Old android backup private key don’t import all addresses from that account

[Curefyi]

Hello,

I’m having this strange problem, I hope someone can help me figure it out.

I found an old backup private key from 2013 backed up from android app, here is the:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.schildbach.wallet

I downloaded the new android version and attempted to import the key, I got an error message saying unreadable wallet. Because I think it was backup up based on the old BASE58 KEY FORMAT not the new PROTOBUF WALLET FORMAT that was introduced May 2014

Password is correct, because I went on to decrypt the file with openssl and I got four private keys, and I imported these private keys to Electrum I got all the addresses from that account except one is missing, and the reason I know that one address is missing is because I had a screenshot with the backup showing the right addresses and they are all there except one and of course it’s the one with bitcoins in it.
The OpenSSL command that I used is:

openssl enc -d -aes-256-cbc -a -in bitcoin-wallet-backup-2017-09-28 -out decrypted -md md5

Also I have to mention that the backup file is dated after the creation of the missing address, so it should be on the encrypted key, but I’m not sure why it’s not.

I hope someone can help me with this weird problem

Thank you in advance

[o_e_l_e_o]

So you have managed to recover four private keys from your back up, but your screenshot shows 5 addresses?

The only possibilities then are that there is a fifth private key which you have, for some reason, failed to back up properly, or perhaps you generated more than one address from a single private key. I know the Schildbach wallet gives you the option to generate both legacy and segwit addresses now, but I'm not sure what its behavior was back in 2013 or what address types it supported then. In your screenshot of addresses, are all the addresses of the same type (i.e. they all begin with the same character - "1" or "3"), or is there a mix?

[Curefyi]

I believe back then it was legacy backup and all addresses start with 1

[BitMaxz]

Can you try to use this tool below?

- https://github.com/gurnec/decrypt_bitcoinj_seed

I search here related to your issue and someone seems can extract the 12 words seed from the backup of schildbach wallet.
If you use the tool above you can get the 12 words seed then you can import it to Electrum with derivation path m/0'/0 and m/0'/1

If you want to read the whole story check them from this link below.

- Has anyone here been able to decode the backup of bitcoin wallet (schildbatch)?

Let's hope that you can get all addresses including the missing one after you import it to Electrum.

[Curefyi]

Does that work on the old old BASE58 KEY backup format?

 

[HCP]

If the keys are not showing up in the backup file when it is decrypted, then the key was not included in the backup (for whatever reason) and there will be no way to recover it given what you currently have.

The old key backup format was exactly that... just a list of private keys in an encrypted text file.

Curiously, according to the recovery docs (https://github.com/bitcoin-wallet/bitcoin-wallet/blob/master/wallet/README.recover.md)... the protobuf backup file format was introduced in 2014. And you say your 2017 backup was in Base58 format?

If it prints "org.bitcoin.production", you got the right password and the backup file uses the bitcoinj protobuf format. This backup format was introduced in v3.47 (May 2014). Skip to RECOVERING FROM PROTOBUF WALLET FORMAT.

openssl enc -d -aes-256-cbc -a -in bitcoin-wallet-backup-2017-09-28 -out decrypted -md md5

What is the date of your screenshot?

[Curefyi]

No the backup is from 2013, the OpenSSL command was just an example of the command and also I remember that back then there was no option to choose which addresses to backup, backup was for the whole wallet so that address should be there, right?

[HCP]

Assuming that:
- The backup was indeed taken after the screenshot
- The missing address had not been "imported" as watching only (not even sure this is/was ever possible with 'Bitcoin Wallet for Android' )
- No modifications had been made to the wallet (ie. it had not been recovered from another earlier backup after the screenshot etc)

Then, theoretically, yes that private key should have been in the backup file.

I would have said that you should log an issue on the github, but I think you already did.? Did you use the "report issue" feature in the wallet? It is probably the easiest way to contact the wallet devs...

[Curefyi]

I’m sending a report to devs today, I did post on it GitHub

But even if I did import that address, the backup is dated after the screenshot, to be totally honest if it wasn’t for the screenshot I wouldn’t have known that there was a missing address, that’s what make this so strange

[HCP]

But even if I did import that address, the backup is dated after the screenshot

I meant as a "watching only" address... rather than importing the private key. But like I said, I don't know if this was ever possible... There doesn't appear to be any "import" functionality now.

Are the datetime stamps of the backup file and the screenshot in the same format? Is it possible that the month/day are being transposed on the screenshot? I know the wallet backup is always YYYY-MM-DD...


And just to clarify... you have 4 private keys in the decrypted backup file, but the screenshot shows 5 addresses?