Trezor wallet set up confusion

[Sumarokov]

So I am setting up my first Trezor wallet. I have a Model One. Trezor sent me this link:

https://wiki.trezor.io/User_manual:Setting_up_the_Trezor_device__T1

I have two PCs, one runs on Windows 8 and one runs on Windows 10.

I am using the one which runs on Windows 10, as the link from Trezor says "device is compatible with Windows 10" (meaning not with Windows 8?).

OK. So I see the first instructions: "To allow your Trezor device to communicate smoothly with Trezor Wallet, we strongly recommend installing Trezor Bridge. It is the most optimized solution that is compatible with Chrome and Firefox browsers. When you go to the Trezor Wallet website, you will see a page with a download link."

So I click on the link.. and every time, it says in red: "You were disconnected. Please check your internet connection and reload the page".

When I reload, this happens every time. I check my connection. All is well (incidentally, no problems when I open this page, as a check, on my other PC running Windows 8!).

But to even add to the confusion, I see this other link:

https://wiki.trezor.io/Setting_up_Trezor_One

This talks about all different things! It says the first thing you do is: "Download Trezor Suite from https://suite.trezor.io" I go to this page and it asks me to download the desktop app.

So which is it? Which route do I take? Can anyone provide a link to a definitive step-by-step guide to setting up a Trezor Model One wallet?

[SFR10]

So which is it? Which route do I take?

Not sure about the Windows 8 support, but there's a manual in the package that says "getting started" and the recommended setup is, connecting it to your computer, then visit "trezor.io/start ^{[redirects to "this" link]}" and in the end, simply follow the instructions.
^{- Personally, I'm using the trezor suite as well.}

[Sumarokov]

Thanks. I have been looking at tutorials on YouTube, but they often jump stages and do not, for example, explain very specificially exacty what internet page to be on... I find the best is Crypto Dad:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvvzJ8EHh5U

However, I notice that there is no mention of "Trezor Bridge" here (maybe later? have not got that far). He just downloads "Trezor Suite"...

Another point: Trezor obviously works on Windows 8. But nowhere does it say expressly that you CANNOT. So what if you go ahead and then there are issues? Should there not be a clear and specific warning?

What I do not understand is: why not just provide one single step-by-step guide that covers absolutely everything?

[SFR10]

However, I notice that there is no mention of "Trezor Bridge" here (maybe later? have not got that far). He just downloads "Trezor Suite"...

AFAICR, I haven't installed Trezor Bridge, but apparently, there's a small difference: Which one should I use? Trezor Wallet/Bridge or Trezor Suite?

Another point: Trezor obviously works on Windows 8. But nowhere does it say expressly that you CANNOT. So what if you go ahead and then there are issues? Should there not be a clear and specific warning?

On "this" link, it says "Windows 10 and newer" and found someone that indirectly "mentioned" it didn't work in windows 7 ^{[most likely the same goes for windows 8]}.
Best of luck

[DireWolfM14]

"Download Trezor Suite from https://suite.trezor.io" I go to this page and it asks me to download the desktop app.

I would recommend you use Trezor Suite.  It's an easy to use app, has a lot of features, is compatible with multiple currencies, and it should connect to your Trezor One without the Trezor Bridge.

I've had trouble connecting my Trezor to Electrum in the past, and was able to solve the issue by installing the Trezor Bridge.  To download the Trezor Bridge you'll need to access the page by using Chrome, Chromium, or the FireFox browser.  If you try to access the page with IE or Edge it'll tell you your browser is not compatible.

Here's the link to download the Trezor Bridge: https://suite.trezor.io/web/bridge/

[Sumarokov]

"Download Trezor Suite from https://suite.trezor.io" I go to this page and it asks me to download the desktop app.

I've had trouble connecting my Trezor to Electrum in the past, and was able to solve the issue by installing the Trezor Bridge. 

Thanks for the info. Can you explain what you mean by "connecting your Trezor to Electrum"?

Do you mean when sending to and from Electrum? Do you mean viewing your coins in some way?

I have my coins on Electrum at the moment and am happy, but wanted to get a cold wallet for added security*

[* To be honest, I have been astonished at the number of technical issues I see on their forum. I thought a cold wallet was all about just dumping your coins and forgetting about them for years? It looks like you need to check all is well every day, like a cat on hot bricks!]

[Sumarokov]

Here are some further oddities I found:

1. When setting up the PIN on my PC, the whole box came up on the screen in such a way that the bottom was hidden and I could not scroll down! I could just about reach with my mouse the bottom row, which allowed me to click on those numbers when required. But I could not go any further for the "OK" sign, so had to rely on just pressing enter. Thankfully, this worked!

