Need help with Electrum Error

[jedijackie]

I recently found an old wallet.dat file on an old pc i the saved file onto my newer laptop and downloaded electrum.  I transferred the file into electrum but now I keep getting a error pop up every time I load the wallet. Am I using the wrong software wallet, some help would be nice. Thanks.
I took a screenshot of the error and pasted the link below for anyone to see

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/lEyHbzn2pGw1cWuFczgSVWuFj3dzCMUfkhl8bMkJIAUvmzBlYXajZMUHGyJtcCPO-75j_jM-OCBk7H6vetj-QyR7KicTq2atULq2MuKKYg0kxMT_uNw_AOBubbtLlgDr65t30e7u8-k=w828-h460-no

[HCP]

If it's a "wallet.dat"... then it won't work with Electrum. "wallet.dat" is the wallet file naming convention used for Bitcoin Core wallets (and it's derivatives like Litecoin Core, Dogecoin Core, Bitcoin Knots etc).

You would need to download and install Bitcoin Core, place the "wallet.dat" you have in the Bitcoin Core data directory and then start it up and let it sync (this will require downloading 300+ gigs of blockchain data and will likely take hours if not days to complete).

Alternatively, you could just start Bitcoin Core, and instead of waiting for the sync, do a dumpwallet to get all the private keys contained within the wallet.dat and then import those keys into Electrum... and let it find the history/balance for them (that should take minutes at most)


If you're sure it is/was an Electrum wallet, then something looks very wrong, as it seems to think you have ~331,837 BTC

[nc50lc]

I took a screenshot of the error and pasted the link below for anyone to see

Is it encrypted?
If it isn't, just open a copy of the wallet file using a text editor and you should see the seed or a master private key.

Seed should look like this (just a sample, do not import, do not post yours either):

Code:

"seed": "like expose apple child wealth dog enough dress knee gun side damage",

Master private key looks like this:

Code:

"xprv": "xprv9s21ZrQH143K2zyhHG1QtJoRbFEmoRFavZPDpdZZcD3y5tCCAUJkUBKeEEMRnMiVYgWb9dJSRb................................................",

If it's encrypted and you know the passphrase, click on "Wallet->Seed", type your passphrase then the seed will be displayed.
Then create a new wallet "File->New/Restore", type a wallet name then click next, select "Standard wallet->I already have a seed".

It's recommended to do all of those while offline.-edit-
If any of the above didn't worked, try to import it to 'Electrum 1.8.1 portable' just to export the seed phrase since you'll only see string of characters as seed in the text file (for old wallet files).

Download 1.8.1 portable from here: https://download.electrum.org/ or go to https://electrum.org/#download and click "Previous releases".
Copy the wallet file in the same directory as the Electrum portable executable and rename it into electrum.dat.
Open Electrum 1.8.1, click "Wallet->Show->Seed", then import that to the latest version.

Lastly, even old Electrum wallets or even electrum.dat from electrum should open without issues to v3.3.8 (I've just tried it and it worked).
But the seed written in the wallet file won't be updated to mnemonics, you have to export it through console/GUI.

[pooya87]

I recently found an old wallet.dat file on an old pc i the saved file onto my newer laptop and downloaded electrum. 

are you sure this wallet file belongs to you (you created it)? and can you remember anything about what version of Electrum you used to create this? it could be one of the very old versions (<1.8 for instance) and downloading that particular version could solve your problem.
make sure to create a backup copy from the wallet file before you do anything with it.

If you're sure it is/was an Electrum wallet, then something looks very wrong, as it seems to think you have ~331,837 BTC

it may be imported addresses that for some crazy reason he is watching... although i am always suspicious when someone says "i found a wallet file", in 90% of cases they have bought a file containing some malware!

[jedijackie]

If it's a "wallet.dat"... then it won't work with Electrum. "wallet.dat" is the wallet file naming convention used for Bitcoin Core wallets (and it's derivatives like Litecoin Core, Dogecoin Core, Bitcoin Knots etc).

You would need to download and install Bitcoin Core, place the "wallet.dat" you have in the Bitcoin Core data directory and then start it up and let it sync (this will require downloading 300+ gigs of blockchain data and will likely take hours if not days to complete).

Alternatively, you could just start Bitcoin Core, and instead of waiting for the sync, do a dumpwallet to get all the private keys contained within the wallet.dat and then import those keys into Electrum... and let it find the history/balance for them (that should take minutes at most)


If you're sure it is/was an Electrum wallet, then something looks very wrong, as it seems to think you have ~331,837 BTC

Originally I was going to import the wallet.dat to bitcoin-core but I realized it was gonna take hours and maybe even a day to for it to sync and that’s when  I decided to give electrum a try, but I see that electrum uses the the wallet file naming "default_file" and not "wallet.dat" in fact I had to rename "wallet.dat"  file to "default_wallet" so it would hopefully work on electrum and it actually did until I got that error 😕, I’m assuming the wallet.dat was originally made from bitcoin-core.  Will I have to eventually sync bitcoin-core with the chain after I dumpkeys?

[pooya87]

Originally I was going to import the wallet.dat to bitcoin-core but I realized it was gonna take hours and maybe even a day to for it to sync and that’s when  I decided to give electrum a try, but I see that electrum uses the the wallet file naming "default_file" and not "wallet.dat" in fact I had to rename "wallet.dat"  file to "default_wallet" so it would hopefully work on electrum and it actually did until I got that error 😕, I’m assuming the wallet.dat was originally made from bitcoin-core.  Will I have to eventually sync bitcoin-core with the chain after I dumpkeys?

the name of the file does not matter, the content of the file matters. bitcoin core and Electrum encode their wallets in very different ways, and it has been like this from the start. you have to import the wallet in the same software you used to create that file. you can still import the file in core without syncing and dump your private keys and then import the keys individually in your Electrum.

