Electrum 4.0.2 imported wallet from Bitcoin Core, cannot send BTC cannot get key

[Lexx2k]

Hello everyone.

I managed to get seems like unseen before issue in my Electrum wallet.

Originally wallet was made by importing keys from Bitcoin core, exactly keys not watch only Addresses. I received some coins to that Electrum wallet. Which i suppose created a new addreses and public keys, or just addresses derived from electrum everytime i generated new address. I suppose watch only cannot generate those and has a warning everytime software is launched.
So there is no Seed phrases, or any other ways to recover except send funds out, or get private keys.
The biggest problem is, when i try to send BTC to someone else, sign and broadcast buttons are both greyed out, so i cannot send BTC. Since i cannot sign or confirm it. Console payto gives me bunch of gibberish numbers, i suppose encrypted transaction info and it seems like it's not going trough also.
 I tried to export private keys, and i get Electrum crashing with bug report KeyError. Also when i try to recover Private key for each specific address i got paid to, i get key error showing my public key from console. Basically i am stuck in a dead circle of being unable to do anything with my funds.
I didn't back up older version wallet as i didn't expect to have this issue with electrum. I can see my funds, receive BTC and import keys, but there is no way i can get my funds out of Electrum at the moment. Currently i have version 4.0.2. Also i trie dto create new wallet to test, from that wallet i can export keys and see private keys.
I know the problem is easily solved if i had Electrum standart wallet. But mine happened to be imported. Is there any way to dig out private keys and export them to core, except the console and gui functions? I tried Windows and Apple machines always get same error and unable to get private keys.

I dug out some keys from wallet itself when its unpassworded and imported them to Bitcoin core. But i doubt that keys was used for transactions.

Another question is, since i made this wallet using Bitcoin core private keys, will i be able to see coins received from electrum new addresses generated?

Thanks to everyone for input i really have run out of ides of what to do.

[NeuroticFish]

Originally wallet was made by importing keys from Bitcoin core, exactly keys not watch only Addresses. I received some coins to that Electrum wallet. Which i suppose created a new addreses and public keys, or just addresses derived from electrum everytime i generated new address. I suppose watch only cannot generate those and has a warning everytime software is launched.

No. If you indeed imported a list of private keys Electrum will (should) not create new addresses, it will use only the addresses for which you have the private keys.
Also you didn't receive any coins into the wallet. The wallet - any wallet - doesn't hold coins, only handle private keys (or addresses if watch-only imported, but you said it's not the case). You've just seen the coins from the "network", coins sent to some of the addresses the wallet is looking after.

I've tried your story on testnet with Electrum 4.0.1 - imported a private key to a new wallet and made a transaction from the new wallet. It went beautifully.
I don't know what the problem can be at your side. I feel that something strange may have happened with your wallet file, or maybe you did sweep a wallet instead of importing, which is something else, ...

What I can suggest as a lucky guess, clearly backup the wallet file (probably called default_wallet) , copy it separately and try multiple older Electrum versions (maybe portable) 4.0.1, 3.3.8, maybe one would handle it better.

Edit: forgot the link for older versions: https://download.electrum.org/

[Lexx2k]

Unfortunately, wallets is not backward compatible.
If i used wallet in 4.0.2 it cannot be used on older version anymore... Thats the main problem. I imported wallets on version who knows how old, almost a year ago, probably 3.3.6

So basically i should be able to see transactions on the original Bitcoin core wallet for received coins through Electrum with imported keys wallet? I am still trying to finish downloading the whole blockchain.
If so i can stop freaking out.

[jackg]

I think the funds should be in core when it syncs.

Electrum won't make any new addresses once you've imported your own afaik. There mightve been a mixup with address types or something.

The keys are compatible and if the wallet isn't encrypted then, unless the file has become corrupted, your keys should be in plain text in there...

[Abdussamad]

if you have the private keys in bitcoin core you can just use that. or you can create a new electrum wallet with those keys:

https://bitcoinelectrum.com/importing-your-private-keys-into-electrum/

[Lexx2k]

I think the funds should be in core when it syncs.

Electrum won't make any new addresses once you've imported your own afaik. There mightve been a mixup with address types or something.

The keys are compatible and if the wallet isn't encrypted then, unless the file has become corrupted, your keys should be in plain text in there...

The problem is not funds in core that i had there before i imported. But funds that i received on that electrum wallet after importing. Since addresses was generated by electrum.

