Problem with synchronising

[TeePee]

Hello,

Have not used my Electrum wallet for about half a year now and just started using it again by trying to receive a payment now. However, the wallet keeps on synchronizing and I know this probably is because I have a too old Electum version (3.2.3). I know upgrading to the newest version will most likely fix the synchronizing problem, but before I do so I would like to ask the following: will my receiving addresses change after the upgrade?

I ask this because I already have a payment on the way to the current receiving address belonging to my 3.2.3 Electrum wallet.

[TryNinja]

Update your Electrum to the latest version.
Versions older than < 3.3 don’t synchronize anymore.

Your addresses (and everything else) will be the same. But make sure you wrote down your backup seed anyways.

P.S: be careful with the phishing websites! Always double check the URL.

[nc50lc]

Just make a copy of your current wallet file in case of a wallet corruption (very very slim chance).
You can find it inside the %appdata% folder "Electrum/wallets" by default; otherwise, you can always recover via SEED.

If you're using the stand-alone executable version, it's as simple as "download and open" like there's nothing happened.

[djhomeschool]

Open your old Electrum version and click on "Wallet -> Seed", enter your password and copy the seed to a txt file (do NOT save it, just keep the txt file open). Close your old Electrum version.

Download the latest Electrum version at https://electrum.org/#download (ONLY from this url), if you want you can verify the signature by following these steps: https://bitcoinelectrum.com/how-to-verify-your-electrum-download/

If you used the setup version Electrum will open your old wallet and you can use it as it was and close the txt file with the seed, standard location for the wallet files is C:\Users\YourPCUserName\AppData\Roaming\Electrum\wallets -> Replace "YourPCUserName"

If you used the portable or stand alone version continue with next steps.

Open the new Electrum version you just downloaded, when prompted select "I already have a seed" and copy/paste the seed from the txt file into the field and click "Next", enter a password to protect your wallet and click "Next" again.

Now you should have the latest Electrum version with the same addresses.

If it all went ok, close the txt file with the seed and you are done.

Hope this helps.

PS: It is best to NOT save the seed on your device, best is to print it out and keep it at a safe location.

[Pmalek]

To expend on what TryNinja was saying. DO NOT click on any links within Electrum itself when downloading a new update. Older versions were able to display a fake message asking users to download a new update. These are phishing links that will result in you downloading a fake wallet and ultimately having your bitcoins stolen.

Always download from the official site only and verify the signatures of your download!

[o_e_l_e_o]

Open your old Electrum version and click on "Wallet -> Seed", enter your password and copy the seed to a txt file (do NOT save it, just keep the txt file open). Close your old Electrum version.

I would be very careful with this step. Having your seed stored on your computer in plain text, even if only for a few minutes, puts you at an unnecessary risk of having it stolen by malware, keyloggers, screen capturers, etc.

You should already have your mnemonic phrase written down and stored somewhere safe. If you don't then you should open your wallet on an air-gapped device (a device which does not have and will never have an internet connection), and have it display the mnemonic phrase for you to copy down on to paper. Never save it electronically and never use a printer to print it out.

[Lucius]

I would be very careful with this step. Having your seed stored on your computer in plain text, even if only for a few minutes, puts you at an unnecessary risk of having it stolen by malware, keyloggers, screen capturers, etc.

This is a risk which is present for every user of desktop or mobile wallet, seed is at one point shown to the user and in time user is write it down, this sensitive information may come into the wrong hands. This will only happen if the user's device is already infected with some bad thing, but it can happen at any time if user is dealing with seed in any risky manner.

Air-gapped device is good way to create wallet since seed will never be exposed online, and we can make watch-only wallet for online device without seed. An even simpler way to protect seed is hardware wallet, it is only shown on device and it is always protected by device Secure Element.