I need help restore my wallet.dat

[owenzane]

I need help, I have 0.19 bitcoin in my bitcoin core wallet stored over a year ago. I just reopened bitcoin core today after a year or so, after syncing the blockchain for a while it closed with an error code. and the error code won't go away and I can't open my bitcoin core. So I deleted the whole thing with all the data. Last year I copy and pasted my wallet.dat file to somewhere safe. I still have the old wallet.dat file without the name changed or anything it's only like a little over 150kb which is weird. I have installed a new version of bitcoin core. I copied the wallet.dat file (that has bitcoin on it) I have to the newly installed bitcoin core. Is my bitcoin still gonna be there? I wouldn't know since I haven't sync the blockchain, it takes 250 gb to sync it and I don't have the space so I'm buying a usb hard drive first but I'm really worried if my bitcoin is all gone.

[wwzsocki]

...Is my bitcoin still gonna be there?... I haven't sync the blockchain...I'm really worried if my bitcoin is all gone...

Bitcoins are still there don't worry. Seems like there is no other way for you as to wait for the new wallet to synchronize fully. Then you will be able to see the actual amount and to send BTC.
If you have your BTC address (in the Core wallet navigate to: transactions - receiving address) you can easily check the balance using and explorer like https://www.blockchain.com/explorer.

I had a similar situation some time ago when I found an old BTC Core dat.wallet file. I was able to send BTC without syncing fully.
I was afraid that I will lose my BTC because I haven't checked it and sent my BTC before the wallet was fully synced. Luckily the transaction was accepted and transferred with no problems.

I would advise you to search for tutorials on how to sync the Bitcoin Core wallet with bootstrap.dat files. If this is possible then you will sync a lot faster and maybe don't need so much space.
If I find something useful I will post links here later on.

UPDATE
I just found this very nice tutorial with screens:
https://support.bitpay.com/hc/en-us/articles/115002990903-How-can-I-recover-funds-from-a-Bitcoin-Core-wallet-dat-file-without-having-the-entire-blockchain-downloaded-

You don't need to sync the Bitcoin Core wallet at all. Just follow the tutorial and you should recover your BTC quite fast. I hope this will help you further.

[jackg]

Whne you open your client, look in the bottom right and see if it has the HD logo at the bottom? If not there might be a problem in recovering your funds, also if there is and you added a password (after the backup) there might also be an issue recovering your funds. If you still have the old hard drive there are ways to restore the wallet file from that if it hasn't been overwritten but it'll probably be better to wait for it to sync to see if the funds are there.

(Ignore the part above about batch files, it's much faster to sync directly now for almost all cases).

[owenzane]

Whne you open your client, look in the bottom right and see if it has the HD logo at the bottom? If not there might be a problem in recovering your funds, also if there is and you added a password (after the backup) there might also be an issue recovering your funds. If you still have the old hard drive there are ways to restore the wallet file from that if it hasn't been overwritten but it'll probably be better to wait for it to sync to see if the funds are there.

(Ignore the part above about batch files, it's much faster to sync directly now for almost all cases).

I copied the wallet.dat file to an email last year, the file is only around 160 kb

the hd logo is on the bitcoin core I just installed, but the screen says 0 btc even after I pasted my old wallet.dat to the folder, seems like I have to sync it first to find out, I don't remember if I added a password(very unlikely)

I'll sync it tomorrow and probably will find out in 5 days whether it's there, if there is a faster way to retrieve the fund let me know though

[Stedsm]

Whne you open your client, look in the bottom right and see if it has the HD logo at the bottom? If not there might be a problem in recovering your funds, also if there is and you added a password (after the backup) there might also be an issue recovering your funds. If you still have the old hard drive there are ways to restore the wallet file from that if it hasn't been overwritten but it'll probably be better to wait for it to sync to see if the funds are there.

(Ignore the part above about batch files, it's much faster to sync directly now for almost all cases).

I copied the wallet.dat file to an email last year, the file is only around 160 kb

Just for your awareness, please don't save these important things like your wallet.dat file over an email or cloud, you'll have full vulnerability of losing your BTC by getting your email hacked and wallet.dat file extracted as well as BTC stolen.

the hd logo is on the bitcoin core I just installed, but the screen says 0 btc even after I pasted my old wallet.dat to the folder, seems like I have to sync it first to find out, I don't remember if I added a password(very unlikely)

I'll sync it tomorrow and probably will find out in 5 days whether it's there, if there is a faster way to retrieve the fund let me know though

You'll have to sync it till the time of Blockchain when you stored them in that wallet and you're fine to check whether they're still there or not. Don't worry, they won't be gone if they're untouched and your email was fine during this whole year. To my knowledge, if your wallet is syncing then I believe you didn't set a password because it asks you one if you've put it and you're using an old password-protected wallet.dat file.

