Recovering wallet with .dat files (no key phrases)

[myacre]

Hello all,

I am wondering if it is possible to recover an old wallet from 2011-2013 without the key phrases. I believe I have the backup but I am not entirely sure. The folders/files I have are:

blocks (file folder)
chainstate (file folder)
database (file folder)
testnet3 (file folder)
.lock
banlist.dat
db.txt
debug.txt
fee_estimates.dat
mempool.dat
peers.dat
wallet.dat

I am currently synching Bitcoin Core to maybe help locate the wallet address first.

Not really sure what I am dealing with here so hopefully I can get some insight on this situation.

Thanks in advance!

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[PawGo]

Wallet.dat is the file you are looking for.
Do the backup of that file before you start playing with recovery!

[myacre]

Should I back it up after I synch?

[jackg]

Should I back it up after I synch?

Do it before (as soon as possible) just in case. The syncing process is quite intense on drives and may cause problems. I'd recommend shutting down core first too if you're still syncing and waiting for the shutdown box to go before fiddling with copying the wallet.dat in case core keeps a lock on it until it's completely finished shutting down.

[PawGo]

Anytime, even now.
After synchronisation Bitcoin Core should display updated balance, transactions etc. And then it will be possible to move coins to other wallet.
But there is also other solution: without waiting for full synchronisation (download of full blockchain) you my try to dump private keys and import them into other, maybe more user friendly client, like Electrum.
Google for command ’dumpprivkeys’, you need to do something like:
https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/a/5933

[myacre]

Anytime, even now.
After synchronisation Bitcoin Core should display updated balance, transactions etc. And then it will be possible to move coins to other wallet.
But there is also other solution: without waiting for full synchronisation (download of full blockchain) you my try to dump private keys and import them into other, maybe more user friendly client, like Electrum.
Google for command ’dumpprivkeys’, you need to do something like:
https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/a/5933

I have the original backed up on a different computer, will this suffice or do I have to back it up on the device I am currently syncing on? Also, I watched a couple tutorials on how to back it up and I am seeing people using "back up" from Bitcoin Core to achieve this. Is there another method to back it up?

Cheers!

[NotATether]

I have the original backed up on a different computer, will this suffice or do I have to back it up on the device I am currently syncing on? Also, I watched a couple tutorials on how to back it up and I am seeing people using "back up" from Bitcoin Core to achieve this. Is there another method to back it up?

Cheers!

First, copy the wallet.dat file to another location to attempt to open that (you don't want to destroy the only file copy you have).

Now you can download "pywallet" from Github and use that to print the private keys inside the wallet file. This only works if the wallet is not encrypted, or it's encrypted and you have the password.

Code:

# First enter the .bitcoin folder using 'cd'
python pywallet.py –-dumpwallet –-wallet=wallet.dat

Download links to python and pywallet:
https://github.com/jackjack-jj/pywallet
http://www.python.org/ftp/python/2.7.2/python-2.7.2.msi

[nc50lc]

I am wondering if it is possible to recover an old wallet from 2011-2013 without the key phrases. I believe I have the backup but I am not entirely sure. The folders/files I have are:

What do you mean by "key phrases", your wallet's passphrase (password)?
If you don't have it, you'll just waste your time syncing core since it will ask you the passphrase once you want to send the funds out.
Your only option is to bruteforce but you need to have some password candidates or at least some parts of it.

If you mean the "seed phrase" or "mnemonic" or "backup phrase", Bitcoin Core never supported seed phrase backup.

[jackg]

I have the original backed up on a different computer, will this suffice or do I have to back it up on the device I am currently syncing on? Also, I watched a couple tutorials on how to back it up and I am seeing people using "back up" from Bitcoin Core to achieve this. Is there another method to back it up?

Cheers!

Your other backup should be enough for keeping your wallet safe enough (the it might be safer to have at least 2 backups).

Either method should work fine as one is for when your node/wallet software is running and the other is faster for when it's not running.

[myacre]

I have followed the steps provided, How can I load up the wallet I have saved? The image below shows the files from bitcoin core. Thank you guys for the help you have provided me with.

https://i.imgur.com/qgpBdx1.png

[BitMaxz]

I have followed the steps provided, How can I load up the wallet I have saved? The image below shows the files from bitcoin core. Thank you guys for the help you have provided me with.

Did you see the wallet with a notepad icon?

If that is what you want to backup make sure to make a copy of that file but if you want to load your old backup that is saved from a different computer just move that wallet under the wallet folder according to your image and copy your old backup and paste it to wallet folder.

