How do I set up my Electrum Wallet to Legacy?

[Thomas29]

I tried reinstalling my Electrum Wallet because I read that it needs to be set to Legacy which is the New "Standard Option" But I was only given that option to choose when making my Wallet when first Installing and now it is no longer giving Me an option to choose between Legacy and the Segwit Wallet thing when I Reinstalled Electrum Wallet on my Desktop.


  Do I need to use my Seed Code or some to Reset my Wallet... I am considering Buying a Ledger Nano S but if I can't get Electrum to work alone without a Ledger Nano S U.S.B. Hard-Drive Wallet I am worried that I won't be able to get the Ledger Nano S to work at all. Please help Me out in my desperately awkward situation. Luckily I only got like 11USD in my Electrum Wallet but when I try to use the receive Bitcoin Address it provides Me it won't work with Coinamam.com which I am using a Debit/Visa Card to Withdraw the Money.


  It seems I have no choice but to go back to using the damn stupid www.blockchain.com Wallet Account thingy, which I at least do have 2-Factor Authentication Enabled so.

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[Rayser]

Why Legacy instead of Segwit?

[jackg]

So you've gone to file>new>standard wallet>create new seed and it hasn't given you an option? Does it just give you a seed anyway or have you not said you already have a seed?

It should ask every time, mine does (or did).

[TryNinja]

Let me guess... "Coinamam" doesn't accept your address and it starts with bc1...? This happens a lot because many services still don't support the native Segwit format (bc1q...).
That's why there is the nested Segwit format (starting with 3) that you can use.

Do you have anything in this wallet right now? You could just restore your wallet by using your seed (Standard Wallet -> I already have a seed), but clicking "Options", selecting "BIP39", and in the next step select "p2sh-segwit (p2wpkh-p2sh)". This will create a wallet with addresses starting with a 3 (which are accepted anywhere).

Then, if you have anything in your first wallet (addresses bc1...), just send your coins to this new wallet you just generated (from the same seed but with the extra options).

P.S: Always write down your seed and keep it safe. That's what will guarantee you have your coins if anything happens.

[Chikito]

Choose already seed then import  into box.

If you have already private key before, Choose opsi 'import private key' on log
then import like this :

p2pkh:PRIVATE KEY

[jackg]

Choose already seed then import  into box.

If you have already private key before, Choose opsi 'import private key' on log
then import like this :

p2pkh:PRIVATE KEY

No!

Don't import private keys this is something that should be avoided unless it's the only way to do it (which it isn't).

[Thomas29]

I am trying to use my Electrum Wallet but it keeps saying my Receive Address is "Invalid" I read online using Legacy should fix this problem. I also have roughly 11USD and some Cents 0.00096806 to be exact in Bitcoin in the Wallet. I can't Send the Bitcoin since it says I don't have enough funds despite having the Bitcoin Fee Slider all the way to the left.


  I am ready to pull my hair out and cry I have been trying to get this stupid Electrum Wallet working for Days and Hours at a time wasting valuable time I don't have, like I haven't eaten anything today yet since I had to Call my Bank to unlock my Debit/Credit Card since it got Locked when it failed to have Coinmama.com Send Bitcoins to my Electrum Wallet.


  All I know is I was able to Send like 200USD roughly before my Electrum Wallet just stopped working... I don't want to go and Buy a Ledger Nano S

[Thomas29]

The method of transferring my 11USD and prob like 12USD is not an option with the Bitcoin Fees for Sending is through the moon right now. Believe it or not I REALLY needed that extra 11USD.

[TryNinja]

I am trying to use my Electrum Wallet but it keeps saying my Receive Address is "Invalid" I read online using Legacy should fix this problem. I also have roughly 11USD and some Cents 0.00096806 to be exact in Bitcoin in the Wallet. I can't Send the Bitcoin since it says I don't have enough funds despite having the Bitcoin Fee Slider all the way to the left.


  I am ready to pull my hair out and cry I have been trying to get this stupid Electrum Wallet working for Days and Hours at a time wasting valuable time I don't have, like I haven't eaten anything today yet since I had to Call my Bank to unlock my Debit/Credit Card since it got Locked when it failed to have Coinmama.com Send Bitcoins to my Electrum Wallet.


