Electrum 3.3.8 Not Connected

[vifyunidre]

Hello, as soon as I open my wallet it says "Not Connected" and a red dot bottom right.
I don't use any proxy, electrum is set to: "Select server automatically"

Electrum says Not Connected, also it's not connected to any nodes.

A few months ago the same electrum/wallet worked just fine.



For testing purpose I installed a virtualmachine on the same computer, added electrum there and it works. But on my main OS it doesn't.
My main OS is Windows 10 x64



I reinstalled Electrum a dozen times, even used uninstaller softwares. Same thing.

I think something is blocking my connection to electrum, maybe? What do you think?

[Rath_]

I think something is blocking my connection to electrum, maybe? What do you think?

Try disabling your firewall and any anti-virus software you have. You can also try connecting to some server manually (although Electrum should change servers on each startup). Click on the red dot in the bottom-right corner, select 'Server' tab, untick 'Select server automatically', right-click on any server on the list and select 'Use as server'.

[vifyunidre]

I think something is blocking my connection to electrum, maybe? What do you think?

Try disabling your firewall and any anti-virus software you have. You can also try connecting to some server manually (although Electrum should change servers on each startup). Click on the red dot in the bottom-right corner, select 'Server' tab, untick 'Select server automatically', right-click on any server on the list and select 'Use as server'.

Firewall is completely disabled, I don't use any antivirus.

No matter what server I use, it is not working.

[Lucius]

vifyunidre, so it is working on same PC with virtualmachine on same internet connection, but it is not working on Windows 10? Since everything worked on the same configuration a few months ago, something apparently happened in the meantime, assuming your firewall is turned off and you don't have any active antivirus protection. If you have your own seed (12 words), have you perhaps tried a clean installation that involves deleting the Electrum folder with all files?

Are you sure you are selecting the server correctly manually -> https://bitcoinelectrum.com/how-to-switch-to-a-different-electrum-server/

[Rath_]

If you have your own seed (12 words), have you perhaps tried a clean installation that involves deleting the Electrum folder with all files?

This might actually help. Instead of recovering you wallet, you can copy the wallet file. Press WIN + R and enter %appdata% . You should see 'Electrum' folder inside which there should be 'wallets' folder. Copy it to your desktop, uninstall Electrum and make sure that 'Electrum' folder in %appdata% is gone. If not, delete it as long as you have copied your wallet. Don't forget to put 'wallets' folder back there once you reinstall Electrum.

[vifyunidre]

vifyunidre, so it is working on same PC with virtualmachine on same internet connection, but it is not working on Windows 10? Since everything worked on the same configuration a few months ago, something apparently happened in the meantime, assuming your firewall is turned off and you don't have any active antivirus protection. If you have your own seed (12 words), have you perhaps tried a clean installation that involves deleting the Electrum folder with all files?

Are you sure you are selecting the server correctly manually -> https://bitcoinelectrum.com/how-to-switch-to-a-different-electrum-server/

Yeah, it seems I am correctly selecting the servers. Tried it with 20 servers, none of them worked apparently.

That's correct, I did try a clean installation of electrum countless of times. Even used some softwares that force uninstalls and deletes and remaining hidden folders or files.

I saved the seed and deleted the wallet. Restored it using the seed, nothing.

Created new wallet, new seed, same thing

I can't seem to find a solution rather than wiping the whole PC and install a fresh Windows.

[Lucius]

Windows 10 is known for a lot of weird problems, maybe some of the updates you've received in recent months are the cause. But it's really hard to determine, so you should check everything on the firewall/router/ISP route based on this GitHub similar problem.

Please try with a Tor proxy on Windows.
Download and run the Tor Browser.
While Tor Browser is running, click orb in Electrum, go to Proxy tab, and check Use Tor proxy at port ... try this server: fortress.qtornado.com:443

if it works, also try fortress.qtornado.com:50002
(same server reachable on both ports)

If only 443 works, then high outgoing ports are blocked by your firewall/router/ISP.

Or you can try installing the mobile version of Electrum and check if something is wrong with your router or ISP. But be sure that you download only from Electrum site, and that your phone is not infected with malware.

[vifyunidre]

Windows 10 is known for a lot of weird problems, maybe some of the updates you've received in recent months are the cause. But it's really hard to determine, so you should check everything on the firewall/router/ISP route based on this GitHub similar problem.

Please try with a Tor proxy on Windows.
Download and run the Tor Browser.
While Tor Browser is running, click orb in Electrum, go to Proxy tab, and check Use Tor proxy at port ... try this server: fortress.qtornado.com:443

if it works, also try fortress.qtornado.com:50002
(same server reachable on both ports)

If only 443 works, then high outgoing ports are blocked by your firewall/router/ISP.