I am going to slice both new created and old wallets open and see the difference in versions, probably can hand fix it. of course i will experiment only on backups.

[Lexx2k]

Just as update, importing private keys to fresh Electrum wallet does not show funds received by electrum.

But in old electrum wallet they show and show as confirmed and available...

Really not sure what is going on, only can tell after another 150gb download of blockchain.

[BitMaxz]

Just as update, importing private keys to fresh Electrum wallet does not show funds received by electrum.

But in old electrum wallet they show and show as confirmed and available...

Really not sure what is going on, only can tell after another 150gb download of blockchain.

Can you check the Electrum if you have the same address after you import the private keys. If it shows the same address after you import maybe the latest version of Electrum is not online or not connected to the internet.

Check the circle at the bottom right if it shows the same as this image below.



If not click that and try to find other servers or if it set to manual try to check "select server automatically" then test it again.

Can you paste the address here from the old Electrum? So that we can check if the balance still there

[Lexx2k]

The new wallet i made only uses imported private keys addresses. But old version of Electrum seems like generated fake ones to receive that dont belong to me. Or at least somehow they look completely not same as on Bitcoin core.


Could it be that someone has planted a lot of fake addresses to my Electrum, so the generated addresses do not belong to private keys? Can the Bitcoin Core public key be different for same wallet's different private keys?
The strange thing is there is like a 100 of receiving addresses a lot of them with 0 transactions. Obviously i do not have so many private keys for so many addresses. All the transactions received is unspent, so i doubt it was stolen. But the problem is i cannot get private keys from any than 5 i originally imported. I tried to find anything about this kind of attack or hack in the past on electrum, but it just doesn't match.

Basically Electrum generated bitcoin receive addresses previously that obviously do not look like Bitcoin Core addresses keys i imported. And no one had access to PC except me, it was offline most of the time. Hard disconnected internet and no wifi cards on it. It just looks like it made up random addresses for receiving with different public keys.

[HCP]

The new wallet i made only uses imported private keys addresses. But old version of Electrum seems like generated fake ones to receive that dont belong to me. Or at least somehow they look completely not same as on Bitcoin core.

Electrum doesn't generate anything if you are importing private keys. When you say they look "completely not same" can you please provide specific examples? Does Bitcoin Core look like "bc1xxx..." etc... and the ones in Electrum look like "1xxx..." That is to say, the Bitcoin core ones start with "bc1" and Electrum starts with "1"?

Could it be that someone has planted a lot of fake addresses to my Electrum, so the generated addresses do not belong to private keys?

It honestly sounds like you have downloaded a fake version of Electrum or something... but the fact that the funds are still showing as "unspent" also indicates that they haven't been "stolen"

]Can the Bitcoin Core public key be different for same wallet's different private keys?

yes... depending on how you import the private keys... If you just import the "WIF" key that was exported from Bitcoin Core, Electrum will default to "P2PKH"... which generates legacy addresses that start with a "1".

As per the Electrum import info prompt:

WIF keys are typed in Electrum, based on script type.

A few examples:
p2pkh:KxZcY47uGp9a...          -> 1DckmggQM...
p2wpkh-p2sh:KxZcY47uGp9a...    -> 3NhNeZQXF...
p2wpkh:KxZcY47uGp9a...         -> bc1q3fjfk...

So... did your addresses in Bitcoin Core start with a "1", "3" or "bc1"?

[Lexx2k]

Bitcoin Core Some start with 1, some with 3 and some with bc1.
I guess i only imported ones that start with 1.
The electrum ones all start with 1

Basically original imported addresses in Core all started with 1, 5 keys, i imported them to electrum. Today i grabbed keys i could find in Electrum wallet file and imported them back to Core, that come out as 3's and bc1's.

From what i understand Electrum generated tonns of Legacy addresses from imported keys. They all start with 1.

What i mean by completely not same is - the new Wallet, when you import use exactly same address to recieve payment as on bitcoin core. The old wallet use address that is completely different but starts with 1 still. And that addresses public key is not same and cannot be checked from check private key. If Bitcoin core addresses start usual from 1 and have some letters, most of the Electrum addresses i got start from 129 - 126 - 114 etc in the begining of address

[HCP]

The old wallet use address that is completely different but starts with 1 still. And that addresses public key is not same and cannot be checked from check private key. If Bitcoin core addresses start usual from 1 and have some letters, most of the Electrum addresses i got start from 129 - 126 - 114 etc in the begining of address

If you only imported 5 keys, then you should only have 5 addresses in Electrum. If you have more than this, then it sounds like your wallet file might be corrupt?

