Can't decrypt the wallet

[Jan Drapper]

Going back 4 years (2017), I bought bitcoin and sent it to my bitcoin core wallet on a separate laptop and completely forgot about it. Let's go back to now, I don't remember that I made a password in the first place, but when I run the wallet it asks me for the password. I tried leaving the field blank and trying to fill it with spaces and it didn't work for me either, and I'm sure I didn't put any password, so no one has used the device since I left it. While it's strange to me, is there a way to bypass the password? Could it be a mistake or bug? Should the software be updated and how?

[bL4nkcode]

That's unfortunate, yes there are some ways to brute force your wallet, only if you knew and remember partial/some details of the password, but on your case seems you totally forget about it, try to remember it, coz bitcoin core will not require and ask a password if you did not set a password on it AFAIK (correct me if I'm wrong though).

BTW this should be moved to Bitcoin Technical Support to get more attention from devs and people who might try to help.

[BitMaxz]

If you are sure that you didn't put a password when the first time you created the wallet then I think there are reasons why that wallet is asking for a password.
You might be generated a new wallet before but with a password and you just totally forgot it(Sometimes happen to me even I know that I didn't put a password.) or try to check and maybe you have two wallet.dat file on Bitcoin folder..

Or possible the password is not from the Bitcoin core?

Are you sure that you forgot the password? If it doesn't have a password or it's not encrypted you can able to open the wallet.dat file directly with notepad. So try to look for your wallet.dat file and open it with a notepad. If it's not encrypted you should see your addresses and private keys.

[bL4nkcode]

or maybe the wallet software has a bug that generates a password protection by itself

So far, there's no bug such like that on bitcoin core on previous versions (AFAIK), even on 2017 released versions, so it's probably not a bug but a user's expensive fault.

In any app/software, setting password/passphrase is always done by the client/user not by the itself.

[BlackHatCoiner]

It can't be encrypted with a password if you never chose one. You must have entered something which you may not remember of. Otherwise, it'd have saved the private keys in the backup file and you could gain access to them by importing it in the program.

What about the laptop? Once you made the wallet, bought the BTC and completely forgot about them, what happened with the laptop? Did you also forget about it?

Do you remember asking you to “encrypt” the wallet somehow? Even without a password.


DO NOT SHARE THE WALLET FILE TO ANY USER WHO IS WILLING TO “HELP” YOU!

[RapTarX]

So try to look for your wallet.dat file and open it with a notepad.

Try this one if you are certain that you didn’t put a password though I believe you have put password to make sure no one can access which you may have forgotten of. Nevertheless, before opening with it notepad, make sure you have copied the Bitcoin file and stored it somewhere safely in another device.
By any chance, is it possible that anyone else had access to your Laptop? Besides, if you have the address you filled BTC with, you can check it through explorer & be sure that your wallet haven’t been compromised already. Good luck.

[Jan Drapper]

That's unfortunate, yes there are some ways to brute force your wallet, only if you knew and remember partial/some details of the password, but on your case seems you totally forget about it, try to remember it, coz bitcoin core will not require and ask a password if you did not set a password on it AFAIK (correct me if I'm wrong though).

BTW this should be moved to Bitcoin Technical Support to get more attention from devs and people who might try to help.

I open the wallet as it does not contain any password while I am surprised that it asks me for the password, so I do not remember anything except that I did not make a password on purpose. The only possibility I suspect is that asking for the password is an error.

[COBRAS]

Get this software, and put encrypted private key in this thread.
How many btc in your wallet ?
https://www.thegrideon.com/bitcoin-password-recovery.html

Maybe I can help you. For some $$ for me.

[Jan Drapper]

If you are sure that you didn't put a password when the first time you created the wallet then I think there are reasons why that wallet is asking for a password.
You might be generated a new wallet before but with a password and you just totally forgot it(Sometimes happen to me even I know that I didn't put a password.) or try to check and maybe you have two wallet.dat file on Bitcoin folder..

Or possible the password is not from the Bitcoin core?

Are you sure that you forgot the password? If it doesn't have a password or it's not encrypted you can able to open the wallet.dat file directly with notepad. So try to look for your wallet.dat file and open it with a notepad. If it's not encrypted you should see your addresses and private keys.

