as you keep several backups of wallet.dat, you would be fine and you can easily switch to another backup if you mess one up.

Well I really dont have the "know how" so I guess option one will be my choice.

[ranochigo]

Hi, thanks for your advise! I think that should be manageable since there is one more Computer. It is running a Windows system.

"extracting the private key" - do you mean that I have to put the wallet.dat backup from this computer to another and exchange the wallet.dat file with the one in the bitcoin folder?

I just want to be sure that I wont do any mistakes this time

Yup. Install Bitcoin Core, run it once and shut down and go to the data directory (usually is at %appdata%/Bitcoin). Just replace the wallet.dat and reopen Core. You can just use the commands to dump the private key out.

Don't import it into Electrum preferably. Sweep it and you can just store the seed as a backup.

[bob123]

Sorry, its version 11.8 which I upgraded to the latest now.

But the latest version is 0.16.2. Where did you download core from ?

What do you mean by "buggy" tools to extract the keys from the wallet.dat? Are they not safe to use?

Well, if you do make a backup of your wallet.dat, you can't destroy anything.
But pywallet hasn't been maintained for a few years now. This means that it might fail dumping all necessary private keys.
While it is not unsafe, it does not guarantee to retrieve all of your private keys.

"extracting the private key" - do you mean that I have to put the wallet.dat backup from this computer to another and exchange the wallet.dat file with the one in the bitcoin folder?

The easiest probably would be if you  move your wallet.dat to another computer with core installed (into the data directory, usually located in C:\Users\USER\Appdata\Roaming\Bitcoin).
Then you will be able to dump the private keys using these commands:

Code:

walletpassphrase "YOUR_PASSWORD" 600

(to unlock your wallet for 600 seconds)

Code:

dumpprivkey "YOUR_ADDRESS"

(to dump the private key)

Note: Do not delete ANY wallet.dat files. Only rename them. This way you can't mess up and accidentally delete the wrong file.

[Jimbo201]

Sorry, its version 11.8 which I upgraded to the latest now.

The easiest probably would be if you  move your wallet.dat to another computer with core installed (into the data directory, usually located in C:\Users\USER\Appdata\Roaming\Bitcoin).
Then you will be able to dump the private keys using these commands:

Code:

walletpassphrase "YOUR_PASSWORD" 600

(to unlock your wallet for 600 seconds)

Code:

dumpprivkey "YOUR_ADDRESS"

(to dump the private key)

Note: Do not delete ANY wallet.dat files. Only rename them. This way you can't mess up and accidentally delete the wrong file.

Hello,

sorry I have not replied earlier.

I had to find a nice Computer to dump the key into.

Now I am able to use one, Im good to go



Since my knowledge is very much limited to the basics, I would like to ask for some more help.


 I have a question regarding the second command.

The:
dumpprivkey "YOU_ADDRESS"

where can I find the address I put there? Is it the public address of my wallet?
I do not own the public address anymore, I just have the wallet.dat + passphrase. Will it be enough to enter the "new" pub key to the dumpkey command?




thanks in advance


Jimbo

[bob123]

I have a question regarding the second command.

The:
dumpprivkey "YOU_ADDRESS"

where can I find the address I put there? Is it the public address of my wallet?
I do not own the public address anymore, I just have the wallet.dat + passphrase. Will it be enough to enter the "new" pub key to the dumpkey command?

You first need to find out which addresses inside of your wallet contain a balance.
You can check this by entering them in a block explorer (e.g. https://live.blockcypher.com/).

If you don't have a clue, you should either just let it sync or dump the whole wallet using this command:

Code:

dumpwallet "filename"

Then simply import all private keys into electrum.

[Jimbo201]

I have a question regarding the second command.

The:
dumpprivkey "YOU_ADDRESS"

where can I find the address I put there? Is it the public address of my wallet?
I do not own the public address anymore, I just have the wallet.dat + passphrase. Will it be enough to enter the "new" pub key to the dumpkey command?

You first need to find out which addresses inside of your wallet contain a balance.
You can check this by entering them in a block explorer (e.g. https://live.blockcypher.com/).

If you don't have a clue, you should either just let it sync or dump the whole wallet using this command:

Code:

dumpwallet "filename"

Then simply import all private keys into electrum.

Hi,

I have tried the dumpwallet "filename" option, receiving the unencrypted file,
put it into electrum and it did not show my balance. 
When I checked the backup of the wallet.dat file, I found out that I have somehow changed it in 2017, compromising the one of 2016.

Is there a possibility I still can access my funds or are they lost?