2. As a newbie, I was surprised that there is no advice warning you if you should stay offline at any point when setting up all the password, seed and PIN information. I admit that I am not well up on such things, but I have heard of devices that can track you. Obviously, I checked for any malware first, but there is no clear information anywhere in the Trezor website about whether you should run the whole set-up organisation offline.

3. I know this seems weird, but there is no information on how to log out of Suite! Do you just click the x at the top right-hand of the screen? What is recommended? In the absence of ANY information, how is a newbie supposed to know what to do so as to not set themselves up for a possible fall?

4. My whole Suite also runs a red banner at the top: "You were disconnected".

[DireWolfM14]

Can you explain what you mean by "connecting your Trezor to Electrum"?

Do you mean when sending to and from Electrum? Do you mean viewing your coins in some way?

You can use Electrum to access you Trezor wallet's and accounts, but only the Bitcoin accounts.  There are Electrum forks for other coins, but I don't want to confuse the issue.  To access your Trezor with Electrum you'll need to have your Trezor connected to the PC you're using, and create a new wallet in Electrum.  It'll ask you what kind of wallet you want to create (choose "Standard,") then it'll ask if you want to create a new seed (choose "Use a hardware wallet.")

This will allow you to use Electrum to view and control the bitcoin accounts in your Trezor.

I have my coins on Electrum at the moment and am happy, but wanted to get a cold wallet for added security*

I assume you currently have a desktop Electrum wallet, that wallet will not be affected.  Using a Trezor with Electrum is still more secure than a standard desktop wallet, since you'll need to connect and unlock the Trezor to interact with the newly created wallet file.

[* To be honest, I have been astonished at the number of technical issues I see on their forum. I thought a cold wallet was all about just dumping your coins and forgetting about them for years? It looks like you need to check all is well every day, like a cat on hot bricks!]

A hardware wallet isn't a "cold wallet."  The point of a hardware wallet is to have a wallet on a device that is isolated from your PC and mostly immune to viruses and malware.  Hardware wallets are definitely more secure than a standard desktop wallet, but they are usually used for wallets that you want to interact with regularly.

Most people here will define a "cold wallet" as a wallet that was generated on an off-line PC that will not be interacted with regularly.  For example; I installed an OS on an old laptop, used it to generate a seed phrase, wrote down the seed phrase and put it in a safe place.  Then I formatted the hard drive on the laptop so no trace of the seed phrase is left on any electronic device.  That's my cold wallet, where the majority of my coins are kept.

I use hardware wallets to house moderate amounts of bitcoin that I want to spend from time to time.

[Pmalek]

I have my coins on Electrum at the moment and am happy, but wanted to get a cold wallet for added security*

Once you set up your new Trezor hardware wallet, you will need to move your coins from your Electrum software to an address on your Trezor. After that you can use Electrum as the software for sending and receiving bitcoin as DireWolfM14 explained.

2. As a newbie, I was surprised that there is no advice warning you if you should stay offline at any point when setting up all the password, seed and PIN information.

You don't need to and probably you can't because you need an internet connection to fire up the Trezor software. One of the benefits of hardware wallets is that you can use them even on computers that are infected with malware. Your private keys will remain safely stored on the device. 

3. I know this seems weird, but there is no information on how to log out of Suite! Do you just click the x at the top right-hand of the screen?

I don't use Trezor, but I don't think it should be any different than when using Ledger Live or Electrum. You don't log out from those either, you just close the app. Ledger Live does have an automatic log out feature that logs you out automatically if the app is inactive for 10 minutes or more. Check the settings of your Trezor Suite, maybe they have something similar.
If your hardware wallet isn't connected and unlocked, you don't need to be concerned with having the Trezor software open. You have to sign all transactions manually by pressing buttons on the device. Without that, nothing works. If you share your computer with other people, they could see your portfolio if the app remains active. That's one concern.

[Sumarokov]

Thanks for the explanations from the two posters above. To be honest, I did not know that the USB cable was considered one step away, as it is still connected to the computer and the wallet can surely be compromised that way...? Obviously not.

I am surprised that when you reconnect the wallet by the USB cable, it does not ask for your password...

Anyway, there are still two things I do not understand.

1. Besides the obvious design flaw when I was unable to have the whole “set up your PIN” table on my screen, my Suite has a permanent great big red banner “! You were disconnected” across it. I get the same whenever I click on the Trezor pages as well.

How can this be considered normal?

