Balance: 0 after private key import

[marcinpl87]

I installed Electrum (from .org website  ) and after installation I selected private key import, I typed my private key and I clicked on "Next" button, but Balance is "0", history is empty, only in "Addresses" tab I see one address and when i right-click on it and select "Private key" I see my private key.

Server status icon in bottom right corner is green and I tried to connect to different servers but I still don't see my coins.

Is it possible to manually synchronize my wallet with network to see balance and history?

[jackg]

Do you know if its your address you see in the addresses tab?

I'm thinking it's likely you've imported the wrong type of address.

According to the link I'll put at the bottom of the screen you might want to add lines of:
p2pkh:private key
p2wpkh-p2sh:private key
p2wpkh:private key

And see if this improves anything once it connects.

https://btcleak.com/2020/06/13/import-all-private-keys-in-electrum-the-right-way/

[NeuroticFish]

I installed Electrum (from .org website  ) and after installation I selected private key import, I typed my private key and I clicked on "Next" button, but Balance is "0", history is empty, only in "Addresses" tab I see one address and when i right-click on it and select "Private key" I see my private key.

Server status icon in bottom right corner is green and I tried to connect to different servers but I still don't see my coins.

Is it possible to manually synchronize my wallet with network to see balance and history?

1. Did you check your address on a block explorer for funds (chainflyer.bitflyer.jp ; blockchain.com ; ...)
2. Is the address shown by Electrum the same as the one you have funds on?
3. At the step where you pasted the private key, did you click the "info" button and followed the guidelines?

[marcinpl87]

Do you know if its your address you see in the addresses tab?

Yes, in my old wallet I have two receiving addresses and and in Electrum I see one of them (starts with "1PV"....)

I'm thinking it's likely you've imported the wrong type of address.
According to the link I'll put at the bottom of the screen you might want to add lines of:
p2pkh:private key
p2wpkh-p2sh:private key
p2wpkh:private key

Yes, I have "p2pkh:........." because guidelines in "info" button says "p2pkh:K...... -> 1......" so first characters of key and address are correct.

1. Did you check your address on a block explorer for funds (chainflyer.bitflyer.jp ; blockchain.com ; ...)

On my old wallet app (where I imported private key from) I see funds and history

2. Is the address shown by Electrum the same as the one you have funds on?

Yes

3. At the step where you pasted the private key, did you click the "info" button and followed the guidelines?

Yes, I wrote there "p2pkh:[my_priv_key]" because guidelines in "info" button says "p2pkh:K...... -> 1......"


Another thing I realized is that I run Electrum on fresh Ubuntu 20.04 LTS install on VirtualBox VM. Network connection is set to NAT and I have internet connection on that VM and Electrum server status is green, but maybe it's related to port forwarding or internet connection configuration on VM ? I know I can check installing it on my host computer but unfortunately I don't trust my host windows machine enough to send my private key there.

[marcinpl87]

Sorry I reply to my own post, but after hours of research and testing I found out that the issue is with having two receiving addresses in my old wallet.
So in my old wallet I have:
[PRIV_KEY]
[ADDRESS_1] (this address doesn't have any BTC, doesn't have transactions)
[ADDRESS_2] (this address has BTC, has transactions)

When I click on import and I put in text form:

Code:

p2pkh:[PRIV_KEY]

I have this wallet imported (I see "default_wallet [imported]" in window header) but balance is "0". In "Addresses" tab I see my [ADDRESS_1].

When I click on import and I put in text form:

Code:

[ADDRESS_1]

I have this wallet imported (I see "default_wallet [imported, watching only]" in window header) but balance is "0".

When I click on import and I put in text form:

Code:

[ADDRESS_2]

I have this wallet imported (I see "default_wallet [imported, watching only]" in window header) and I SEE MY BTC AND TRANSACTIONS! (but this wallet is in "watching only" mode)

So how to import my private key with second address or with both addresses?

I tried:

Code:

p2pkh:[PRIV_KEY] -> [ADDRESS_2]
p2pkh:[PRIV_KEY]->[ADDRESS_2]
p2pkh:[PRIV_KEY]-[ADDRESS_2]
p2pkh:[PRIV_KEY] - [ADDRESS_2]
p2pkh:[PRIV_KEY] [ADDRESS_2]

I also tried

Code:

p2pkh:[PRIV_KEY]
[ADDRESS_2]

But every time "next" button is disabled

[BitMaxz]

On my old wallet app (where I imported private key from) I see funds and history

I'm confused a bit by the bolded part above did you import or export?

According to your explanation above when you're importing the private key that you export from your old wallet to Electrum(new) it shows a different Bitcoin address(Address_1). What you want to get is the (Address_2) am I right?

It seems that you export the wrong private key.

One private key doesn't have 2 p2pkh addresses(If both are the same starts with "1"). It must be one private key for one p2pkh address unless if you are importing a different script type with a different address like p2wpkh-p2sh: 3NhNe... and p2wpkh: bc1q3... as Segwit address.

Can you tell us if what old wallet app you're talking about? Is it the Electrum app or a different app?

[marcinpl87]

yes, thank you for pointing this out!

I didn't know each address has it's own unique private key and I only exported private key of first receiving address (I assumed that this private key will give me access to both receiving addresses)... Now I clicked on second receiving address and I exported private key for that address and this key is different then the first key! so I imported this second private key to Electrum and now I see my balance and history!

Thank you for explaining me these basic concepts... I HODL since 2013 and I still learn basics


Thank you BitMaxz, NeuroticFish, jackg for helping me! You guys make this community great!