Which addresses did you send the funds to? Do you still have these addresses in your Bitcoin Core?

[BitMaxz]

Bitcoin Core Some start with 1, some with 3 and some with bc1.
I guess i only imported ones that start with 1.
The electrum ones all start with 1

If you have different addresses 1,3 and bc1 I think much better to wait for Bitcoin core to be fully synced. After the Bitcoin core is completely synced, you can check what addresses have balance. Then, you can dump the private key using this command below.

Code:

dumpprivkey "The address with balance"

After exporting the private key, use that private key to import on the latest Electrum wallet you installed recently.


Electrum only generates tons of addresses if you created a new wallet with seed phrase, but since you are going to import a private key like the above said, you should only get one BTC address for one private key.

You can follow the right way how to import the private key to Electrum from here https://bitcoinelectrum.com/importing-your-private-keys-into-electrum/

Sample.

For P2SH-P2WPKH addresses add p2wpkh-p2sh: at the first before the private key.
as sample below

Code:

p2wpkh-p2sh:5BitcoinPrivateKeys

This should generate a p2wpkh-p2sh bitcoin address.

For P2WPKH addresses or called Bech32, starting with bc1
Add "p2wpkh:" at first before text before the private key.

Sample:

Code:

p2wpkh:5PrivateKeys

And then for P2PKH starting with 1
Add p2pkh: at the first before the private key.

Sample:

Code:

p2pkh:5privatekeys

Hope this helps...

[Lexx2k]

The old wallet use address that is completely different but starts with 1 still. And that addresses public key is not same and cannot be checked from check private key. If Bitcoin core addresses start usual from 1 and have some letters, most of the Electrum addresses i got start from 129 - 126 - 114 etc in the begining of address

If you only imported 5 keys, then you should only have 5 addresses in Electrum. If you have more than this, then it sounds like your wallet file might be corrupt?

Which addresses did you send the funds to? Do you still have these addresses in your Bitcoin Core?

The Funds still show available in full in my wallet, Electrum 4.0.2 which i got 100% from official download source. Nothing was ever spent from this wallet. All the receive addresses are still there in the wallet, the addresses that funds was received. None of it is spent. Neither can i sign any transaction to send them out. Either someone who was stealing them this way screwed up an i ended up with locked coins forever, or old Electrum version had serious bug where it created new addresses without seed for imported wallets.  Did old Electrum had option to import private keys to standard wallet? If so i might just imported keys on top of it and forgot that i had Seedpharse... But i doubt it's possible that i had standard wallet it says imported. Everytime i just used generated address by electrum before, from receive window. Had no idea they had to match exactly addresses for each given key in core...
I guess i see the funds because the addresses to receive and transactions is in the wallet but i don't have and cannot get keys for them, so if it's swapped addresses by someone else they also probably don't have that info anymore as they got what they want and deleted the evidence. Probably ended up with locked up funds forever to look at.

I cannot spent old funds either from Core that i am 100% sure i will see synced after core updated as i already see those. Even cannot sign transactions using this funds from electrum. So something is obviously screwed.

As for above how to import keys, i did that same way import only my keys. I also cannot understand why and how i got so many addresses in my wallet. Wallet was obviously created new a while ago and mostly stayed offline. In the end of 2019, i am not sure if that fake server attacks still existed.

[nc50lc]

Seems like you're not the only one who's getting that "Key Error" message;
This "send Crash Report" issue suspiciously looks like the same as yours: https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum/issues/6394
Try to find the private key from the wallet file itself, but that requires you to unencrypt the wallet.

First, disconnect from the internet or use an air-gap machine (do not share any "private" info):

• 1. Remove the password of your wallet in 'Wallet->Password' type your password and leave the new/confirm password fields empty.
• 2. Then find your wallet file in the Electrum data directory/wallets (or where your wallet is stored), and open it using a text editor.
• 3. Lastly, find "keystore" and below it, there should be "keypairs" where you can find the address after its private key.

If you found seed and master keys along with your imported addresses, there's really something wrong with your wallet file.

Have you also considered post #5?

[Lexx2k]

Seems like you're not the only one who's getting that "Key Error" message;
This "send Crash Report" issue suspiciously looks like the same as yours: https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum/issues/6394
Try to find the private key from the wallet file itself, but that requires you to unencrypt the wallet.