I'm pretty sure that I didn't set a password because also I don't want to remember or write anything. I thought letting the software and powering off will freeze the wallet. My friend has told me not to save the seed on any place expect the laptop to secure the crypto and I was pretty sure nothing will hurm the laptop or the ssd.

What is wallet.dat? I couldn't find through Google

I searched on bitcoin core folder and couldn't find that file.

[BitMaxz]

I'm pretty sure that I didn't set a password because also I don't want to remember or write anything. I thought letting the software and powering off will freeze the wallet. My friend has told me not to save the seed on any place expect the laptop to secure the crypto and I was pretty sure nothing will hurm the laptop or the ssd.

What is wallet.dat? I couldn't find through Google

I searched on bitcoin core folder and couldn't find that file.

Are you talking about a seed phrase? Bitcoin core does not have this feature to generate it only generates a wallet.dat and addresses and private keys. So do you have a seed phrase?

Does it seem it's not a Bitcoin core wallet?

Mostly you can find the wallet.dat file on %APPDATA%\Bitcoin on Windows OS

If it's not a bitcoin core then you might be talking about Electrum? You must clarify this if what wallet you are actually using.

[nc50lc]

I'm pretty sure that I didn't set a password because also I don't want to remember or write anything. I thought letting the software and powering off will freeze the wallet. My friend has told me not to save the seed on any place expect the laptop to secure the crypto and I was pretty sure nothing will hurm the laptop or the ssd.

How about commands?
You may have "played" in the console and tested the command encryptwallet "passphrase" that will encrypt the wallet.

Your "friend" had given you a bad advice to store the seed in your laptop (seed, of which wallet?).
Seed phrases should be stored only written on a paper/surface, as much as possible, not in a digital form specially in the same device where the wallet is.

[GeorgeJohn]

That's unfortunate, yes there are some ways to brute force your wallet, only if you knew and remember partial/some details of the password, but on your case seems you totally forget about it, try to remember it, coz bitcoin core will not require and ask a password if you did not set a password on it AFAIK (correct me if I'm wrong though).

But i think that any wallet password that has been misplaced can never be recover again, because i have seen someone that misplaced his phrase code and up till date the bitcoin in his wallet he never have access to penetrate into the wallet, so if this particular solution you render can be of help to retrieve a missing password that means all lost password can be recovered?

[zkquality]

That's unfortunate, yes there are some ways to brute force your wallet, only if you knew and remember partial/some details of the password, but on your case seems you totally forget about it, try to remember it, coz bitcoin core will not require and ask a password if you did not set a password on it AFAIK (correct me if I'm wrong though).

But i think that any wallet password that has been misplaced can never be recover again, because i have seen someone that misplaced his phrase code and up till date the bitcoin in his wallet he never have access to penetrate into the wallet, so if this particular solution you render can be of help to retrieve a missing password that means all lost password can be recovered?

No of course not all lost passwords can be recovered. Brute forcing is like doing uncompleted work. Basically you make an application try many random passwords for you by validating hashes. instead of random passwords, you can set a function for generating the keys to be tested for example (1000 - 9999), if password was included in this function i.e. was between 1000 and 9000, the brute forcing application tries each password, and when the password is valid, it stops and tells you it.

[HCP]

... Let's go back to now, I don't remember that I made a password in the first place, but when I run the wallet it asks me for the password.

When exactly is it asking for a password?

Bitcoin Core only prompts for a password when you are attempting to do something that requires access to the private keys contained in the wallet.dat. For instance, create and sign a send transaction, signing a message or using the dumpprivkey or dumpwallet commands on the console.

It does not prompt for the password when you start Bitcoin Core or just try to load the wallet.


So, when is it prompting for a password? and can you please provide a screenshot of this?

[nc50lc]

... Let's go back to now, I don't remember that I made a password in the first place, but when I run the wallet it asks me for the password.

When exactly is it asking for a password?

Not to mention (but I'll mention it anyways), he also got a seed phrase.
If he's a "Bitcoin = Bitcoin Core" coin name old propaganda victim, he must be talking about a different wallet.
If not, it's a made up story.
@Jan Drapper "Bitcoin Core" is the name of the 'reference client' not the coin, if you're talking about a "Bitcoin" in general, call it "Bitcoin" not Bitcoin Core.