Or was there a mistake in my action trying to dump the file into electrum maybe because the keys are encrypted or something? I did not have to type in the passphrase I entered in 2016.

Help is much appreciated, Im still optimistic to recover the funds 

[LoyceV]

I have tried the dumpwallet "filename" option, receiving the unencrypted file,
put it into electrum and it did not show my balance.

What did you import? Note: Don't post your private keys here!
Is it a private key starting with "5", "K" or "L", and 51 or 52 characters long?

When I checked the backup of the wallet.dat file, I found out that I have somehow changed it in 2017, compromising the one of 2016.

An older wallet may or may not still contain funds, it depends on what else you did after making the backup.

Is there a possibility I still can access my funds or are they lost?
~
Help is much appreciated, Im still optimistic to recover the funds  

How much funds are involved, if you don't mind me asking? You've been trying for a month, any computer built in the last 5 years could easilly have synced the entire blockchain by now. It shouldn't take more than a few days on "normal" hardware.

[aleksej996]

BTW, it is not a good security practice to export your private keys.
Unless you have to (your Bitcoin Core crashed and can't get the funds out), I would suggest you just create a new wallet in Electrum and send the funds.

[Jimbo201]

I have tried the dumpwallet "filename" option, receiving the unencrypted file,
put it into electrum and it did not show my balance.

What did you import? Note: Don't post your private keys here!
Is it a private key starting with "5", "K" or "L", and 51 or 52 characters long?

Yes they start with a K or a L and also 51-52 long.

The wallet was encrypted but I did not have to type in my passphrase while executing dumpwallet. Maybe theres a clue?..

I imported the Keys directly into Electrum (standard wallet--> import private keys)

I have tried the dumpwallet "filename" option, receiving the unencrypted file,
put it into electrum and it did not show my balance.

What did you import? Note: Don't post your private keys here!
Is it a private key starting with "5", "K" or "L", and 51 or 52 characters long?

When I checked the backup of the wallet.dat file, I found out that I have somehow changed it in 2017, compromising the one of 2016.

An older wallet may or may not still contain funds, it depends on what else you did after making the backup.

I have made the backup in 2016 (of my encrypted wallet) and sent the funds to the receiving address.

Then, when I saw the funds are not arriving or at least not shown, I decided to click on the button: getting new "receiving address" or something similar.

After that I did manage to crash the Bitcoin Core wallet by ticking: running Port 8333 on every start of the Bitcoin Core wallet.

Well, as you might know from the post above, I did not manage to open my wallet from there, nor Port 8333 which left me a little confused and I decided to stop trying since , maybe you have guessed it, Im not the best with this kind of stuff.

From there on I was not able to access my wallet which could have helped to get at least my pub- and private key.  

In 2017 I decided to make another backup, compromising the last one...
 

[Jimbo201]

I guess the funds will be lost since I have created a new wallet.dat file over the old one.

[LoyceV]

I guess the funds will be lost since I have created a new wallet.dat file over the old one.

Before you give up, at least try to open the wallet.dat (all different versions you have!) in a fully synced Bitcoin Core.

[aleksej996]

I guess the funds will be lost since I have created a new wallet.dat file over the old one.

Yeah, your funds are definitely lost if you lost your wallet file.
I suggest you shutdown your computer right now and find some recovery tools to try to recover it from your disk.

[bob123]

I guess the funds will be lost since I have created a new wallet.dat file over the old one.

So.. you want to say that you have ignored our advises to create a backup ?

• Well, if you do make a backup of your wallet.dat, you can't destroy anything.
  

• As long as you keep several backups of wallet.dat, you would be fine and you can easily switch to another backup if you mess one up.
  

If you have really overwritten your wallet.dat, you are out of luck. And to be honestly, it is your own fault.

You should have followed our advises to create several backups + do what we had suggested to access your coins.

I imported the Keys directly into Electrum (standard wallet--> import private keys)

If you have imported the private keys, what is the problem then?
Any coins attached to these addresses would show up in electrum (at least if you have correctly imported then; Is the first char of your addresses identical with the ones from core ?)


Mind explaining what the problem is after importing the correct private keys ? Because, for me, it seems you have managed to export/import them properly.

[Jimbo201]

Hi!



Im glad to tell you that I have successfully restored my BTC wallet from a backup. 

Thank you all for your great support.

I have just synched my wallet (170gb of the chain at least) with the instructions you gave, I used an other computer to run it and... there it is!

very happy now!



Great thanks to all of you guys for the support!