Open the Bitcoin core again and it should be loaded.

[nc50lc]

I have followed the steps provided, How can I load up the wallet I have saved? The image below shows the files from bitcoin core. Thank you guys for the help you have provided me with.
-snip-

You can also rename a copy of the wallet.dat file then paste it in that folder,
And in Bitcoin Core, use the menu: "File->Open wallet", select that wallet from the list and it will be loaded and will rescan (that could take a while to complete).

But no one mentioned but it's important that "prune" setting must be disabled when you started the initial blockchain download or else, you'll have to resync Core after loading the wallet file.
The setting is in: "Settings->Options..->Prune block storage to", it will also resync to disable that setting.

[myacre]

I have followed the steps provided, How can I load up the wallet I have saved? The image below shows the files from bitcoin core. Thank you guys for the help you have provided me with.
-snip-

You can also rename a copy of the wallet.dat file then paste it in that folder,
And in Bitcoin Core, use the menu: "File->Open wallet", select that wallet from the list and it will be loaded and will rescan (that could take a while to complete).

But no one mentioned but it's important that "prune" setting must be disabled when you started the initial blockchain download or else, you'll have to resync Core after loading the wallet file.
The setting is in: "Settings->Options..->Prune block storage to", it will also resync to disable that setting.

Just experienced this hahah, seems like I need to grab an external hard drive to meet storage requirements. Is there a way of finding the wallet address using the files I possess? Would be really helpful to see if this is worth pursuing considering time+effort+expenses. Also, couple years ago my uncle asked his colleagues to help him out with this issue, they were probably too lazy to try but I'm a little worried someone may have already accessed it and moved whatever he had inside to another wallet. This way I could see the contents of the wallet or any transactions that may have happened.

[nc50lc]

-snip-

Just experienced this hahah, seems like I need to grab an external hard drive to meet storage requirements. -snip-

You don't have to, if you really need to prune, you just have to make sure that the wallet is loaded before syncing Bitcoin Core so it won't have to use rescan.
In your case, you wont have to resync again after it's done since you've now loaded the wallet (see if it's selectable from the "Wallet:" drop-down menu at the right).

Is there a way of finding the wallet address using the files I possess? Would be really helpful to see if this is worth pursuing considering time+effort+expenses.

You can use pywallet that's suggested by NotATether.

Or natively, use dumpwallet command to export all of the keys plus their respective addresses but you have to start Bitcoin Core first with "legacy" as the default address type because the dumpwallet file's addresses will be based from it; because you've mentioned that the wallet is from 2011~2013.

If you want to do it:

• Open Bitcoin Core's settings: "Settings->Options...->"; Click "Open configuration file"
• Type in the text editor that will open: addresstype=legacy and save it, then restart Bitcoin Core.
• Open Bitcoin Core, go to Console: "Window->Console", select the correct wallet from the drop-down menu of the console.
• Type the command: walletpassphrase "your_password" 120 to unlock the wallet (do not if it's not encrypted | "120" is to unlock it for 2minutes)
• Within the specified time, type dumpwallet "walletdump.txt" to create a dump file, you can change the name of the file if you want
  or specify the absolute path if you want to save it to another directory. e.g.: dumpwallet "E:\folder\walletdump.txt" (useful if Bitcoin Core doesn't have write permission in the install directory).
• Find the file in Bitcoin Core's installation directory where Bitcoin-qt is located or the specified absolute path and open it with a text editor.

The addresses (and their private keys) should be listed there.
Be careful with the file's contents since it contains the private keys which can be used to spend your wallet's funds.

[myacre]

Super noob at this and am definitely stuck so I uninstalled and starting from step 0. One of the biggest issues I was having is after downloading bitcoin core, without even running the program, I am looking at the folders and I don't see a folder for the wallet. On my last attempt, The folder didn't appear until after I ran bitcoin core and clicked create wallet and named it "test". After following the steps on this post and watching numerous videos what I'm getting at is I need to replace the "test" wallet.dat file with the backed up wallet I am trying to access. After I do this however, when I click file>open wallet>, I only see "test" and not the other wallet. In my previous attempt I had first synched, closed bitcoin core, replaced existing wallet.dat with the wallet I am trying to access, and then ran bitcoin core again. The message I received was something along the lines of "Wallet loading failed: Prune: last wallet synchronization goes beyond pruned data. You need to -reindex. (download the whole blockchain again in case of pruned node)" Clicked ok and then ran bitcoin core again. This time I don't recall the message I received but it was a different error and I assumed it was because I did not have enough storage to download the whole blockchain again. Now I will be beginning from scratch on a different device.