.dat files are most commonly from bitcoin core however it could be from other software too, i also believe very old versions of Electrum used the same extension.

[jedijackie]

I don’t know what software was used to make the wallet file and I am not the creator of this file nor did i buy it online.  However the wallet file I imported to electrum contains bitcoin addresses with high spendable accounts.  I will screenshot and paste link for you all to see.

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipNpBm5KifY4_lF7RKHYa8Pz52gQjF9fBk5wSRmxJGcPIs1KtNqgQxXNy7Xwwcns6A?key=ZjJCc2tzR0VVMzJqSzNXRXVnOW5SMlJsRzZIaW53

[nc50lc]

Have you tried to export and import the seed to a new Electrum wallet just like the error suggests? Just like my post above.
Just do not post any seed, master private key or private key anywhere online and you'll have no problem.

Since it opened, that's (90% chance) from Electrum but contains corrupted or tampered data, you'll see the correct balance once the restored-from-seed wallet was synced.
FYI, it wont load to Electrum at all if it's from Bitcoin Core.

And oh almost forgot, try to spend some of your balance first.

[pooya87]

I am not the creator of this file

this is your problem. you are wasting your time on a random file that you came across which may even contain malware. from that list, it includes some of the popular "rich" addresses that can be found on the internet as a watch only wallet. https://bitinfocharts.com/top-100-richest-bitcoin-addresses.html

if i were you i would format my hard drives and re-install operating system because there is a very good chance that your system is now compromised.

[TryNinja]

Dude... you legit think you randomly found a wallet online with $3 billions worth of BTC?

Stop and think a bit. What are the odds that you just found one of BTC’s richests addresses like this?

[HCP]

@OP, good luck with whatever wallet file you think you have... if you paid money for it, you got scammed.

Look at me, I also have a wallet with 200,000+ BTC in it! :



It's very easy to do, you just need to edit the (unencrypted) wallet file, and add some high balance BTC addresses:



And then ignore the "wallet corruption" error :

[jedijackie]

@OP, good luck with whatever wallet file you think you have... if you paid money for it, you got scammed.

Look at me, I also have a wallet with 200,000+ BTC in it! :
https://i.imgur.com/u3tVoZK.png


It's very easy to do, you just need to edit the (unencrypted) wallet file, and add some high balance BTC addresses:
https://i.imgur.com/d3H2skQ.png


And then ignore the "wallet corruption" error :
https://i.imgur.com/beGToI3.png

Wow! Only makes me more curious, cause I didn’t spend a dime on this wallet file.

[nc50lc]

For the third time, just create a new wallet using that wallet's seed phrase (are you ignoring my posts above?).
So you can stop treasuring that wallet that you dug up somewhere if it turned out with zero balance - without those high-balance addresses in the addresses tab (View->Show Addresses)
Of course, there's always a chance that the owner of that wallet file really owned those addresses (fingers-crossed).

Note: You can create multiple wallets and it wont delete that previous one, you should also work with a copy of the original so it wont be updated by the client.

[Csmiami]

I don’t know what software was used to make the wallet file and I am not the creator of this file nor did i buy it online.  However the wallet file I imported to electrum contains bitcoin addresses with high spendable accounts.  I will screenshot and paste link for you all to see.

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipNpBm5KifY4_lF7RKHYa8Pz52gQjF9fBk5wSRmxJGcPIs1KtNqgQxXNy7Xwwcns6A?key=ZjJCc2tzR0VVMzJqSzNXRXVnOW5SMlJsRzZIaW53

For the looks of this screenshot, the file is not password-protected. That means that he should be able to see the seed by just clicking the icon, without needing to open the wallet file with a text editor. Then, with that same seed, create a new wallet and import the seed. Whatever you see in that new wallet, is the real balance of the wallet you have found.

[BitMaxz]

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipNpBm5KifY4_lF7RKHYa8Pz52gQjF9fBk5wSRmxJGcPIs1KtNqgQxXNy7Xwwcns6A?key=ZjJCc2tzR0VVMzJqSzNXRXVnOW5SMlJsRzZIaW53

How did you get this big amount of BTC?
The wallet looks suspicious to me.
And the weird thing is you have the wallet.dat this wallet shouldn't work on Electrum it's because the wallet file of Electrum doesn't have ".dat" file.

Wow! Only makes me more curious, cause I didn’t spend a dime on this wallet file.

Your lucky that you didn't spend but I'm curious how did you get that wallet?

Is it the wallet.dat file from pastebin.com? There are many wallet posted there with balances (Fake balance).

[Lucius]

How did you get this big amount of BTC?

You ask question which is asked few times, and OP is just say "I recently found an old wallet.dat file on an old pc ". Obviously the OP doesn't remember how he get that file, maybe the PC isn't really his, or he served us a false story.

And the weird thing is you have the wallet.dat this wallet shouldn't work on Electrum it's because the wallet file of Electrum doesn't have ".dat" file.

You ask again, but why not read previous posts? It is possible that the old versions of Electrum had wallet.dat

.dat files are most commonly from bitcoin core however it could be from other software too, i also believe very old versions of Electrum used the same extension.

[pooya87]

i was remembering correctly, for future reference Electrum clients before version 1.9.x used to create a .dat file as their wallet and the name was simply "electrum.dat" and that file was stored at the root directory where Electrum executable itself is located. then from version 2.0 things change to "default_wallet" type files and they move to a separate folder called "wallets".
this is how it is handled today for backward compatibility's sake:
https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum/blob/38980a4f5cdccd3816bc0130c8471104fa805aab/electrum/simple_config.py#L276-L279