Restoring Electrum wallet with hardware device

[curious droid]

Hi

When restoring Electrum wallet using option "Use a hardware device" it doesn't restore my wallet unless i put the exact wallet name.
So i have to go new/restore then type exact name of the wallet which i want to restore, then it recovers the wallet.

I did not know that wallet name is important, do i do something wrong? or it is the way it works with Electrum, and i have to not only write down my seed but also a wallet names?

[Rath_]

I did not know that wallet name is important, do i do something wrong? or it is the way it works with Electrum, and i have to not only write down my seed but also a wallet names?

You must be doing something wrong. When you type in the name of an existing wallet then Electrum will automatically open that wallet. Are you sure that you are selecting the correct derivation path during the recovery? You can see the derivation path of the wallet you are trying to recover at the bottom of "Wallet -> Information".

[Charles-Tim]

You must be doing something wrong. When you type in the name of an existing wallet then Electrum will automatically open that wallet. Are you sure that you are selecting the correct derivation path during the recovery? You can see the derivation path of the wallet you are trying to recover at the bottom of "Wallet -> Information".

I am not using a hardware wallet, but I think what he/she is implying is that he/she was unable to recover back the hardware wallet keys and addresses using electrum as wallet extension until he included the wallet name. I think what he is asking is that 'is it possible to access the hardware wallet keys and addresses directly on electrum without inputing the wallet name'.

[curious droid]

Exactly Charles, thats what i meant. It not about derivation path.

Here is an example:

I have created a wallet in Electrum, named it DW, i created this wallet using a hardware device (Trezor).
Then i wiped my Trezor and deleted all wallet files from Electrum, then i restored my Trezor device with a seed, after i went to Electrum to recover Electrum wallets. A t the first step, when Electrum gives option to name your wallet if use "default_wallet" name or any other wallet name it wont restore my wallet. I have to type in that window my wallet`s exact name "DW" which i want to recover, only then it recovers it.

So it looks like along with the seed we need to write down and keep Electrum wallet names too?

[dkbit98]

I did not know that wallet name is important, do i do something wrong? or it is the way it works with Electrum, and i have to not only write down my seed but also a wallet names?

Have you used passphrase when you created Trezor account and what address format you used bc1 or starting with number 3?
You need to have same account installed on Trezor when you are connecting it with Electrum wallet.

So it looks like along with the seed we need to write down and keep Electrum wallet names too?

I am sure that is not true, and you can even create multiple wallets in Electrum that are connected with same Trezor hardware wallet, name them all differently and all of them will load normally.
You also don't need to have the same account name in Trezor and file in electrum wallet, and just to make sure this is true I renamed electrum file with random characters to test it.
I was able to load everything without any issue.

[curious droid]

I restarted computer and everything worked.
Now i dont need to write exact wallet name, i managed to restore all wallets with new names.
Very strange, hope this glitch doesnt affect my wallet`s privacy and security.

Thanks everyone for your comments, especially to  dkbit98 for taking your time and testing on your machine.

[o_e_l_e_o]

When pairing a hardware wallet with Electrum, each part has a different role. The hardware wallet stores your seed phrase and generates the necessary private keys, and gives the relevant public keys over to Electrum. Electrum, however, chooses the derivation path you want to use and feeds this to your hardware wallet so it knows which private keys to generate.

Let's say you use a Trezor wallet to create a wallet in Electrum, and you choose P2PKH (legacy addresses). You can use the same Trezor to also create a P2WPKH (native segwit) wallet in Electrum. When you connect your Trezor and go to open a wallet, you'll need to know the exact name of the wallet you want to open. If you try to open a wallet created with a different hardware wallet, it will return an error.

But even if you lose all your Electrum files, it doesn't matter. You can recreate the wallets by reattaching your Trezor, choosing to set up a new wallet, and choosing the same type/derivation path.

[curious droid]

Thank you o_e_l_e_o
It works for me now:)

[Pmalek]

I didn't like the word "restore" that was used in the OP because I thought he was actually trying to restore a wallet from its seed in Electrum. You aren't restoring your wallet. You are just using Electrum as the software to handle your transactions. Electrum never has access to your seed or private keys, hence nothing was "restored".

The wallet name doesn't matter, the only thing that matters is adjusting the derivation path when creating your Electrum wallet. I assume Trezor uses the same paths as Ledger. So, if your first native segwit wallet is m/84'/0'/0', that's the path you have to use in Electrum. If you are trying to restore a 2nd or 3rd wallet, the path has to be adjusted to m/84'/0'/1' or m/84'/0'/2'. You can name the wallet file anything you like.

Of course, if you have set up multiple hardware wallets with Electrum, you have to select the correct wallet file for the hardware wallet currently connected to your computer.