Trying to open wallet from 2013

I have a wallet.dat file from 2013 that I'm pretty sure is empty, but I'd like to try and get it open. I don't know where it came from, but I do have a 12 word seed phrase with it. I downloaded Bitcoin Core and synced 290GB or w/e it was entire blockchain. When I try to open it I get the following message. Any other ideas?

Yeah it's in prune mode, you'll have to redo the syncing process once more with the wallet imported...

This is a standard error imo.

The 12 words is probably a password, bitcoin core didn't come with mnemonics in 2013 or any year....

Quote from: jackg on March 12, 2020, 12:41:56 AM

How do I import the wallet? Is there an import option or do I just drop it in the Bitcoin Core folder?

Copy it to the datadir bitcoin core creates.

For Linux that'll be: ~/. Bitcoin
for Windows it'll be: %appdata%/roaming/bitcoin or %appdata%/local/bitcoin

If you haven't configured your own.

Quote from: kryme on March 12, 2020, 12:37:31 AM

I don't know where it came from, but I do have a 12 word seed phrase with it.

Very old versions of Electrum have a '.dat' extension to its wallet files, and ofc a seed phrase.
Specifically v1.8.1 from 2013.

Have you tried to open a copy of the wallet file using a text editor?
If it's Electrum, there should be readable data because the whole wallet file wasn't encrypted back then.

If you can read "addr_history" and bunch of addresses, then it must be Electrum.
Just restore your seed to the latest version from the official site: https://electrum.org/#download

Quote from: nc50lc on March 12, 2020, 04:09:34 AM

are you sure those wallet files are readable because usually .dat files are used for when you store data as binary not plain text which means opening it with a text editor should technically show you random looking weird characters instead of a readable text.

Quote from: pooya87 on March 12, 2020, 04:18:20 AM

Quote from: nc50lc on March 12, 2020, 04:09:34 AM

I have both wallet.dat file (random gibberish when it's opened in notepad) and then a notepad file called Bitcoin that looks like a 12 word seed. Both dated 12/24/2013 I'm currently resyncing Bitcoin Core and should know when I wake up what the deal is. I don't remember where these files came from. I briefly CPU/GPU mined in 2013 and didn't get back into crypto until 2016. I doubt there's anything on it. If I remember correctly I ended up mining like .0003 but I feel like I was part of a pool that had a web wallet but I honestly don't remember lol. I used to use my work PCs to CPU mine

Quote from: pooya87 on March 12, 2020, 04:18:20 AM

Try to download v1.8.1 and open the "electrum.dat" or "any_name.dat" file that it created.
Even provided with a password, it will just encrypt the seed but will leave everything "readable".

Quote from: kryme on March 12, 2020, 04:24:03 AM

I have both wallet.dat file (random gibberish when it's opened in notepad) and then a notepad file called Bitcoin that looks like a 12 word seed. Both dated 12/24/2013

Then it isn't Electrum's wallet file.
Also, there's a chance that the 12-word seed isn't connected to that wallet file since Bitcoin Core didn't used seed phrase ever.

Quote from: kryme on March 12, 2020, 04:24:03 AM

The wallet file is encrypted that is why it shows random character when opening it to notepad.

Have you heard about the Multibit wallet it might be generated from a multibit wallet so try to check that wallet to recover your old wallet?

- https://multibit.org/help/hd0.1/restore-wallet.html

Quote from: BitMaxz on March 12, 2020, 10:24:39 PM

Quote from: kryme on March 12, 2020, 04:24:03 AM

Tried that. I don't think it's a seed phrase. I think it was a password I was required to use to encrypt a wallet. I feel like it was from a website generated wallet not Bitcoin core, but I don't know. Any chance there's a list of Bitcoin mining sites/wallet sites from 2013 anywhere? lol

Maybe that's a "Brainwallet", did it ring a bell?

It couldn't be a BIP39 seed if you're sure that it's from 2013 because it was just published on that year's last quarter (but there's a chance).
Did the words from that 12-word backup matched any of the words in this list: BIP39 Word-list?

Quote from: nc50lc on March 13, 2020, 01:53:49 AM

Nope - here is some of the words. ignoramus candlelight cashiered corporately. There's actually 17 total words now that I look at it.

Hmm...

Quote from: kryme on March 13, 2020, 02:08:54 AM

Nope - here is some of the words. ignoramus candlelight cashiered corporately. There's actually 17 total words now that I look at it.

mnemonic generators have always tried avoiding complicated words, past tense and adverbs (corporately) and generally words that could have more than one form and could be confusing. your words don't exist in any of the word lists which means there is a good chance it is a brain wallet.

ps. i couldn't find these set of words on GitHub or Google except in dictionary lists containing thousands of words (if it were mnemonic it should have been in a shorter 2048 word list in a project)

Quote from: pooya87 on March 13, 2020, 04:48:52 AM

Quote from: kryme on March 13, 2020, 02:08:54 AM

Nope - here is some of the words. ignoramus candlelight cashiered corporately. There's actually 17 total words now that I look at it.

Hmm. Resynced and now it's stuck at "rescanning" (well sat like this for about 45 minutes so far) when I try to open Bitcoin Core... don't have remote access to my home PC at work so I'll have to look into it further later tonight. Maybe it's not even a Bitcoin wallet? No idea at this point lol

Have a question about restoring old wallet. After gettng old wallet DAT file what is the next procedure cause I'm lost there and none of you guys said something about it.

Quote from: Myleschetty on March 13, 2020, 05:08:06 PM

Have a question about restoring old wallet. After gettng old wallet DAT file what is the next procedure cause I'm lost there and none of you guys said something about it.

Read post#4, you need to copy it to the data directory and rename the wallet file into "wallet.dat" (Bitcoin Core have to be shutdown before proceeding).
And Core should rescan when you launch it.

The default directories written there are simplified,
for Windows, %appdata% is in your hidden C:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming folder;
or just type %appdata% in the run menu (Win+R), the open "bitcoin".

I got it open with bitcoin core. Not sure what that 17 word thing is for. Wallet was empty as excepted lol

Quote from: kryme on March 14, 2020, 02:36:09 AM

I got it open with bitcoin core. Not sure what that 17 word thing is for. Wallet was empty as excepted lol

You might want to check if it's a brainwallet.

Just download brainwallet's source (site, the Github link is in the footer) and run it offline.
Paste your brainwallet and copy the results, check the address in a blockexplorer if it has any balance.

If there is, you can now import the private key to any Bitcoin wallet that you want.

But wait, is core not fully synced yet?

Quote from: kryme on March 13, 2020, 02:08:54 AM

here is some of the words. ignoramus candlelight cashiered corporately. There's actually 17 total words now that I look at it.

Maybe you had a 17 character password somewhere and you wrote it down as words? Either wallet password, either password for the mining pool?

Quote from: nc50lc on March 14, 2020, 02:20:49 AM

Quote from: Myleschetty on March 13, 2020, 05:08:06 PM

Have a question about restoring old wallet. After gettng old wallet DAT file what is the next procedure cause I'm lost there and none of you guys said something about it.

I guess i missunderstand the #4 post cause you said anything like restore the old wallet but i would like to know if the same process can be use for other BTC wallet (electrum).