A question about wallets disappearing from Ledger Live app.

[Poker Player]

Today when I logged into Ledger Live, I saw that my wallets had disappeared, and there was a message as if it was the first time I connected it saying that if I wanted to see the wallets I had to connect the ledger nano to import them.

I was a little worried, but I thought it was due to an update or something. I usually update manually but I don't know. So I connected the ledger nano and was able to export all the wallets to Ledger Live again.

I have checked that my funds have not been moved using blockchair and only I have access to the private keys.

What do you think this is due to? Has this ever happened to you?

[Charles-Tim]

What do you think this is due to? Has this ever happened to you?

I have not used hardware wallet before, but I have seen so many complains before about ledger live on this forum, and the best frequent solution is to connect your hardware wallet to electrum which solves this type of issue.

[o_e_l_e_o]

Could be an update, could be a bug, could be an issue connecting with their servers, could be a bunch of things. Did you update anything else last time you used it? Did you try enabling any new features (particularly experimental ones) via the settings? Have you moved or deleted any files or folders from the Ledger Live directory?

Accounts disappearing should not be a cause for concern though - it simply means your Ledger Live is misbehaving for some reason. Ledger Live does not contain any private keys and indeed can't even extract the private keys from your Ledger Nano; it can only pass transactions to your Ledger Nano to be signed within the secure element. A quick search of Reddit shows a handful of other users in your situation, but no obvious identified cause.

I'd agree with Charles-Tim though. If you are only using bitcoin, then just use Ledger Live to update firmware and use a better wallet such as Electrum to actually interact with your private keys and coins. In addition to solving this issue you can access to many more features, such as individual address balances and coin control.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

Has this ever happened to you?

Yes, but it only happened with one coin, not all of them.  The "missing" coins reappeared after closing and reopening Ledger Live about an hour later if I remember correctly--this happened a couple of times, but not recently.  I figured it was just a bug since there was no evidence that there were any outgoing transactions, though I can't say I wasn't a little bit worried when it first happened.

I'd agree with Charles-Tim though. If you are only using bitcoin, then just use Ledger Live to update firmware and use a better wallet such as Electrum to actually interact with your private keys and coins.

But if you're not....then you're at the mercy of LL's buggy-ness.

[Poker Player]

I got quite pissed off with Ledger when data was leaked, deleted the app and started to use electrum.

The main reason why I used it again is because with Ledger Live I can log in without connecting the USB, I can see if a payment has arrived, for example. I have the Ledger Nano safely tucked away, and I only pull it out if I have to make a transaction or sign a message. And I hadn't even thought about the firmware update, so I'll keep LL installed.

Did you update anything else last time you used it? Did you try enabling any new features (particularly experimental ones) via the settings? Have you moved or deleted any files or folders from the Ledger Live directory?

No to the three questions.

I'd agree with Charles-Tim though. If you are only using bitcoin, then just use Ledger Live to update firmware and use a better wallet such as Electrum to actually interact with your private keys and coins. In addition to solving this issue you can access to many more features, such as individual address balances and coin control.

Here I agree only in a small part, because it is true that with Electrum, you can see the different directions and balances, but with Ledger Live you can use coin control, I always do it lately, and there is a trick to see what you have in the directions, which is also using coin control, but it shows you with the different inputs.

I figured it was just a bug

Yes, that must have been it. 

[o_e_l_e_o]

The main reason why I used it again is because with Ledger Live I can log in without connecting the USB, I can see if a payment has arrived, for example. I have the Ledger Nano safely tucked away, and I only pull it out if I have to make a transaction or sign a message.

You can do this with Electrum.

Connect your Ledger to your computer, boot up Electrum, and create a new standard wallet using your hardware device. On the screen after you select your derivation path, you will be shown an option to "Encrypt wallet". If you uncheck that box, then it will allow you to open your wallet file without your Ledger connected, see all your addresses and view new transactions. You won't be able to use the wallet to do anything unless you plug in your hardware wallet.

The option to "Encrypt wallet" is simply encrypted the information stored on your PC - public keys, addresses, metadata, etc. The private keys are always stored on the hardware device and so even with the wallet file unencrypted, there is no risk of loss.

[Pmalek]

...and there was a message as if it was the first time I connected it saying that if I wanted to see the wallets I had to connect the ledger nano to import them.

Import them from where
What about the individual crypto apps on the hardware wallet? Where those still installed on the device? If so, the simple solution is to re-create your accounts in Ledger Live with the device connected to your PC to allow it to scan your accounts and balances. Not sure what could have caused it though.

The main reason why I used it again is because with Ledger Live I can log in without connecting the USB, I can see if a payment has arrived, for example. I have the Ledger Nano safely tucked away, and I only pull it out if I have to make a transaction or sign a message. And I hadn't even thought about the firmware update, so I'll keep LL installed.

I use mine mostly as a portfolio checker as well. Do you connect your Nano when you generate new addresses? You should do that as well to be able to compare the address in LL to the one displayed on the screen of your device? It works without doing that check, but it's not recommended.

Here I agree only in a small part, because it is true that with Electrum, you can see the different directions and balances, but with Ledger Live you can use coin control, I always do it lately, and there is a trick to see what you have in the directions, which is also using coin control, but it shows you with the different inputs.

Electrum's coin control is superior. If you are interested in spending certain inputs, paying too many, etc., that should really be done with Electrum. It's easier and more user-friendly I think.

[Poker Player]

-snip

Txs for that.

Import them from where

I guess I have not explained it well, as I am speaking from memory. I probably should have taken a screenshot but at the time I was more worried about the wallets coming back on the screen than anything else.

I don't know, it said something like I had to connect the ledger to be able to see and manage my assets in the Ledger Live app.

What about the individual crypto apps on the hardware wallet? Where those still installed on the device? If so, the simple solution is to re-create your accounts in Ledger Live with the device connected to your PC to allow it to scan your accounts and balances.

Yes, they were still in the HW. That's what I did.

What happened is that when I went back to view my assets in Ledger Live, some of the data had been deleted. I named the different wallets and they simply appeared as wallet 1, wallet 2...

Not sure what could have caused it though.

Me neither but it doesn't matter much at this point I think.

Electrum's coin control is superior. If you are interested in spending certain inputs, paying too many, etc., that should really be done with Electrum. It's easier and more user-friendly I think.

Yes, for most things I think Electrum is better. But I'm not going to uninstall LL, especially for updating the firmware.