Would someone please be able to help me out with a step by step that a third grader could follow? Thank you in advance!!!!!

[Btcspot]

 I think you need to disable prune mode in the settings that what it means,  once you download the data again you can see your address. Will you tip all of us or give reward it would be nice of you then.

[BitMaxz]

There is no problem with importing the old wallet.dat file you didn't focus on what error did you get.

Code:

"Wallet loading failed: Prune: last wallet synchronization goes beyond pruned data. You need to -reindex. (download the whole blockchain again in case of pruned node)"

This issue comes up if your Bitcore wallet is still set at pruned mode just like the above said you can disable it you need to go to settings>options>Main tab and then under prune block storage to uncheck it and close then reopen it again.

Another thing if you want to run it at pruned mode then you can run it with -reindex add it on Bitcoin core shortcut. Look at the image below as a reference


Under target at the end, you can see -reindex do the same in your bitcoin core shortcut and click apply and ok then open the bitcoin core again and it should start to reindex.

[nc50lc]

After following the steps on this post and watching numerous videos what I'm getting at is I need to replace the "test" wallet.dat file with the backed up wallet I am trying to access. After I do this however, when I click file>open wallet>, I only see "test" and not the other wallet.

That's normal since you just replaced the wallet.dat inside it.
This is why I'd suggested to rename the copy of the old wallet.dat and paste it inside the 'wallets' folder so Bitcoin Core would recognize both wallets when using the 'load wallet' menu.
Bitcoin-qt will be able to recognize renamed wallet.dat and 'folders with wallet.dat' in that folder using 'Open Wallet' menu.

Replacing the wallet.dat was good for the old version when there's no multi-wallet support, but now Bitcoin Core can handle multiple wallets at the same time.

One of the biggest issues I was having is after downloading bitcoin core, without even running the program, I am looking at the folders and I don't see a folder for the wallet. On my last attempt, The folder didn't appear until after I ran bitcoin core and clicked create wallet and named it "test".

This is also normal because Bitcoin Core will not create the data directory after being installed.
For the wallets folder, it will be created once you've created the first wallet.

It seems like you're watching some quite old video tutorials when Bitcoin Core automatically creates a "default wallet" when started the first time.


By the way, the dumpwallet command in my post above can be used even without downloading the blockchain.
You can immediately export the keys and addresses right after loading the wallet.dat.

[Pmalek]

Will you tip all of us or give reward it would be nice of you then.

Why do you think you should be given a reward because of your post in which you think prune mode needs to be disabled? All you did was to repeat what nc50lc wrote. OP can reward those who helped him if he wants to, but he shouldn't feel obliged to do it. Information is free. If he does though, you shouldn't be among those who receive anything.

[myacre]

Just a quick update: Still synching from yesterday and currently on 70%, Should be ready by tomorrow! Happy New Years to you guys and have a blessed year! Thank you guys for all the help you have provided so far. Let's see if I run into any other issues. Will keep you guys updated

[myacre]

Finished synching but on the drop-down menu I only see the test wallet and not the old wallet.

Here's a step by step on what I did from the beginning, maybe it will help.

1. Run Bitcoin core 2.Uncheck prune storage 3.Create test wallet(which gave me the wallet folder)> Go to bitcoin core data directory>test wallet folder> rename wallet.dat to wallet-test.dat> copy old wallet.dat and paste in test wallet folder 4. Let Bitcoin Core synch 5. Close BTC core and rerun 6. File> Open Wallet which only shows test wallet.

I believe I messed up somewhere along the line but this is the complete breakdown.

Also, will definitely be tipping you lovely humans for all your help. Happy New Years!

[nc50lc]

Here's a step by step on what I did from the beginning, maybe it will help.

1. Run Bitcoin core 2.Uncheck prune storage 3.Create test wallet(which gave me the wallet folder)> Go to bitcoin core data directory>test wallet folder> rename wallet.dat to wallet-test.dat> copy old wallet.dat and paste in test wallet folder 4. Let Bitcoin Core synch 5. Close BTC core and rerun 6. File> Open Wallet which only shows test wallet.

I hope that you've closed Bitcoin Core when you're swapping the wallet.dat files or there will be issues during the scan process of those wallet files.
(you said you've watch video tutorials so they must have mentioned it)

The "wallet-test.dat" is in the "test wallet" folder so it won't be included to the open wallet selection menu, it should be outside that folder, but inside the 'wallets' folder.
The folders inside the 'wallets' folder are considered as 1 wallet (the wallet name is the folder's name) and it will use the wallet.dat file inside it.
If you want to use a renamed wallet.dat file, you should paste it in 'wallets' folder's root, not in the other folders inside it.