Or you can try installing the mobile version of Electrum and check if something is wrong with your router or ISP. But be sure that you download only from Electrum site, and that your phone is not infected with malware.

It worked!! Thank you!

As soon as I ticked "Use Tor Proxy..." it worked immediatly.

I didn't even have to check other servers, because using "Select server automatically" was enough.

Why is it possible that I connect using Tor but not with my own internet connection? Even though using it in a virtualbox/machine works fine (same ip)

[BitMaxz]

It worked!! Thank you!

As soon as I ticked "Use Tor Proxy..." it worked immediatly.

I didn't even have to check other servers, because using "Select server automatically" was enough.

Why is it possible that I connect using Tor but not with my own internet connection? Even though using it in a virtualbox/machine works fine (same ip)

Your PC might have closed/blocked ports that Electrum servers usually connected. Try to disable the "Use Tor Proxy" again then change the DNS to 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4.
You can find it on control panel> Network and Internet>Network and Sharing Center>Change adapter settings> Right-click the ethernet(or any adapter that connected to the internet)>Then choose "Properties"

Under properties find this "Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)" then properties.
It looks like this



Click the “Use the following DNS server addresses:” then put the 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 on "Alternate DNS server".

If this still doesn't work try to find those blocked ports by follow the guide from here "How to see if Windows Firewall is blocking a port or program" then try to disable them it should be work if there is no blocked ports in your Windows 10 PC.


If the above still doesn't work try to reset the whole internet settings from your PC and disable the proxy settings under internet settings.

You can follow the guide from here "FIX: Unable to Connect to proxy server in Windows 10" only follow the two methods under "Internet options" and "Disable Proxy"

[vifyunidre]

It worked!! Thank you!

As soon as I ticked "Use Tor Proxy..." it worked immediatly.

I didn't even have to check other servers, because using "Select server automatically" was enough.

Why is it possible that I connect using Tor but not with my own internet connection? Even though using it in a virtualbox/machine works fine (same ip)

Your PC might have closed/blocked ports that Electrum servers usually connected. Try to disable the "Use Tor Proxy" again then change the DNS to 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4.
You can find it on control panel> Network and Internet>Network and Sharing Center>Change adapter settings> Right-click the ethernet(or any adapter that connected to the internet)>Then choose "Properties"

Under properties find this "Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)" then properties.
It looks like this

https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/update-dns-settings-windows-10-step7.jpg

Click the “Use the following DNS server addresses:” then put the 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 on "Alternate DNS server".

If this still doesn't work try to find those blocked ports by follow the guide from here "How to see if Windows Firewall is blocking a port or program" then try to disable them it should be work if there is no blocked ports in your Windows 10 PC.


If the above still doesn't work try to reset the whole internet settings from your PC and disable the proxy settings under internet settings.

You can follow the guide from here "FIX: Unable to Connect to proxy server in Windows 10" only follow the two methods under "Internet options" and "Disable Proxy"

Changing the DNS to 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4. worked, thank you very much!

It now connects to nodes immediatly, without using Tor.

Are there any drawbacks if I keep my IPV4 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4. on my main OS? Any security concerns?


It's very weird that using an electrum inside a virtualmachine, using the same ip works great, but using it in my main OS gives me so many problems.

Can I find what's blocking the connection to electrum in the first place?

[HCP]

If changing the DNS worked, it might be your ISP/Router DNS blocking the electrum servers?

What were the default DNS settings in your Virtual Machine where Electrum worked OK?

[nc50lc]

Are there any drawbacks if I keep my IPV4 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4. on my main OS? Any security concerns?

You're letting our Google overlord sniff the websites that you're visiting, your location and ISP data (those are google's DNS servers).
Other than that, there's no major concerns; if you're using Chrome, then nothing's changed when it comes with privacy really.

[joniboini]

Alternatively, you can use VPN if your ISP still blocks the network connection. Of course not every VPN is good, some of them also sniff your data, so choose wisely. Don't believe in 'free VPN'.

[bob123]

Are there any drawbacks if I keep my IPV4 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4. on my main OS? Any security concerns?

Security-wise? No.
Privacy-wise? Maybe. This depends on your country, ISP and who you trust more (Your ISP and government or google).

You're letting our Google overlord sniff the websites that you're visiting

Simple DNS is not encrypted. Everyone can sniff the data. Not only the DNS server knows which site you are interested in, but every other person between you and the DNS server who is interested.
Google is already supporting DNS over TLS. In this case only google knows which domains you are interested in. Whether the DNS server from your ISP supports DoT is completely dependent on them.