  All I know is I was able to Send like 200USD roughly before my Electrum Wallet just stopped working... I don't want to go and Buy a Ledger Nano S

To spend your coins... From my other post:

"Enable manual fees on Tools -> Preferences -> Edit fees manually. Then you will be able to see how much you're paying in fees and manually set how many sat/byte ("fees measure unit") you want to pay." - this way you will be able to set a fee lower than how much Electrum is setting in the slide "all the way to the left"

Keep in mind that by using a low fee, your tx may take some time to confirm.


After doing that to ge the coins out of the wallet, create a new wallet either Legacy or Nested Segwit (which is supported everywhere and addresses start with a 3) like I said above:

You could just restore your wallet by using your seed (Standard Wallet -> I already have a seed), but clicking "Options", selecting "BIP39", and in the next step select "p2sh-segwit (p2wpkh-p2sh)". This will create a wallet with addresses starting with a 3 (which are accepted anywhere).

Then, if you have anything in your first wallet (addresses bc1...), just send your coins to this new wallet you just generated (from the same seed but with the extra options).

P.S: Always write down your seed and keep it safe. That's what will guarantee you have your coins if anything happens.

[Thomas29]

Being completely new to Bitcoin and Electrum... I got no idea what that means but I am ready to just give up on Bitcoin like so many others. If I use my Seed Key than it makes it prone to a hacker seeing it and getting my Bitcoin from what I understand?

[Thomas29]

I am a bit desperate to make a Transaction of Bitcoin to another individual tonight and I don't know if I will make it in time. I figured out how to Edit the Fees but it says on the www.blockchain.com "Account Wallet or your preferred technical term for Calling it." but how much is is the smallest amount of Fee I can use without risking my Transaction from accidentally simply not Sending or like on Blockchain.com it went from 8 to 14 to 18 for the Minimum Fee to Send Bitcoin so it's all over the place right now.


  It also has a "regular and priority" which just says 60+ Minutes and 0-60 Minutes for Priority so?


  


  Okay so I figured out how to Edit the Fees for Electrum except I have No idea what to set them at can someone please help Me with this please? It says on the www.blockchain.com "Account Wallet or your preferred technical term for Calling it." but how much is is the smallest amount of Fee I can use without risking my Transaction from accidentally simply not Sending or like on Blockchain.com it went from 8 to 14 to 18 for the Minimum Fee to Send Bitcoin so it's all over the place right now.


  It also has a "regular and priority" which just says 60+ Minutes and 0-60 Minutes for Priority so?

[pooya87]

I am trying to use my Electrum Wallet but it keeps saying my Receive Address is "Invalid" I read online using Legacy should fix this problem.

if you have the latest version of Electrum and enter an address in its address field and it tells you it is "invalid" then it means it is "invalid"! changing your wallet type will not change a thing. try checking what is wrong with the address you are pasting in that text box.

how much is is the smallest amount of Fee I can use without risking ~

the smallest amount of fee you can use is 0
the smallest amount Electrum lets you use is 1 satoshi per byte
the smallest amount that you can use to have a high priority transaction (aka a tx that confirms in the next block) changes every second so there is no easy answer to this. the only thing you can do about it is to check the slider, change it to a number that says "Target 1.0 MB from tip" to have the smallest fee while the highest priority.

[HCP]

You can't "convert" your existing Electrum wallet from SegWit to Legacy, you would need to create a completely new wallet (File -> New\Restore -> Standard Wallet -> Create New Seed) and then specify the "Legacy" option when asked what seed type you want to use:


You would then need to send all funds from other wallets (old SegWit Electrum wallet, if it contains any funds... and your Coinmama wallet etc) to an address from your new Legacy wallet (address should start with a "1"). However, given the current price pump of BTC, and the related massive spike in unconfirmed transactions and fees, I would recommend NOT trying to transfer your $11 until it all settles down. A "low fee" transaction is going to get stuck for hours, if not days.

[Thomas29]

You can't "convert" your existing Electrum wallet from SegWit to Legacy, you would need to create a completely new wallet (File -> New\Restore -> Standard Wallet -> Create New Seed) and then specify the "Legacy" option when asked what seed type you want to use:


You would then need to send all funds from other wallets (old SegWit Electrum wallet, if it contains any funds... and your Coinmama wallet etc) to an address from your new Legacy wallet (address should start with a "1"). However, given the current price pump of BTC, and the related massive spike in unconfirmed transactions and fees, I would recommend NOT trying to transfer your $11 until it all settles down. A "low fee" transaction is going to get stuck for hours, if not days.