Only 1 wallet shows in the "Wallets:" drop-down menu because you've replaced the test wallet's wallet.dat with the old wallet, so the one's recognized by Bitcoin Core is the old wallet.
If there's no balance, it's either the wallet is empty or it there's an issue with the scan process.
Since you've disabled pruned settings (and have enough disk space?), you can use -rescanblockchain command to try to rescan for the wallet's balance but the current wallet may have issue already if you've swapped them while Bitcoin Core is open.

If you properly swapped them, you can enter rescanblockchain into the 'console' (Window->Console) and wait for it to finish (note: it will take a while to finish and may look like it's syncing but it's not actually downloading anything)

If you improperly swapped them, you can just do this instead:

• Close Bitcoin Core.
• Get a copy of the old wallet and rename the copy into "old_wallet.dat"
• Go to 'wallets' folder and copy old_wallet.dat into it (not inside test wallet folder).
• Open Bitcoin Core and it should be in the menu "File->Open wallet", select "old_wallet" and it will be loaded.
• Once it finished scanning, the correct balance should show-up.

[myacre]

Here's a step by step on what I did from the beginning, maybe it will help.

1. Run Bitcoin core 2.Uncheck prune storage 3.Create test wallet(which gave me the wallet folder)> Go to bitcoin core data directory>test wallet folder> rename wallet.dat to wallet-test.dat> copy old wallet.dat and paste in test wallet folder 4. Let Bitcoin Core synch 5. Close BTC core and rerun 6. File> Open Wallet which only shows test wallet.

I hope that you've closed Bitcoin Core when you're swapping the wallet.dat files or there will be issues during the scan process of those wallet files.
(you said you've watch video tutorials so they must have mentioned it)

The "wallet-test.dat" is in the "test wallet" folder so it won't be included to the open wallet selection menu, it should be outside that folder, but inside the 'wallets' folder.
The folders inside the 'wallets' folder are considered as 1 wallet (the wallet name is the folder's name) and it will use the wallet.dat file inside it.
If you want to use a renamed wallet.dat file, you should paste it in 'wallets' folder's root, not in the other folders inside it.

Only 1 wallet shows in the "Wallets:" drop-down menu because you've replaced the test wallet's wallet.dat with the old wallet, so the one's recognized by Bitcoin Core is the old wallet.
If there's no balance, it's either the wallet is empty or it there's an issue with the scan process.
Since you've disabled pruned settings (and have enough disk space?), you can use -rescanblockchain command to try to rescan for the wallet's balance but the current wallet may have issue already if you've swapped them while Bitcoin Core is open.

If you properly swapped them, you can enter rescanblockchain into the 'console' (Window->Console) and wait for it to finish (note: it will take a while to finish and may look like it's syncing but it's not actually downloading anything)

If you improperly swapped them, you can just do this instead:

• Close Bitcoin Core.
• Get a copy of the old wallet and rename the copy into "old_wallet.dat"
• Go to 'wallets' folder and copy old_wallet.dat into it (not inside test wallet folder).
• Open Bitcoin Core and it should be in the menu "File->Open wallet", select "old_wallet" and it will be loaded.
• Once it finished scanning, the correct balance should show-up.

Mind if I pm you?

Earlier last night I was actually able to select the wallet for the first time and after clicking on it I saw a prompt along the lines of "loading wallet" and for a few minutes the wallet was actually loading. Then the "loading wallet" prompt was still on the screen but there was no indication that it was actually loading. Looked like it froze or something. I let it "load" over night and I guess it crashed bitcoin core. When I re-opened bitcoin core this morning I was no longer able to select the wallet.

[nc50lc]

Earlier last night I was actually able to select the wallet for the first time and after clicking on it I saw a prompt along the lines of "loading wallet" and for a few minutes the wallet was actually loading. Then the "loading wallet" prompt was still on the screen but there was no indication that it was actually loading. Looked like it froze or something. I let it "load" over night and I guess it crashed bitcoin core. When I re-opened bitcoin core this morning I was no longer able to select the wallet.

It will be grayed-out in that 'Open Wallet' list if it's loaded
and the wallet should be selectable in the "Wallet:" drop-down menu at the right-hand side of Bitcoin Core:

If the PM is about sending the wallet.dat, please don't send it to anyone including me.