[Lucius]

It's very weird that using an electrum inside a virtualmachine, using the same ip works great, but using it in my main OS gives me so many problems.

I can't say from my own experience, but if you use a virtual machine you also seem to get a virtual IP address which explains why Electrum is blocked when you use your main OS.

Do virtual machines have different IP addresses? Yes, They have different virtual IP addresses as each of the VM's have a virtual NIC which does hardware virtualization and uses the underlying Physical NIC to send packets.
 They can use the network in the following ways :
1) Use the internal network which is set up by the VM Manager to communicate between the VM's and the Host OS.
In this way, VM's can't send packets outside the Host to the network.
2) Directly interface VM's packets to the external network along with the Host OS's packets.
If there are 2 VM's and a Host OS, then the network will see that there are 3 hosts connected, but actually they are using the same NIC to send packets with different Virtual NIC's and Virtual IP's.

Can I find what's blocking the connection to electrum in the first place?

As I stated in my previous post, the problem was detected when you managed to make a connection via Tor, which as the main culprits in this case clearly points to your internet service provider. As far as I remember, there were already similar cases and mostly it was about users from Russia, so if by any chance you are from there you know what it's about. Luckily you have a few solutions that solve your problem, using Tor, changing DNS or VPN.

The option is to send an official inquiry to your ISP regarding the blocking of certain content, maybe they can explain to you why there was a change compared to a few months ago.

[bob123]

I can't say from my own experience, but if you use a virtual machine you also seem to get a virtual IP address which explains why Electrum is blocked when you use your main OS.

The global IP is still the same (if using IPv4; and with IPv6 the whole block would have been censored).
You might only get a different internal IP. If the censoring is done outside of your own network, this can't explain it.
This might be an explanation if there is some network internal firewall dropping packages from his specific internal IP, but has nothing to do with the DNS or his ISP.

[vifyunidre]

Well, according to whatismyipaddress, the host and the virtualmachine have the same exact IP address. Electrum on vm works, but not on main OS.

Since I have no antivirus or firewall, my theory is I may have a program running in the background blocking electrum servers?

Because Electrum is running fine inside a VM under the same IP address as the host, I suspect it is not ISP provider doing this. Also, I live in Europe, no problem with censorship or anything like that. Not Russia.


Update:
I just found out that if I leave Electrum running in the background for more than 5-10 minutes, it will eventually connect to a server or two.
Weird thing is that it only connects to ip format servers, for example 104.244.222.2281 ; 167.172.42.31 ; etc.

Of course, if I use Tor or change DNS to 8.8.8.8 it will connect to 10 nodes in a matter of seconds. Including DNS servers like 0.electrumx.ggez.win or electrum.bitkoins.nl

[bob123]

Weird thing is that it only connects to ip format servers, for example 104.244.222.2281 ; 167.172.42.31 ; etc.

Of course, if I use Tor or change DNS to 8.8.8.8 it will connect to 10 nodes in a matter of seconds. Including DNS servers like 0.electrumx.ggez.win or electrum.bitkoins.nl

Since you actively changed the DNS server you are querying, it might be worth to check which one is set as the default one.
You should find that in the settings of your router. If no default is set, it should be the DNS server of your ISP. But maybe there is a different server predefined ?

Do you administrate your network? Or someone else?

[BitMaxz]

~snip~

Well, for me the only suspected blocking your ports of 50002 is only the windows defender/firewall even you turn it off if you didn't manually disable block to these 50002 ports or any Electrum servers usually connected you will still experience no connection to your Electrum wallet.

If you have some VPN much better disable them it might be running on the background without notification.

Try this Windows+R then type msconfig or go to task manager and check the startup tab and disable all program then change the DNS to default again and restart. Let see if it will work...
It looks like this




Another alternative DNS for Google DNS is Cloudflare DNS 1.1.1.1 and 1.0.0.1 but there are many websites are blocked with this DNS like porn sites.


Actually, there's no problem with using Google public DNS unless if you have something to hide in your PC?

[HCP]

Update:
I just found out that if I leave Electrum running in the background for more than 5-10 minutes, it will eventually connect to a server or two.
Weird thing is that it only connects to ip format servers, for example 104.244.222.2281 ; 167.172.42.31 ; etc.

Of course, if I use Tor or change DNS to 8.8.8.8 it will connect to 10 nodes in a matter of seconds. Including DNS servers like 0.electrumx.ggez.win or electrum.bitkoins.nl

What was your DNS server set to before you changed it? Was it set to your router or your ISP? If it was your router, it's possible that your router's DNS service has "crashed" and needs a restart.

What is the DNS setting on the VM that "just works"?