how to use 6 years old wallet.dat ?

[davisss]

Hi guys,

i hope you can give me a short advise. Many years ago i have done some mining and i saved my wallet.dat from official bitcoin client at this time.
Now there was some forks and splits etc. and i want to make sure i mess nothing up.

Some years after i mined bitcoin, i just could download the official wallet, install it, copy my wallet in and it was imported.

Is this still the case if i donload the official wallet ? And what is the official wallet ? Here i see only IOS/Android: https://www.bitcoin.com/wallet/

Questions over questions, i hope somebody knows.

thanks in advance
Davisss

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[ABCbits]

There aren't any official wallet because Bitcoin is decentralized. Beware with bitcoin.com because they often mislead user to use Bitcoin Cash rather than Bitcoin.

In this case, you're using Bitcoin-Qt or Bitcoin Core & what you should do is download Bitcoin Core from https://bitcoin.org/en/bitcoin-core/, install it and move your wallet.dat to directory/folder path where you store blockchain files.

[coolcoinz]

I agree, you should follow the advice above. AFAIK it doesn't matter how old is the dat file, it should be recognized by a new core client.
You don't have to download blockchain and wait for the wallet to update, which can take many days. Just follow these steps to transfer your private keys to a light wallet like Electrum and you should be ready to send coins in less than an hour.

[yogg]

Yes, Bitcoin Core is backwards compatible.
Meaning that you may not be able to use the newest address format in the old versions of Bitcoin Core, but you can use the old files with the newer version of Bitcoin Core.

Good luck with all this ! Downloading the blockchain may take some time.

If you want, send me your files and I can redeem your BTC to any address of your choice for a 1% fee  
Of course this will be done in a more formal way
If you're interested, send me a PM or feel free to get in touch with me on Telegram (@yogg1)
I will not reach out to your first.

[NeuroticFish]

Here i see only IOS/Android: https://[commercial website]/wallet/

That's because you are looking in the wrong place.
The official website is http://bitcoin.org so you just go to https://bitcoin.org/en/choose-your-wallet and get the "Bitcoin Core" wallet.

As said, it's backward compatible, but to avoid surprises, keep a backup too, OK?



Edit: if you don't want to download the entire blockchain you can just get the private keys of the addresses with coins and put them into a light wallet (Electrum or others), although the Core wallet should be easier and better choice (if you have patience, internet and ~200 GB HDD space).

[keychainX]

Hi guys,

i hope you can give me a short advise. Many years ago i have done some mining and i saved my wallet.dat from official bitcoin client at this time.
Now there was some forks and splits etc. and i want to make sure i mess nothing up.

Some years after i mined bitcoin, i just could download the official wallet, install it, copy my wallet in and it was imported.

Is this still the case if i donload the official wallet ? And what is the official wallet ? Here i see only IOS/Android: https://www.bitcoin.com/wallet/

Questions over questions, i hope somebody knows.

thanks in advance
Davisss

There is no official wallet. Best way is you export your keys , check balance and use electrum wallet . If you use the bitcoin core wallet it might take a long time before you sync.

Run this tool to view and export your keys https://github.com/jackjack-jj/pywallet

Check balances https://www.blockchain.com/explorer

import keys to this wallet https://electrum.org

/KX

[DaCryptoRaccoon]

Yes, Bitcoin Core is backwards compatible.
Meaning that you may not be able to use the newest address format in the old versions of Bitcoin Core, but you can use the old files with the newer version of Bitcoin Core.

Good luck with all this ! Downloading the blockchain may take some time.

If you want, send me your files and I can redeem your BTC to any address of your choice for a 1% fee  
Of course this will be done in a more formal way
If you're interested, send me a PM or feel free to get in touch with me on Telegram (@yogg1)
I will not reach out to your first.

DO NOT DO THIS NEVER SEND ANYONE YOUR WALLET.DAT FILE
This member has given bad advice to you under no reason should you send anyone on here your wallet.dat file chances are they will steal your coins.

[yogg]

DO NOT DO THIS NEVER SEND ANYONE YOUR WALLET.DAT FILE
This member has given bad advice to you under no reason should you send anyone on here your wallet.dat file chances are they will steal your coins.

Yes, usually you should be very very weary when someone tells you to send your keys to him.
However in this case, this is not a bad advice. I am simply offering my service to someone less familiar than me with this.

Everybody should always do their due diligence. You can check my escrow thread here and take a look at my Trust feedbacks.
If there's 0.01BTC, 1BTC, 10BTC, etc... in that wallet, it is all the same to me : not my money.

If OP is interested, we can reach an agreement and establish a secure trade.
This is why I said if he wants to do it, then he contact me first here with a PM or by Telegram, because I will never contact him first to prevent impersonators.

Good luck and stay safe !

[davisss]

Thanks a lot guys for all your help and to direct me into the right direction for importing my old wallet.
And thanks for the warning not to sent my stuff to others.
May you all live in interesting times :-)

PS I looked for a thanks-button to show appreciation, but havent seen one.

[DaCryptoRaccoon]

Thanks a lot guys for all your help and to direct me into the right direction for importing my old wallet.
And thanks for the warning not to sent my stuff to others.
May you all live in interesting times :-)

PS I looked for a thanks-button to show appreciation, but havent seen one.

Here they are called merits and you earn them for good post's and helping others.
You probably do not have any to send at this time but keep posting good questions or help others and your merit will grow.

I just gave you your first merit.