[myacre]

Hello,

I renamed the old Bitcoin data directory in "E" so it won't be used by Bitcoin Core.

In "C:\Users\BTC!\AppData\Roaming\Bitcoin". I created a txt file and renamed it bitcoin.conf and opened it with a text editor(sublime text) and on the config file I wrote:

datadir=E:\Bitcoin
prune=0
dbcache=2048
assumevalid=0000000000000000000838f7c65a28f84af44d2120a7dfb334cc7d11063de2a1

I then created a new folder in the root of Drive "E" and renamed it "Bitcoin".

After starting Bitcoin Core (without any start parameters) for it to create the data directory's contents, instead of the data directory's contents going to "E:\Bitcoin" they are going straight to the root of Drive "E". Am I messing something up here?

Should the bitcoin.conf file be in the root of "C:\Users\BTC!\AppData\Roaming\Bitcoin" or should I be putting it into "daemon" or "doc"? In "doc" there is a file called "bitcoin-conf.md" however.

Thanks in advance!

[nc50lc]

After starting Bitcoin Core (without any start parameters) for it to create the data directory's contents, instead of the data directory's contents going to "E:\Bitcoin" they are going straight to the root of Drive "E". Am I messing something up here?

Should the bitcoin.conf file be in the root of "C:\Users\BTC!\AppData\Roaming\Bitcoin" or should I be putting it into "daemon" or "doc"? In "doc" there is a file called "bitcoin-conf.md" however.

The config file should be in the default data directory which is the former.
The latter is the installation directory which wont be used as the datadir by Bitcoin Core, unless told to do so.

The line "datadir" in the config should tell Bitcoin Core to create the files into that folder so there may be something that's causing it to use "E:\" instead of "E:\Bitcoin".
It can be overridden by the -datadir start parameter so check if you're still using an old shortcut.

Or the config file may actually be "bitcoin.conf.txt" which is caused by Windows explorer not showing the extension (enabling "File name extensions" will do the trick).
In which case, it will use what's set in the GUI.


You can also try to use the old directory if you don't want to restart from scratch,
rename it into the folder name that you want and put the path into the datadir= line in the config file.


Do not forget to close Bitcoin Core to apply the new config.

[krav79]

whats the recovery process if i have my btc adress, wallet  ID
I also have some  pass word and i think i know a username  but i either dont have the correct email adress or incorrect password  for my wallet at bitcoinwallet.com

[nc50lc]

-snip-

I'm sorry but you're in the wrong board to ask online wallet-related questions.

You can go to web wallets board, then create a new thread (click "new topic" at the right),
link to the Web-wallets: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=222.0

[myacre]

Any way to check when a wallet was created?

On one of my previous attempts I copied the address of the wallet I loaded to core and wrote it down to compare and see if the wallet is the one I am trying to access or the "test wallet". Checked it out on blockchain.com and saw that it was an empty wallet with 0 transaction so assumed it was the test wallet address. Earlier, I opened the old wallet.dat folder and did a search for "name" and the address I saw was the same one I had written down (empty wallet).

I don't think it is possible to find the creation date of a wallet I'm assuming, but it would be helpful to aid my theories on what happened here. The old wallet was modified in 2017 which is around the time my uncle asked one of his colleague if he knew how to access the wallet. Perhaps the wallets were swapped or perhaps there was nothing in there to begin with but I am really curious on why the file says it was modified in 2017.

Anyway, just wanted to thank each and every one of you guys for helping me out with this. Learned a great deal and am looking forward to contributing to this forum!

[nc50lc]

-snip-
I don't think it is possible to find the creation date of a wallet I'm assuming, but it would be helpful to aid my theories on what happened here. The old wallet was modified in 2017 which is around the time my uncle asked one of his colleague if he knew how to access the wallet. Perhaps the wallets were swapped or perhaps there was nothing in there to begin with but I am really curious on why the file says it was modified in 2017.

Unfortunately yes, aside from the file's timestamp itself, the only indication of a possible date is the block height in the dump file (dumpwallet) when it's last used
and since you've loaded it in 2017, it will show you a block height of 2017.

But since it's created on 2011~2013, one loose indicator that it's that old is if the wallet isn't "HD" (has a slash at the HD logo at the lower-right hand side of Bitcoin Core UI)
It will stay that way unless the wallet has been upgraded into HD by setting an 'HD Seed' through sethdseed command.
In comparison, wallets created by 2017 Bitcoin Core versions are HD.