help with a watch only wallet

[electrum_user_needs_help]

hello I created a watch only wallet for many of my addresses a while back.

today - without thinking and mainly because the wallet was already open, I went to "receive" and selected "New Address" and sent funds to that address.

I went to spend the funds and lo and behold I cannot as it is a "watch only" wallet.

I get that it cannot spends funds from the addresses I added as addresses only (never importing a private key) but if electrum created a "New Address" how can it not know the key to that address?

I have tried the console command "getprivatekeys ([address]) but it gives the error that this is a watch only wallet.

I know I am probably fucked here but something makes me feel that Electrum just HAS to know the key to that address - I cannot see it generating an address without a key.


any ideas/help would be appreciated.

[1714002315]

1714002315

[1714002315]

1714002315

[jackg]

How did you make the watching only wallet? If you don't know how you did that/don't have a private key or know who controls it then your funds are lost.

And no, master public keys used to generate those addresses are independent numbers themselves that are like a hash of a private key so can't be reverse engineered to reveal what they came from.

[electrum_user_needs_help]

How did you make the watching only wallet? If you don't know how you did that/don't have a private key or know who controls it then your funds are lost.

And no, master public keys used to generate those addresses are independent numbers themselves that are like a hash of a private key so can't be reverse engineered to reveal what they came from.

i did not add a private key, i simply added addresses - I hold the keys to those addresses offline. but without thinking of which wallet i was in i clicked "receive" got an address (I thought since it generated the address that it would have the key for that address especially since I was not trying to spend any funds from the watch only addresses) and sent funds to that address now i cant spend those funds it seems.

[pooya87]

I get that it cannot spends funds from the addresses I added as addresses only (never importing a private key) but if electrum created a "New Address" how can it not know the key to that address?

Electrum didn't "create" that "new address" it just selected an address from the list of addresses you had given it before.

I know I am probably fucked here but something makes me feel that Electrum just HAS to know the key to that address - I cannot see it generating an address without a key.

The generate option is not even available for a wallet that was created without a seed (regardless of it being watch only or not) because this option only works for deterministic wallets. You said you've given it addresses meaning there is no seed. Even if you had given Electrum individual private keys it still would NOT generate new addresses since again it doesn't have any "seed".

[electrum_user_needs_help]

I get that it cannot spends funds from the addresses I added as addresses only (never importing a private key) but if electrum created a "New Address" how can it not know the key to that address?

Electrum didn't "create" that "new address" it just selected an address from the list of addresses you had given it before.

I know I am probably fucked here but something makes me feel that Electrum just HAS to know the key to that address - I cannot see it generating an address without a key.

The generate option is not even available for a wallet that was created without a seed (regardless of it being watch only or not) because this option only works for deterministic wallets. You said you've given it addresses meaning there is no seed. Even if you had given Electrum individual private keys it still would NOT generate new addresses since again it doesn't have any "seed".

the address it provided was not in my list and had zero txns - is it possible that the address is a different format from one of the other addresses that are a watch only then?

as for "not an option" i will take a screenshot of me creating another in a "Watch only" wallet  - we agree that a watch only wallet has no seed correct?

only edit to the screenshot is i blacked out my wallets name - as you can see it is a "watch only" wallet yet I clicked "new address" and it created an address that "expires in 24 hours" I also do not understand that - how can an address "expire" or is it the request that "expires"?

https://ibb.co/6wgtxjS

[IIrik11]

Yes, Pooya's reply is correct.

I just checked this to confirm. I created a new watch-only Electrum wallet with bunch of used/unused old addresses.

And when I clicked on "New Address" in Receive tab. It created request for one of the addresses already in the address list.

So, your funds are not lost as you probably already have keys for it.

NOTE: When all the addresses was done, Electrum showed this: https://imgur.com/a/GtXxiM0

[electrum_user_needs_help]

Yes, the reply above is correct.

I just checked this to confirm. I created a new watch-only Electrum wallet with bunch of used/unused old addresses.

And when I clicked on "New Address" in Receive tab. It created request for one of the addresses already in the address list.

So, your funds are not lost as you probably already have keys for it.

NOTE: When all the addresses was done, Electrum showed this: https://imgur.com/a/GtXxiM0

I did that as well - and it did what you stated - and it actually popped up a message stating that as shown in your image - however, with the scenario i stated in the OP  with - it did no such thing. and if i click receive it again  does not show that address.

does that mean at some point - I must have entered that address then right? hmm... and maybe deleted because it had no txns - which means I do have the keys somewhere.

[pooya87]

the address it provided was not in my list and had zero txns - is it possible that the address is a different format from one of the other addresses that are a watch only then?

No. Electrum can only select an address from the list of addresses you have given it. If you go to your Addresses tab you should see that address (Tip: you can go to that tab and press ctrl+F and then start typing in the box that appears to search the list).

only edit to the screenshot is i blacked out my wallets name - as you can see it is a "watch only" wallet yet I clicked "new address" and it created an address that "expires in 24 hours" I also do not understand that - how can an address "expire" or is it the request that "expires"?

In Receive tab you only create payment requests not addresses. These are basically Electrum's way of "keeping an extra eye out for an incoming payment to an existing address". The "request" expires (not the address) meaning Electrum stops looking for an incoming payment, however you can still receive payment and see it in your wallet.

[electrum_user_needs_help]

the address it provided was not in my list and had zero txns - is it possible that the address is a different format from one of the other addresses that are a watch only then?

No. Electrum can only select an address from the list of addresses you have given it. If you go to your Addresses tab you should see that address (Tip: you can go to that tab and press ctrl+F and then start typing in the box that appears to search the list).

only edit to the screenshot is i blacked out my wallets name - as you can see it is a "watch only" wallet yet I clicked "new address" and it created an address that "expires in 24 hours" I also do not understand that - how can an address "expire" or is it the request that "expires"?

In Receive tab you only create payment requests not addresses. These are basically Electrum's way of "keeping an eye out for an incoming payment to an existing address". The "request" expires (not the address) meaning Electrum stops looking for an incoming payment, however you can still receive payment and see it in your wallet.

ok so that address was ALREADY there then is that what you mean?

in that case I just need to track where I got that address from and the key that went to it.

It would have been generated by bitcoin core on an airgapped system and then put into electrum as a watch only.

thank you for your help. I just need to do some digging.

[nc50lc]

i did not add a private key, i simply added addresses - I hold the keys to those addresses offline. -snip-

You have the keys, so this shouldn't be a problem, eh.
Do not try to "fix" the watch-only wallet since it's doing what it's meant for to "watch" those addresses' funds, nothing else.
And it won't generate new addresses like others have mentioned, if it did, then you might be using a fake version.

What you should be doing is to import those offline private keys to a cold-storage Electrum to be able to sign the transactions created using that watch-only wallet.
If it's from an already-created offline Electrum, then use that to sign the transactions made by the watch-only wallet, instruction below.
Cold-storage: https://electrum.readthedocs.io/en/latest/coldstorage.html#create-an-unsigned-transaction (instead of "save", use "export" for 4.1.5).

[pooya87]

ok so that address was ALREADY there then is that what you mean?
in that case I just need to track where I got that address from and the key that went to it.

Yes to both.