Import a wallet to bitcoin-qt

[ingvar_e]

I have had an bitcoin-qt installation when I was on Canaria. I have the wallet on a server. I have another bitcoin-qt installed in Stockholm. I have the wallet from Canaria on my server. Can I import the "Canaria wallet" into my Stockholm Bitcoin installation? If so, how is it done?

[Rath_]

Can I import the "Canaria wallet" into my Stockholm Bitcoin installation? If so, how is it done?

Yes, copy the wallet file to the other server. If you are running a Linux server then your wallet file should be located in ~/.bitcoin/ by default. You might need to run bitcoin-qt with -rescan parameter after pasting the wallet file but it shouldn't be necessary in your case.

[HCP]

Do you simply want to use the "Canaria" wallet on the Stockholm install? or are you wanting to merge the wallets?

If you want to simply use the canaria wallet, and don't care about the Stockholm one... you can shutdown the Stockholm install, put the Canaria wallet.dat into the Stockholm data directory and then restart the Stockholm bitcoind... it will then use the new wallet.dat

If you're wanting to "merge" the data from Canaria with the data from Stockholm, things get a bit trickier. You can't have two seeds in one wallet... so if Canaria is an HD wallet, you can't take the seed and put it in the Stockholm wallet. At best, you could take all the currently generated private keys, export them... then import them into Stockholm wallet.

However that has some obvious downsides... for instance, if you then generate new private keys in Canaria wallet (by exhausting the 1000 address keypool), they will not be included in Stockholm wallet... you'd need to keep exporting new private keys from Canaria and importing to Stockholm. That can get very messy and easy to get wrong. Not to mention the security implications of moving unencrypted private keys around!

Bitcoin Core also supports using Multiple Wallets on a single install. The GUI has the "File -> Open Wallet" option... and/or you can specify wallets on the commandline using the "loadwallet" command with bitcoin-cli or "-wallet" commandline argument when starting bitcoind.

[ingvar_e]

Thank for the information. To be more specific. I just want to do a one time shot. I only want do a one way "import" of the Canaria "import" and then forget about the Canaria wallet. It was really a mistake to have separate wallets. So it is one shot.

[HCP]

Right, so you no longer wish to use the Stockholm wallet then?

In that case, make a backup of your Stockholm wallet (just save the wallet.dat file somewhere)... you never know when you may need that again. Then shutdown the Stockholm instance of Bitcoin Core. Copy/Paste the Canaria wallet.dat into the Stockholm data directory, overwriting the current wallet.dat... then restart Stockholm Bitcoin Core.

Both your Canaria and Stockholm servers will be using the same wallet.dat (will have same addresses/private keys and transaction history/balance etc)

[ingvar_e]

What I really want to do is to "import" the Canaria wallet into the Stockholm wallet and forget about the Canaria wallet

[nc50lc]

What I really want to do is to "import" the Canaria wallet into the Stockholm wallet and forget about the Canaria wallet

So you mean, put all the addresses of "Canaria" to "Stockholm" wallet?

To get the keys, you can use either use dumpwallet "filename" or dumpprivkey "address" (example/syntax) depending on the number of addresses you want to keep.

To "import", you have a choice to just import the funds or import the addresses.

• To import the funds (discard the addresses), you can just send all the funds to your Stockholm wallet (you don't even need to export anything but it involves a transaction).
  
• If you prefer to keep all of the addresses, use importwallet "filename" (example/syntax).
  
• If you prefer to keep some of the addresses, just use importprivkey "private_key";
  refer to the documentation (menu on the right side in the link above) for the syntax, but I suggest to add "false" except for the last prv key.

.
T;N: You won't be able to restore these imported addresses using the master private key (if you've exported it) or any old wallet.dat backups;
so make sure to make another backup after doing these steps.

[ingvar_e]

Excellent info, thanks. Questions:

 - importwallet "filename"  I assume that "filename" is the actual wallet   xxxx.dat or is it a dumpfile
 - Where do I specify the actual command?

Found how to specify the commands

[nc50lc]

- Where do I specify the actual command?

In the console tab (Help->Debug Window).

- importwallet "filename"  I assume that "filename" is the actual wallet   xxxx.dat

That's the "filename" that you specified in "dumpwallet" command.
The directory/path can be indicated as well depending on the location (read the documentation from the link above).

BTW, you need to unlock your wallet using walletpassphrase YOUR_PASSPHRASE 300 before proceeding (300 is the unlock duration in seconds).
Also, backup your current wallet.dat(s) before proceeding.

[ingvar_e]

Tried:

14:39:37

importwallet "C:\Users\Ingvar\Desktop\WalletsDesktop\DumpedWallets\UsersAdministratorDesktopWalletsDesktopDBitcoinBUwallet.dat"

Resonse:

Importing wallets is disabled when blocks are pruned (code -4)

Solution??

[ranochigo]

Tried:

14:39:37

importwallet "C:\Users\Ingvar\Desktop\WalletsDesktop\DumpedWallets\UsersAdministratorDesktopWalletsDesktopDBitcoinBUwallet.dat"

Resonse:

Importing wallets is disabled when blocks are pruned (code -4)

Solution??

It's a known limitation of pruned wallets. When the wallets are pruned, the client automatically deletes the blocks as it synchronizes. When a new wallet file is imported, the client is unable to determine the full transaction history of that specific wallet due to the deleted block files.

The only solution is to resynchronize the entire blockchain with your new wallet unfortunately.

[HCP]

Is someone post/merit farming? Or is this a case of a "hacked"/stolen wallet doing the rounds and newbies buying into a scam?

I tried to import a dumpfile from a local bitcoin instance to another new local  "virgin" instance. Got an error message:

Command: 
importwallet "C:\DumpedWallets\UsersAdministratorDesktopWalletsDesktopDBitcoinBUwallet.dat"

Response:
Importing wallets is disabled when blocks are pruned (code -4)

Tried:
14:39:37
importwallet "C:\Users\Ingvar\Desktop\WalletsDesktop\DumpedWallets\UsersAdministratorDesktopWalletsDesktopDBitcoinBUwallet.dat"

Resonse:
Importing wallets is disabled when blocks are pruned (code -4)

I find it VERY suspicious that two different users have the exact same, and very unique, wallet file name...