Ledger Nano S usability questions

[bob123]

Now the main $64,000 question is which option do I select under repair your ledger device in ledger live app:

- Bootloader?
- MCU not genuine?
- Follow device repair instructions?

I fear if I select the wrong option I may really brick my device.

Do you have a problem with the Bootloader? Yes.
Is your MCU non-genuine? No.
Repair device? Maybe.

Choose yourself. You can not brick your nano s with the built-in functions from ledger live.

So far my experience with ledger hardware and software is not so good and this will not go down well with new crypto beginners coming into the crypto world and if there is truly to be world wide adoption of crypto where hardware wallets are like personal secure banks then this complex troubling experience has to go from hardware wallets 1st.

Well.. you are using an outdated OS which is not supported by ledger live.

The majority of people do not have a single problem with their nano s.

Do you finally have access to a windows 10 machine or linux or mac (something which is supported) ?
Or are you still trying to fix it using windows 7 ?

[1715143091]

1715143091

[very_452001]

After a over a month of tension I am glad to say I got it fixed now

In Linux virtual machine the ledger live app had a prompt on screen today to update app to version 1.9.1 in which I did 1st then afterwards the app automatically suggested repair on screen and I clicked on continue to repair and it was all sorted and fixed running latest 1.5.5 firmware now and during the whole update process the 24 word seed wasn't asked for as this is really inconvenient to enter word by word letter by letter.

Thanks for all your help and if I need further help I be sure to check back here.


Ok I remember when I bought the ledger nano s device couple of years ago it came with a pre-installed app called fido u2f. What is this app and shall I download it?

What other apps from ledger manager store that are not coin specific wallet apps? Like for example recovery check app is a tool not a wallet coin app.

Under device settings>security>passphrase> what are these 2 settings: set temporary and attach to a pin?


Ok... Im experiencing a new problem now and that is adding accounts in the ledger live app. I can add ethereum account but i'm not worried about ethereum account as I had 0 balance in that anyway however I worried about bitcoin as I can't seem to add btc account, the problem with the btc account is showing on my monitor it says connect and unlock your ledger device in which I do and get a tick then when it says navigate to the bitcoin app on your device in which i follow and do it goes back to the connect and unlock your ledger thing again which keeps spinning forever and nothing happens and cant access my bitcoins! I tried disconnecting usb and connect usb again but still same problem.

I have the latest versions of the apps.

Is there known bugs in the latest ledger live 1.9.1 in regards to btc app?

[moderator's note: consecutive posts merged]

[bob123]

Congratulations on successfully updating and repairing!

Ok I remember when I bought the ledger nano s device couple of years ago it came with a pre-installed app called fido u2f. What is this app and shall I download it?

This is an application for 2FA.

This basically is a hardware token (comparable to RSA secureID tokens).
This is way more secure than using a 2FA application on your mobile.

Whether or not you want to use it, depends on you.

What other apps from ledger manager store that are not coin specific wallet apps? Like for example recovery check app is a tool not a wallet coin app.

You can check this site for all available apps.
Scroll down to the bottom to see non-wallet applications.

One example would be OpenPGP (useful if you are using PGP).

Under device settings>security>passphrase> what are these 2 settings: set temporary and attach to a pin?

Attach to pin:
Will create a second 'ledger account'.
You then will be able to login either with your first or your second pin, each of those two generating a different set of private keys / addresses.

Temporary:
Creates a second 'ledger account' for just one session.
This is basically the same as above, just that the information are not stored on the nano s.
You will have to enter your passphrase each time you want to access this 'temporary account'.

Ok... Im experiencing a new problem now and that is adding accounts in the ledger live app. I can add ethereum account but i'm not worried about ethereum account as I had 0 balance in that anyway however I worried about bitcoin as I can't seem to add btc account, the problem with the btc account is showing on my monitor it says connect and unlock your ledger device in which I do and get a tick then when it says navigate to the bitcoin app on your device in which i follow and do it goes back to the connect and unlock your ledger thing again which keeps spinning forever and nothing happens and cant access my bitcoins! I tried disconnecting usb and connect usb again but still same problem.

I have the latest versions of the apps.

