Cannot recover electrum wallet with 12 seed electrum phrase

[abacusplatypus]

Hi,
My previous Mac crashed and I am working on a new one trying to recover my electrum wallet. The process seems straight forward however when I enter my 12 word seed phrase the next button remains greyed out... This wallet was created with newer version of Electrum (i.e. Dec 2020) and all the words are on the list. I have meticulously recorded the 12 word seed phrase and entered properly i.e. lower case, single space, correct order but the next button just stays blank.

I am at a loss what to do it as all the advice relating to this dilemma is just "check the words are spelled correctly" etc. I definitely have recorded it accurately and entered in the right order and should not be BIP39 as it was created with Electrum... so what else can be done?

Thanks

[1714906789]

1714906789

[1714906789]

1714906789

[1714906789]

1714906789

[1714906789]

1714906789

[pooya87]

The only reason why the next button stays disabled (grey) is when the entered mnemonic is not valid, either contains invalid words (not in the list or wrong spelling) or has an invalid checksum (could be because of wrong word order or one or more wrong words).

The only other reason I can think of which the next button stays disabled is if you enter a mnemonic in the wrong window (like when recovering using "master key" or recovering a 2FA wallet with a standard seed).

If you are sure about being in the right window and also not having any typos then your only remaining option is to brute force the mnemonic.
Start by looking at your seed phrase, for example if you have a word that is repeated twice there is a small chance that it was a mistake and you wrote it twice. That's a candidate word for change.
Also look at the word list, there are similar looking words that you may have written wrong. Like act/actor, aim/arm, space/spare, etc. Link to word lists: https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0039/bip-0039-wordlists.md

[nc50lc]

It will only be unclickable if the seed isn't correct.
Try to replace some words with similar ones from the wordlist that could be mistyped when recording the backup. Some of them are similar.
An easy way to do this is to type the first three characters of the word during the restore process in Electrum and check the possible words from the selection.

You can also try to restore it with "BIP39 seed" enabled in the option and make three different wallets, each with one of the three available derivation paths.

[pooya87]

An easy way to do this is to type the first three characters of the word during the restore process in Electrum and check the possible words from the selection.

Unfortunately that won't cover all cases. The word-lists aren't really that good, specially the English one which is terrible in my opinion. There are words such as the example I used above that only have 3 letters and a very small difference like aim and arm (middle letter).

[abacusplatypus]

I was extremely careful copying these words down... and looking at the list they aren't really similar to any others.
Can I check does the SegWit Address mean anything. I noted this down as default.wallet originally, does this need to be the same or have any influence on why it isn't working?

[pooya87]

Can I check does the SegWit Address mean anything.

The script or address type (such as SegWit address) is going to be automatically detected by the application when you enter your seed phrase since it is encoded in it and you don't have to worry about it.

I noted this down as default.wallet originally, does this need to be the same or have any influence on why it isn't working?

"default_wallet" is the default name that the application uses for the wallet file and it doesn't affect the recovery process using the seed phrase.

By the way do you have access to your old wallet file? That also can be used to recover your wallet.

[abacusplatypus]

I don't currently have access to the old file, it was just on the laptop that got tea spilled on it! I can try and get it recovered... but it doesn't look good. The situation seems hopeless though... is there anyway of contacting Electrum for help with this?... I mean their website just brings me to this forum anyways.

[LoyceV]

I don't currently have access to the old file, it was just on the laptop that got tea spilled on it! I can try and get it recovered... but it doesn't look good.

Tea usually won't destroy the drive, so it doesn't seem unlikely to recover it. You can probably find an online guide on how to remove the hard drive, put it in a case, and copy your ~/.electrum/wallets directory.

I was extremely careful copying these words down...

A mistake I've seen a few times with Ledger users is writing it down like this:
1. 2.
3. 4.
5. 6.

And entering it like this:
1. 4.
2. 5.
3. 6.

[nc50lc]

I don't currently have access to the old file, it was just on the laptop that got tea spilled on it! I can try and get it recovered... but it doesn't look good. The situation seems hopeless though... is there anyway of contacting Electrum for help with this?... I mean their website just brings me to this forum anyways.