On a side note, don't you remember the address on which you had your coins? It's simple to check whether they're still there or not by visiting the BTC Blockchain explorer here - https://www.blockchain.com/explorer and check with the address.

[BitMaxz]

If the wallet.dat is not corrupted your Bitcoin is there but if the wallet.dat is corrupted goodbye BTC.

You shouldn't delete any bitcoin-qt files from your wallet if you having some error you must report it here or to someone who knows about bitcoin core wallet so that they can help you fix the error.

250gb blockchain takes days or months to be fully synced and it depends on internet speed and your PC specs.

Do you remember your bitcoin address with balanced? If yes you can check it directly to blockchain.com if your BTC still there if not check your BTC addresses tab and check the address one by one on blockchain to find your bitcoin address with balance.


To find the addresses go to file then receiving addresses the same as the image below.

[jackg]

the hd logo is on the bitcoin core I just installed, but the screen says 0 btc even after I pasted my old wallet.dat to the folder, seems like I have to sync it first to find out, I don't remember if I added a password(very unlikely)

Yay!

Like what has been said, unless stuff is encrypted with a STRONG 16-20 character password then it may be compromised and you should try moving your bitcoins elsewhere if you have another computer or can use another wallet.

(If the coins have survived there for a year, don't rush this step - you might end up regretting rushing it - it isn't a matter of urgency if the funds haven't already been moved so wait for when you can take a look and check things through and check you're doing it right but you should take no longer than a week to move the coins)

[owenzane]

Whne you open your client, look in the bottom right and see if it has the HD logo at the bottom? If not there might be a problem in recovering your funds, also if there is and you added a password (after the backup) there might also be an issue recovering your funds. If you still have the old hard drive there are ways to restore the wallet file from that if it hasn't been overwritten but it'll probably be better to wait for it to sync to see if the funds are there.

(Ignore the part above about batch files, it's much faster to sync directly now for almost all cases).

I copied the wallet.dat file to an email last year, the file is only around 160 kb

Just for your awareness, please don't save these important things like your wallet.dat file over an email or cloud, you'll have full vulnerability of losing your BTC by getting your email hacked and wallet.dat file extracted as well as BTC stolen.

the hd logo is on the bitcoin core I just installed, but the screen says 0 btc even after I pasted my old wallet.dat to the folder, seems like I have to sync it first to find out, I don't remember if I added a password(very unlikely)

I'll sync it tomorrow and probably will find out in 5 days whether it's there, if there is a faster way to retrieve the fund let me know though

You'll have to sync it till the time of Blockchain when you stored them in that wallet and you're fine to check whether they're still there or not. Don't worry, they won't be gone if they're untouched and your email was fine during this whole year. To my knowledge, if your wallet is syncing then I believe you didn't set a password because it asks you one if you've put it and you're using an old password-protected wallet.dat file.

On a side note, don't you remember the address on which you had your coins? It's simple to check whether they're still there or not by visiting the BTC Blockchain explorer here - https://www.blockchain.com/explorer and check with the address.

I copied and pasted the addresses from "transactions" on my bitcoin core to that site, the final balance says 0...

there are no receiving addresses under "file" btw

[wwzsocki]

...I copied and pasted the addresses from "transactions" on my bitcoin core to that site, the final balance says 0...

This is not good because it means that this wallet address is empty. Bitcoins don't disappear and there are only three possibilities now.

You have spent them by yourself and forget about it, somebody hacked dat.file and transferred Bitcoins, this is the wrong address.

The only way to check this now is to sync fully the new installation of Bitcoin Core wallet with the old dat.file and look in the transactions history to find out what really happened.

TBH it should be visible on explorer how the BTC were moved in and out from the address if you have the correct one of course.

[owenzane]

...I copied and pasted the addresses from "transactions" on my bitcoin core to that site, the final balance says 0...

This is not good because it means that this wallet address is empty. Bitcoins don't disappear and there are only three possibilities now.

You have spent them by yourself and forget about it, somebody hacked dat.file and transferred Bitcoins, this is the wrong address.

The only way to check this now is to sync fully the new installation of Bitcoin Core wallet with the old dat.file and look in the transactions history to find out what really happened.

TBH it should be visible on explorer how the BTC were moved in and out from the address if you have the correct one of course.