Is there known bugs in the latest ledger live 1.9.1 in regards to btc app?

In which OS ?
Your linux VM ?

Did you add the USB-filter "empty" to catch all USB devices ?

[Pmalek]

Ok I remember when I bought the ledger nano s device couple of years ago it came with a pre-installed app called fido u2f. What is this app and shall I download it?

Like bob123 said it is a 2FA application.
The user aundroid created a nice tutorial that explains how to use the FidoU2F App together with a Ledger device. If you are interested you can check his tutorial here:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5096882.0

[Lucius]

Ok... Im experiencing a new problem now and that is adding accounts in the ledger live app.

Only problem you have is Windows 7, and that you using linux on VM. That is why you will probably have such or similar problems if you continue to use Ledger Live.

You should remove all apps from Nano S, and then first install BTC app, this may fix that problem. If you only want to use BTC, download Electrum and use it with Nano S, this is the simplest solution. Also seriously think about updating to Windows 10, you will save yourself a lot of time and headaches with that hardware wallet.

[very_452001]

Congratulations on successfully updating and repairing!

Ok I remember when I bought the ledger nano s device couple of years ago it came with a pre-installed app called fido u2f. What is this app and shall I download it?

This is an application for 2FA.

This basically is a hardware token (comparable to RSA secureID tokens).
This is way more secure than using a 2FA application on your mobile.

Whether or not you want to use it, depends on you.

What other apps from ledger manager store that are not coin specific wallet apps? Like for example recovery check app is a tool not a wallet coin app.

You can check this site for all available apps.
Scroll down to the bottom to see non-wallet applications.

One example would be OpenPGP (useful if you are using PGP).

Under device settings>security>passphrase> what are these 2 settings: set temporary and attach to a pin?

Attach to pin:
Will create a second 'ledger account'.
You then will be able to login either with your first or your second pin, each of those two generating a different set of private keys / addresses.

Temporary:
Creates a second 'ledger account' for just one session.
This is basically the same as above, just that the information are not stored on the nano s.
You will have to enter your passphrase each time you want to access this 'temporary account'.

Ok... Im experiencing a new problem now and that is adding accounts in the ledger live app. I can add ethereum account but i'm not worried about ethereum account as I had 0 balance in that anyway however I worried about bitcoin as I can't seem to add btc account, the problem with the btc account is showing on my monitor it says connect and unlock your ledger device in which I do and get a tick then when it says navigate to the bitcoin app on your device in which i follow and do it goes back to the connect and unlock your ledger thing again which keeps spinning forever and nothing happens and cant access my bitcoins! I tried disconnecting usb and connect usb again but still same problem.

I have the latest versions of the apps.

Is there known bugs in the latest ledger live 1.9.1 in regards to btc app?

In which OS ?
Your linux VM ?

Did you add the USB-filter "empty" to catch all USB devices ?

Ok when you say passphrase do you mean the 24 word seed?

Which tool apps you recommend to download for a average user like me? Im kinda worried on how much storage does the device have to install all these apps.

Yeah its linux virtual machine and yeah i added the usb empty filter. What could the problem be?

[bob123]

Ok when you say passphrase do you mean the 24 word seed?

No. I always try to be as precisely as possible.

In my words:
Passphrase = A passphrase you can set (a password)
Mnemonic code = A seed encoded into 12/24 words
Seed = very long random number (rarely(!) also means the mnemonic code for easier understanding)

Which tool apps you recommend to download for a average user like me? Im kinda worried on how much storage does the device have to install all these apps.

This depends on what you are using.
If you want to install multiple non-wallet apps, you probably won't be able to have all installed at the same time.

But you can always just uninstall, install a different application, uninstall it and reinstall the first one.
The data will NOT get lost. It is always derived from your seed.

Yeah its linux virtual machine and yeah i added the usb empty filter. What could the problem be?

I currently don't have a clue, sorry.
The virtual machine itself might be a problem, i don't know.

I would also suggest to simply update to windows 10.
Windows 7 is outdated, way less secure and you should have stopped using it like 3 years ago.