  Okay thank you that is what I thought I needed to do I kind of forgot I made this Thread. I am going to try this and report back and how will I know or how can I find out when the Fees for Sending Bitcoin Settle Down. Since I literally spend the Bitcoin right away I got like 11USD in my www.blockchain.com Account I am simply trying to get together in one Wallet so I can make a 20USD Payment it is ridiculously bad luck/bad chances that I am in this silly situation.

[Pmalek]

@Thomas29
I think I replied to you in a different thread you have somewhere concerning almost the same issue.

You can check this site for a recommended fee to get a relatively fast confirmation.
https://coinb.in/#fees

Use the below site to check the current status of the mempool and the amount of unconfirmed transactions. Pay attention to the third graph that shows the mempool size in MB. You can see that at the moment it's pretty big. Wait for it to empty.
https://jochen-hoenicke.de/queue/#0,1w

[GreatArkansas]

You can't "convert" your existing Electrum wallet from SegWit to Legacy, you would need to create a completely new wallet (File -> New\Restore -> Standard Wallet -> Create New Seed) and then specify the "Legacy" option when asked what seed type you want to use:
(.....)

Since I can't do it with SegWit to Legacy, I can't also do it if I want to convert my existing Electrum wallet to SegWit one from Legacy?
Since I tried it with the new version of the Electrum wallet for both SegWit and Legacy, it still won't work. Maybe it's on the latest version of Electrum which is not supported or it is really not allowed?

[HCP]

Electrum seeds have a "version" built into them.. so when you restore from seed, Electrum will automagically detect if it is Legacy or SegWit seed and then restore the wallet as such. There is no option to disable that behaviour.

Theoretically, you could use an Electrum seed in conjunction with the "BIP39" option to try and circumvent that behaviour, but that has the potential to cause a lot of problems later and is not at all advised.

If you want an Electrum "Legacy" wallet, then create it as a "Legacy" wallet. If you want an Electrum "SegWit" wallet, create it as a "SegWit" wallet. But I DO NOT recommend attempting to make an Electrum Legacy wallet using an Electrum SegWit seed (or vice versa).


If you want to use the same seed to create both Legacy and SegWit wallets... then I'd recommend using an actual BIP39 seed (generated by some other method like a native BIP39 wallet, the Ian Coleman Tool or hand generated following BIP39 standard etc). However, I still think that is a "Bad Idea"™

[DireWolfM14]

Theoretically, you could use an Electrum seed in conjunction with the "BIP39" option to try and circumvent that behaviour, but that has the potential to cause a lot of problems later and is not at all advised.
~
I DO NOT recommend attempting to make an Electrum Legacy wallet using an Electrum SegWit seed (or vice versa).

I'll admit I've done this.  I've used my bech32 hot-wallet seed to create a p2sh wallet for temporary use.  Why is doing so such a bad idea?

If you want to use the same seed to create both Legacy and SegWit wallets... then I'd recommend using an actual BIP39 seed (generated by some other method like a native BIP39 wallet, the Ian Coleman Tool or hand generated following BIP39 standard etc). However, I still think that is a "Bad Idea"™

And, is this a bad idea for the same reasons?

[HCP]

I'll admit I've done this.  I've used my bech32 hot-wallet seed to create a p2sh wallet for temporary use.  Why is doing so such a bad idea?

Unless you know what you're doing and/or make some good notes regarding what you've done, doing "non-standard" things, "hacks" and/or "tricks" can come back to bite you in the arse in the future.

What happens should Electrum no longer support BIP39 next release and make changes so that older versions can't be used? You're then stuck with an (non-BIP39) Electrum seed that you can't use in Electrum to find your P2SH wallet... And won't be recognised as valid by BIP39 wallets!

While the chances of that happening are relatively small (non-existent) today... Who knows what will happen in a year... Or 5... When your computer dies and you need to recover wallets etc.

If you want to use the same seed to create both Legacy and SegWit wallets... then I'd recommend using an actual BIP39 seed (generated by some other method like a native BIP39 wallet, the Ian Coleman Tool or hand generated following BIP39 standard etc). However, I still think that is a "Bad Idea"™

And, is this a bad idea for the same reasons?

No, it's not bad for the same reason... At least this way, you have a BIP39 seed... So should be able to recover using any BIP39 wallet that supports SegWit and possibly custom derivation paths etc.

This setup is mostly a bad idea because generating seeds external to the wallet has the potential to compromise the wallet unless proper precautions are taken.

If you're comfortable with it all and happy with your OpSec then it's not that big of a deal... I just wouldn't be recommending it to newbies or as a "proper" way to do things.