First, disconnect from the internet or use an air-gap machine (do not share any "private" info):

• 1. Remove the password of your wallet in 'Wallet->Password' type your password and leave the new/confirm password fields empty.
• 2. Then find your wallet file in the Electrum data directory/wallets (or where your wallet is stored), and open it using a text editor.
• 3. Lastly, find "keystore" and below it, there should be "keypairs" where you can find the address after its private key.

If you found seed and master keys along with your imported addresses, there's really something wrong with your wallet file.

Have you also considered post #5?

I already did extract Private keys from that wallet, they are not different from ones that i put in there before wit hexception, which is strange about 2 or 3 additional private keys i got when i returned keys to Bitcoin Core, one of them i cannot even get priv key from in my own wallet after import. I compared new wallet and old one, they are identical structure and code wise. I tried to manually reverse to 3.3.8 but it just aint working, guess the structure was not same, even tho it looks so similar after all it's just strings with info. Still waiting on Core to download blockchain. It's really not possible that my ancient 2 cents (over limit of minimal transaction) from new wallet also cannot sign and transfer. Even if problem was with connection i tried VPN result is same, sign and submit buttons are disabled.

I don't think imported wallet has master key, well even if it does i cannot extract it from Electrum i get error, i would try to punch it to Core. I guess it doesnt even have one as it's imported.

If i try to get key for most of addresses i get this
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "electrum\commands.py", line 188, in _run
  File "concurrent\futures\_base.py", line 435, in result
  File "concurrent\futures\_base.py", line 384, in __get_result
  File "electrum\commands.py", line 151, in func_wrapper
  File "electrum\commands.py", line 443, in getprivatekeys
  File "electrum\wallet.py", line 531, in export_private_key
  File "electrum\keystore.py", line 253, in get_private_key
  File "electrum\json_db.py", line 44, in wrapper
  File "electrum\json_db.py", line 129, in __getitem__
KeyError: 'various public keys'

If i try to get master key just says there is no such string as master key.

[Lexx2k]

Well i geuss seing funds doesnt mean they belong to me, only way i see this happen if there was planted in some way addresses or copy of Electrum that looked like electrum that generated someone elses addresses.
I did import same keys before to new electrum wallet and of course i cannot see any of that transactions. However as i mentioned before even new wallet unable to send transactions sign and boradcast are still disabled. Could that be because of the Bitcoin Block chain not fininshed downloading and i need to sign them from Bitcoin core? Or provide some confirmation on core itself. Don't know how this electrum works, if i cannot even send 100% funds that i own and can send from Core.

[Lexx2k]

I found old wallet installation file, it's downloaded 01.08.2019 and it definitely legit signed installation of Electrum. So it's not possible i got bad version that was fake or hacked.
Now the question is what happened and how. With mostly offline disconnected from internet PC.

[Abdussamad]

there was a wallet file corruption bug in previous versions. you may have been hit by that. i suggest starting over on a fresh PC. leave your current system untouched for reference purposes. restore from the private keys corresponding to addresses with unspent outputs (coins).

[Lexx2k]

there was a wallet file corruption bug in previous versions. you may have been hit by that. i suggest starting over on a fresh PC. leave your current system untouched for reference purposes. restore from the private keys corresponding to addresses with unspent outputs (coins).

The problem is as mentioned above. I have only select private keys, the Addresses that Electrum made from who knows where, i cannot get private keys for them due to KeyError in right clicl drop out and in console. So i am either arleady screwed by Electrum, that it bugged and failed to save Private keys for my received transaction, or this new addresses belong to same Private keys, but i cannot see them in new Electrum wallet. So basically its a limbo. Now i am waiting to see if Bitcoin Core will show this. But i kind of really doubt that. It seems like either when i update Electrum or even long before that it was already bugged. Doesn't answer the main problem however, how to get my funds out of Electrum now... As i do not have private keys for receive transaction made in Electrum. I also checked wallet itself, it has only addresses i imported. So if i reach the Blockchain sync date that i received 1st payment to my side and i cannot see it. I have no idea what to do.

Is Addresses and Private keys created by electrum stored in Wallet? Or they are stored in some library or decrypted inside some file? Because if it's the wallet, only one that hold information i probably won't ever get them out, as keys is not there. Seems like older version, started generating new addresses for me, on imported wallet before. And of course since there is no new keys for imported wallet, probably new version just deleted them when converting, or they was never actually stored because of the same bug.