If you don't want to upgrade to win10 - for whatever reason - your fallback option would be a bootable linux distro (or even a dualboot beside windows).
This definitely works, since it is like a standard linux install.
But it is way less convenient.. you'd have to reboot your machine each time and boot into your live distro.

[very_452001]

Ok i tried on a windows 10 computer and everything is working fine no problems.

Alright just to confirm linux virtual machine or windows 7 wont run smoothly with the ledger live app and you get problems such as usb connection issues etc.?

To get it work in linux I have to do a proper boot of linux not in virtual? I thought virtualbox linux virtual machine is like a proper linux with no difference between a proper bootable linux?

Is there anyway or tips or tricks I can do to get the linux virtual machine working like a proper linux?

[bob123]

Alright just to confirm linux virtual machine or windows 7 wont run smoothly with the ledger live app and you get problems such as usb connection issues etc.?

Windows 7 definitely doesn't, because it is not supported.

A linux virtual machine seems (at least in your case) to not work properly with the nano s.
You can't generally say that you WILL get usb connection issues with with your virtual machine. But since the OS on your VM is supported and your nano s is not broken, it seems like the VM is the point of failure.

To get it work in linux I have to do a proper boot of linux not in virtual? I thought virtualbox linux virtual machine is like a proper linux with no difference between a proper bootable linux?

Your linux in the VM is a proper linux.
But the host OS (your win7, but doesn't matter which OS) handles the 'forwarding' of the USB connection to the VM.

It is an encapsulated machine with interfaces being managed by your host OS.


A regularly installed linux would have direct access to the USB ports and therefore no 'middleman' which can mess up something.

Is there anyway or tips or tricks I can do to get the linux virtual machine working like a proper linux?

As mentioned, it is working like a real linux itself. The problem are the interfaces. Or more precisely: the management of the USB interfaces by your VM software / windows.

However, i believe it should work in a virtual machine.

Just to confirm, did you update the udev rules on your virtual machine ?
Check https://support.ledger.com/hc/en-us/articles/115005165269 under "Linux" on how to do this.

[very_452001]

Alright just to confirm linux virtual machine or windows 7 wont run smoothly with the ledger live app and you get problems such as usb connection issues etc.?

Windows 7 definitely doesn't, because it is not supported.

A linux virtual machine seems (at least in your case) to not work properly with the nano s.
You can't generally say that you WILL get usb connection issues with with your virtual machine. But since the OS on your VM is supported and your nano s is not broken, it seems like the VM is the point of failure.

To get it work in linux I have to do a proper boot of linux not in virtual? I thought virtualbox linux virtual machine is like a proper linux with no difference between a proper bootable linux?

Your linux in the VM is a proper linux.
But the host OS (your win7, but doesn't matter which OS) handles the 'forwarding' of the USB connection to the VM.

It is an encapsulated machine with interfaces being managed by your host OS.


A regularly installed linux would have direct access to the USB ports and therefore no 'middleman' which can mess up something.

Is there anyway or tips or tricks I can do to get the linux virtual machine working like a proper linux?

As mentioned, it is working like a real linux itself. The problem are the interfaces. Or more precisely: the management of the USB interfaces by your VM software / windows.

However, i believe it should work in a virtual machine.

Just to confirm, did you update the udev rules on your virtual machine ?
Check https://support.ledger.com/hc/en-us/articles/115005165269 under "Linux" on how to do this.

Im sure I did the udev rules thing otherwise how did I manage to update the nano s successfully via usb previously on linux virtual? Why is it that just the adding btc account/opening up the btc wallet doesn't work and everything else works on linux virtual?

[HCP]

Most likely because you're using the software and hardware in a way that it was never designed to be used... and, somewhat unsurprisingly, you're getting unexpected results. Like I mentioned a while back... trying to use USB devices with virtual machines can be problematic due to it essentially being a software emulation of a physical hardware interface.

Having said that, I am able to make it work on Ubuntu 16.04 VM, but running on a Windows 10 host. It could be something as random as a latency issue due to OS version or drivers etc preventing the process from working properly.

Have you tried opening Ledger Live, then connecting the Ledger Device, unlocking with PIN and then selecting Bitcoin app on the device BEFORE you select "add account" in Ledger Live?