Now, say something were to happen to my coins. Everyone would say to me, rightly: “Were you mad? There was obviously something not right and yet you left your coins there!?” So why would I trust my coins to something that is “buggy”? But why is it buggy in the first place? How can something like this be allowed to be put into exploitation?

I have a normal PC with Windows 10 and do nothing complicated at all on it. But this programme has clearly not been tested by an engineer. Would a bridge be put into exploitation if there was something not right with the traffic light system on it? Am I supposed to just close my eyes to this red banner with an exclamation sign?

2. Secondly, related... I see on the Trezor forum that people who post tickets are told it will take TWENTY DAYS (!) to answer. If they are selling things linked to financial products, that is unacceptable. If they cannot afford the staff, they should be made to open the books to the financial regulators to prove that they do not have money to pay for a proper dedicated team.

I thought Bitcoin was all about putting power back into the hands of the simple person. But how can twenty days to reply to a ticket fit in with this? People get angry if they have to wait just one hour to talk to a bank! Bitcoin is not something illegal, it is part of the economy. I cannot understand why people do not immediately contact their elected representative, the relative financial oversight body in their parliament (like select committee) and the regulators themselves, if this is so. You are not holding something illegal with Bitcoin and financial regulators should not allow a company to take twenty days to reply to a very serious concern... especially if they have done nothing wrong and the fault, in all likelihood, lies with the software.

[dkbit98]

OK. So I see the first instructions: "To allow your Trezor device to communicate smoothly with Trezor Wallet, we strongly recommend installing Trezor Bridge. It is the most optimized solution that is compatible with Chrome and Firefox browsers. When you go to the Trezor Wallet website, you will see a page with a download link."

You don't need to install Bridge software if you are are using Trezor Suite, and it's better if you are using desktop version instead of web version.
Bridge is only used for connecting with other wallets like Exodus or Metamask, and you can also use Electrum with your Trezor just fine (without Bridge).

So which is it? Which route do I take? Can anyone provide a link to a definitive step-by-step guide to setting up a Trezor Model One wallet?

You will see clear instruction when you download and start Trezor Suite, but make sure you download it only from official website.

So why would I trust my coins to something that is “buggy”? But why is it buggy in the first place? How can something like this be allowed to be put into exploitation?

I never had any bugs with Trezor wallet and their explanation for first setup is very simple for anyone who can use their brain.

Would a bridge be put into exploitation if there was something not right with the traffic light system on it? Am I supposed to just close my eyes to this red banner with an exclamation sign?

Like I said before, you don't need to use Bridge software and complicate things.

I see on the Trezor forum that people who post tickets are told it will take TWENTY DAYS (!) to answer.

Bla bla bla... have you actually tried to contact their support or all your post all more theoretical complains?
All hardware wallets have small teams and bad support, so don't expect miracles or just don't use hardware wallets, they are not mandatory for Bitcoin that don't have any support, but we still use it.
There are plenty of other options, airgapped pc, paper wallets, mobile wallets, etc.
 

[HCP]

1. Besides the obvious design flaw when I was unable to have the whole “set up your PIN” table on my screen, my Suite has a permanent great big red banner “! You were disconnected” across it. I get the same whenever I click on the Trezor pages as well.

How can this be considered normal?

It's not... there is something wrong with your system. The fact that you get "you were disconnected" banners on both the Trezor website and the Trezor Suite application tells me that there is some weird networking issue that is causing communication problems between your PC and the Trezor servers.

Possibly a DNS related problem or your net is being "censored" in some way (ie. ISP, or router or firewall, or windows firewall or anti-virus/anti-malware is blocking connections)

It seems this "you were disconnected" issue was already reported by at least one other person and investigated by the team: https://github.com/trezor/trezor-suite/issues/2497

However, they were unable to replicate.


Unfortunately, I suspect that this is a problem on your end... as I am not able to replicate this "you were disconnected" banner, unless I actually disconnect my internet (disable WiFi and/or ethernet etc). However, when I restore the net connection, the banner disappears.

[Pmalek]

<Snip>

I am not sure what to tell you regarding the problems with the PIN keyboard. Maybe you are using an unusual screen resolution. You could try to change it to see if it helps. Regarding the disconnection problems, try using a VPN and see if that will make it better.

Trezor Suite is a relatively new software. Similar to Ledger Live, I am sure some people experience glitches and bugs, while others have a flawless experience. Anything could affect that. A particular hardware or software configuration, faulty drivers, corrupted installation files... I remember reading posts of people who had to abandon Ledger Live because after one update it simply crashed and they could never open it again. Other users didn't have such problems and it works just fine for them.