Electrum developers wont be able to "directly" help you in recovering your seed phrase since it isn't stored to any server.
You'll likely get the same advice as these.

Have you tried to restore the seed phrase with BIP39 option enabled? That will enable you to click "next", then select one of the options (start with the middle).
Users usually use that to create Electrum wallet with P2WPKH-P2SH (P2SH-SegWit) addresses.

[abacusplatypus]

Thanks, I will hopefully get the hard drive recovered... I have contacted someone about this.... then hopefully I can double check the 12 word seed, but as I said I was so meticulous about recording it (for fear of such a situation) that I can't see where any discrepancies may be.

[abacusplatypus]

When I create a new wallet using the seed phrase using BIP39 the wallet just comes up empty

[nc50lc]

When I create a new wallet using the seed phrase using BIP39 the wallet just comes up empty

How about the other two options?

If all are empty, then there's really an error in your backup.
Recovering the wallet file from the laptop is your best option which has a great chance, as long as the "tea" hadn't penetrated the HDD/SSD.

[abacusplatypus]

I tried all 3 options under BIP39

[LoyceV]

When I create a new wallet using the seed phrase using BIP39 the wallet just comes up empty

Did you by any chance extend the seed with custom words (a password)?

[PawGo]

Do you know which address you expect to restore?

Try that page: https://iancoleman.io/bip39/ (legit!)
You may download to you computer to launch it offline if want:

Code:

Offline Usage
You can use this tool without having to be online.
In your browser, select file save-as, and save this page as a file.
Double-click that file to open it in a browser on any offline computer.
Alternatively, download the file from the latest GitHub release - https://github.com/iancoleman/bip39/releases/latest/

Then enter your seed (if it is indeed BIP39) and then play with BIP32/BIP44/BIP49/BIP84/BIP141 paths & addresses.

[NeuroticFish]

Try that page: https://iancoleman.io/bip39/ (legit!)
~
Then enter your seed (if it is indeed BIP39) and then play with BIP32/BIP44/BIP49/BIP84/BIP141 paths & addresses.

The seed generated by Electrum is not compatible (may need better word here) with this.

Electrum can use the standard BIP39 seed if you select the checkbox, but when it generates new seed, that one contains some extra versioning info. The seed words are from the same list, and this can be confusing though.

So if you put Electrum seed into Ian Coleman site I expect you end up with different addresses you will get "invalid mnemonic".


Edit: correction

[PawGo]

So if you put Electrum seed into Ian Coleman site I expect you end up with different addresses.

You are right.... it shows error 'invalid mnemonic'.

But there is a fork of that project: https://github.com/FarCanary/ElectrumSeedTester
it correctly decodes Electrum seed. I tested with

Code:

shield correct dragon addict sand ripple race chat earth field library coin

which should give bc1q30qm50yn5xlcl50grzrmytf3su9wpnlj6rt8l4

[o_e_l_e_o]

So if you put Electrum seed into Ian Coleman site I expect you end up with different addresses.

It actually just states "Invalid mnemonic" and will not let you proceed, unless you happened to create an Electrum seed phrase which is also a valid BIP39 seed phrase (this is no longer possible on newer versions of Electrum).

But there is a fork of that project: https://github.com/FarCanary/ElectrumSeedTester

Since OP created his seed phrase with Electrum, then playing around with different derivation paths is a futile exercise. Standard Electrum seed phrases always restore to m for legacy accounts and m/0' for segwit accounts.


If you are sure your seed phrase was generated in Electrum, then the only remaining possibility is that you have either made a mistake writing it down or you are making a mistake typing it back in. I would suggest using the software btcrecover to attempt to brute force where you mistake is - https://btcrecover.readthedocs.io/en/latest/

[NeuroticFish]

(this is no longer possible on newer versions of Electrum)

Interesting. Thank you.
I've corrected the other post to match the actual reality.

[Lucius]

@abacusplatypus, if none of the above tips help, there is someone who is very likely to be able to help you, but that help is not free - the man has been in the business for a long time, and has an impeccable reputation.

Bitcoin Wallet Recovery Services