[very_452001]

Most likely because you're using the software and hardware in a way that it was never designed to be used... and, somewhat unsurprisingly, you're getting unexpected results. Like I mentioned a while back... trying to use USB devices with virtual machines can be problematic due to it essentially being a software emulation of a physical hardware interface.

Having said that, I am able to make it work on Ubuntu 16.04 VM, but running on a Windows 10 host. It could be something as random as a latency issue due to OS version or drivers etc preventing the process from working properly.

Have you tried opening Ledger Live, then connecting the Ledger Device, unlocking with PIN and then selecting Bitcoin app on the device BEFORE you select "add account" in Ledger Live?

Yeah i tried that but still no success.

[HCP]

At this point then... I would suggest that your options are:

- Try a different Linux VM (Ubuntu 16.04 LTS seems to work OK for me, but like I said, I'm on Win10)
- Try running Ledger Live on Windows 7
- Try running Ledger Live on Windows 7 (Safe Mode + Networking)
- Upgrade to Windows 10
- Create a bootable Linux USB
- Try and troubleshoot the Linux VM

[bob123]

Having said that, I am able to make it work on Ubuntu 16.04 VM, but running on a Windows 10 host.

I can approve that.

I was able to run ledger live in combination with my nano s without problems using a manjaro VM on my arch host.
So, running the nano s inside a VM does indeed work.

Mint itself doesn't seem to be the problem either. It is working as expected on a regular mint install (non-VM).


Your best bet really would be to  upgrade to windows 10.
Is there even a single reason you want to stick to an outdated, unsecure OS ?

And i hope your argument is not that windows 10 is collecting tons of data. While this is true, it is still better than missing quite a lot (important) security features in your OS, isn't it ?

[delfastTions]

Ledger vulnerability: Is it time to look for a new hardware wallet?

In less than two weeks, Ledger has suffered a data breach and has a new vulnerability. The latter is a bug that allows the hacker to spend Bitcoins while the user spends altcoins. The vulnerability was exposed by Liquality developer Mohammed Nokhbeh who stated that the Ledger,
…presents misleading transaction confirmation requests indicating the selected apps addresses and amounts when in fact different transactions are being signed.
With the price of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies surging, the pre-bull run hype is starting to build up. With this hype comes attention and scammers arent far off. The new vulnerability puts the crypto wallet maker in a tough spot, especially with its close competitor Trezor right on Ledgers neck.
According to the post by Nokhbeh, this vulnerability affects the forks of bitcoin like Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Testnet Bitcoins, etc.

[dkbit98]

Ledger vulnerability: Is it time to look for a new hardware wallet?

In less than two weeks, Ledger has suffered a data breach and has a new vulnerability. The latter is a bug that allows the hacker to spend Bitcoins while the user spends altcoins. The vulnerability was exposed by Liquality developer Mohammed Nokhbeh who stated that the Ledger,
…presents misleading transaction confirmation requests indicating the selected apps addresses and amounts when in fact different transactions are being signed.
With the price of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies surging, the pre-bull run hype is starting to build up. With this hype comes attention and scammers arent far off. The new vulnerability puts the crypto wallet maker in a tough spot, especially with its close competitor Trezor right on Ledgers neck.
According to the post by Nokhbeh, this vulnerability affects the forks of bitcoin like Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Testnet Bitcoins, etc.

Seeing you are not doing this the first time...
If you just copy/paste text like this without using a single word of your own... you better quote it, or make some effort to write a word or two 

[HCP]

Seeing you are not doing this the first time...
If you just copy/paste text like this without using a single word of your own... you better quote it, or make some effort to write a word or two 

While not as super obvious as actually wrapping it in [ quote ] tags... at least they led with a direct link to the article that they've taken the text from. So, it's at least somewhat obvious where the text has come from.

[bob123]

While not as super obvious as actually wrapping it in [ quote ] tags... at least they led with a direct link to the article that they've taken the text from. So, it's at least somewhat obvious where the text has come from.

IMO this is quite misleading.

Quote tags would show how the whole post only consists of a single quote taken from a website. He didn't even write a single word on his own.
I wonder whether his sig campaign pays for something like that..