ISSUE RESOLVED

[CAIROP]

Hi all,

I had recently created a new wallet using Bitcoin Core however, before I had a chance to copy my private key the application stopped working and I am locked out of my wallet with a significant amount of crypto inside!

I keep receiving the following error message which is stopping the application from starting up:

 "Error initializing settings: Failed loading settings file:
- Unable to parse settings file /Users/johnslappy/Library/Application Support/Bitcoin/settings.json"

Does anyone have any ideas as to how I can access my private key from the data that has been saved on my laptop? Or if I can somehow get the application working again?

 

[1715695971]

1715695971

[NotATether]

The settings.json file is where the GUI settings are stored and it's modified automatically by bitcoin-qt when you save the Options dialog. It has a format like this:

Code:

{
...Ignore this line, it's just to show the setting names and their values look like "name": "value"....
}

If you get the error Failed loading settings file that means your settings.json has the incorrect format.

We're going to reset the GUI options by removing all the values in the file, and with it (hopefully) the error.

1. First make a copy of the settings.json file in case we accidentally mess it up.
2. Now we're going to replace the entire contents of the original file with this:

Code:

{
}

This is what an empty settings.json with the default values looks like. Then you should be able to start Bitcoin Core again and set your previous settings again from the options dialog.

[CAIROP]

Thank you for the help here!

I tried replacing the settings.json file with the code you suggested and I'm now getting a new error that says:

"You need to rebuild the database using -reindex to go back to unpruned mode.  This will redownload the entire blockchain.

Do you want to rebuild the block database now?"

When I click "ok" I then get a message that says "Error opening block database"

Any suggestions???

[CAIROP]

ISSUE RESOLVED,

thank you NotATether!!!

[jwi5]

Hi, Im having the same problem. I am the least tech savvy person and just downloaded bitcoin core and created a wallet. Did not save the private key or anything, and transferred bitcoin from an exchange. Right after the transfer had started, my bitcoin core app crashed and I got the same message: Error initializing settings: Failed loading settings file:
- Unable to parse settings file /Users/jwiraj99/Library/Application Support/Bitcoin/settings.json.

Am I looking for the bitcoin.settings.json to try to clear the file, or just the settings.json file? Because in the settings.json file all that it shows is : {
  "BACKGROUND_COLOR": "#202225",
  "IS_MAXIMIZED": true,
  "IS_MINIMIZED": false,
  "WINDOW_BOUNDS": {
    "x": 24,
    "y": 23,
    "width": 1416,
    "height": 822
  }
.
So am I just supposed to clear this out and it will start? I think it might be for discord.

Please help me out if you can provide anything, I am absolutely clueless.

[RickDeckard]

...
Am I looking for the bitcoin.settings.json to try to clear the file, or just the settings.json file? Because in the settings.json file all that it shows is : {
...
Please help me out if you can provide anything, I am absolutely clueless.

I've just checked Discord settings.json file location and I was able to find it here :

(Disk Letter):\Users\RickDeckard\AppData\Roaming\discord\settings.json"

Are you sure that you're looking into the right directory for the one related to Bitcoin Core? The file that you're looking to "reset" would be settings.json (as initially mentioned by NotATether) but you would have to follow the path indicated by the error message (/Users/jwiraj99/Library/Application Support/Bitcoin/settings.json).

Additionally I think that in the latest iterations of Bitcoin Core (at least starting from 5th September 2021) the developers added a menu[1] where it would show you an option to just reset any changes within the file in an effort to "recover" it. What is the version of Bitcoin Core that you're running OP? Where did you got it from?
[1]https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/22591

[jwi5]

Thanks for responding.
I downloaded it today from bitcoin.org.

Im completely clueless as I said so trying to figure out everything else you're saying.

How would I follow the path indicated by the error message?

[RickDeckard]

I'm assuming you're using macOS? If so, you can open up the Terminal (Utilities->Terminal) and just input this text:

open /Users/jwiraj99/Library/Application Support/Bitcoin

This should open you a new window where you'll be able to locate the settings.json file and act accordingly within NotATether previous instructions:

1. First make a copy of the settings.json file in case we accidentally mess it up.
2. Now we're going to replace the entire contents of the original file with this:

Code:

{
}

[jwi5]

I just did this, but it says it does not exist.

[jwi5]

Am I just totally screwed because nothing was saved?

[nc50lc]

I downloaded it today from bitcoin.org.

You can download the latest version from bitcoincore.org, you've most likely have v22.0 which doesn't have the PR linked in the reply above.

Take note that after "resetting" the settings.json file, your wallet.dat will be unloaded
You'll have to reload it using the menu: "File->Open Wallet" and may need a rescan to update the balance.