I have transaction history in my new bitcoin core right now, the last transaction was my transaction from last year, The addresses I pasted were receiving addresses from each transactions. It might not be the correct addresses though, Idk if I imported my wallet.dat correctly in the first place

also before I deleted my old bitcoin core the balance was correct (maybe it's because it's not updated)

[wwzsocki]

... if I imported my wallet.dat correctly in the first place

This should be easy to check if this dat.file is the correct old one because there should be a creation date in the original folder.

It should be matching the time you created this broken wallet or at least the last backup if I understand it correctly.

Do you have this error message from the broken Core wallet in the first place? I think we should start from this.

[owenzane]

... if I imported my wallet.dat correctly in the first place

This should be easy to check if this dat.file is the correct old one because there should be a creation date.

It should be matching the time you created this broken wallet or at least the last backup if I understand it correctly.

Do you have this error message from the broken Core wallet in the first place? I think we should start from this.

after rescanning the creation date is today

the last transaction I have is sending bitcoin from bitcoin core, so the last address from transaction is a sending address

which means the last receiving address is a spent transaction

[owenzane]

this is giving me nightmare sigh, I hope it's not hacked, because I dunno everything else in my life is safe now....

[nc50lc]

I copied and pasted the addresses from "transactions" on my bitcoin core to that site, the final balance says 0...

there are no receiving addresses under "file" btw

There's a high chance that you've copied an address from an old "sending transaction" or a spent "receiving transaction" that will likely result with 0 balance;
Bitcoin core always give you a different address each time you successfully receive bitcoins.

I have transaction history in my new bitcoin core right now, the last transaction was my transaction from last year, The addresses I pasted were receiving addresses from each transactions. It might not be the correct addresses though, Idk if I imported my wallet.dat correctly in the first place
-snip-

Was it fully synced?
If not, it's not yet updated to the latest transaction history.

[jackg]

Yeah just wait for a full sync. You probably used a lot of bitcoin addresses if you send transactions.

Bitcoin has a way of sending to a new address every time because it makes it more private... Just wait for the sync.
if the address had history and all that was received was equal to all that was sent minus some then it makes sense. Feel free to pm me thst address and I'll take a look at it.

[Stedsm]

this is giving me nightmare sigh, I hope it's not hacked, because I dunno everything else in my life is safe now....

Did you get all your transactions restored (as in display sense) till the last date you left your wallet on? If yes and if it's showing 0, then either your file is not the original old wallet.dat (maybe you've had different wallet like more than one and you copied the wrong file, maybe) or they're gone completely. Can you share that last receiving address you've had your BTC on? Or simply check if there were any transactions made on that address and if so, where did they go? To my understanding, blockchain shows you everything. Sigh.

[Lucius]

this is giving me nightmare sigh, I hope it's not hacked, because I dunno everything else in my life is safe now....

Since your last transaction is a year ago, there is no need to wait full sync to see your balance, he was supposed to be shown in moment when you download block which include your last transaction.

Fact that you store wallet file on your e-mail and that you do not remember is it or not password protected may be a problem. First problem is that your e-mail was maybe hacked, and if that file is not password protected it was a easy money for hacker. Second problem may be in lost / forgotten password, even if you see coins on your balance.

There is quick way around, you can dump all private keys from your wallet and then import them to some other wallet. But be sure that your PC is clean from malware, since this procedure will extract all private keys in unencrypted text file.

After that you can download Electrum from this link only : https://electrum.org/#home and import private keys / master private key.

I am not using BitcoinCore, so I am not sure has something changed from 2017 regarding dumpwallet command, but you can see how to do it on this links:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2065149.0
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2047201.0

[wwzsocki]

How is it OP? Problem is already solved? Is your new wallet finally fully synchronized with the BTC network?

Let us know if you were able to recover your funds from this corrupted Bitcoin Core wallet.

[vkclassic]

You don't need to sync 250 gb bitcoin chain data. If your bitcoin core normaly opens with your old wallet.dat just export your address and Private Key. Then install other wallet (Electrum for example) and import your Private Key to see balance and use your bitcoins  

[Stedsm]

You don't need to sync 250 gb bitcoin chain data. If your bitcoin core normaly opens with your old wallet.dat just export your address and Private Key. Then install other wallet (Electrum for example) and import your Private Key to see balance and use your bitcoins  

I guess, even for that, he needs to download it at least till the timeline where he left using his wallet, i.e.; last year. This is what we've been yelling over here but OP seems to have probably resolved the issue maybe that's why they are not responding. The problem maybe, he doesn't really know the exact final address where he stored his coins?