Trying to restore my wallet from 2009 or earlier

[nc50lc]

Okay I noticed. Still no wallet.dat file, searched a lot. When u try to open the electrum it starts with the test over and over again which I created at the beginning

The file that you should open as text is "electrum.dat" file, but should be the one created after restoring your seed phrase.
The old version doesn't support multiple wallet files so, you should delete/rename the test wallet first before you can create/restore a new wallet.
electrum.dat should be located in electrum's data directory: https://electrum.readthedocs.io/en/latest/faq.html#where-is-the-electrum-datadir-located.

BTW, 'wallet.dat' is for Bitcoin Core client.

[Bennoko]

I Also looked for electrum.dat
There is no installation it runs on python, so all i found the folder, file called electrum is that which I downloaded codes folder,files from github

Ill check detailed again when im at home

[Bennoko]

Whats the problem

https://imgyukle.com/i/opqDcP


It stays like this, doesnt decode? After i close it n then opened again there re new seeds, 9 different words before that there were 8 words with different wallet

It doesnt even recover the test seeds. It does if u wait long but no receive adress at all

[nc50lc]

-snip- After i close it n then opened again there re new seeds, 9 different words before that there were 8 words with different wallet

I can't comprehend this, are you somehow clicking "create" instead of "restore" when you're trying to restore the seed phrase?
Create is for generating a new Electrum wallet thus, you'll be given a new seed.
Restore is for re-creating an Electrum wallet from an existing seed phrase.

-snip-
It doesnt even recover the test seeds. It does if u wait long but no receive adress at all

The error seems to be related to connection issues since there are no available servers for that version anymore.
Was that after restoring your seed phrase and not the test seed?

If it's the correct seed phrase: Since it still started after the error, that should be enough.
To generate addresses, go to 'Receive' tab then click "New address" below.
Create multiple addresses (about 20~40) so the electrum.dat (when opened as text) will show those 20~40 addresses' private keys.

[Bennoko]

Restore option always says please wait, no response, bored of waiting n u click cancel then i open again it starts with different wallet. it doesnt ask new or recover this time. U need to delete electrum.dat everytime

in test seeds one time i waited like this n canceled after opened electrum checked the seeds if they re the same, yes same but receive adress there was none, then created but when u create new receive adress program also doesnt respond n freeze
U force quit then open again u see there is new adress in receive tab. None of receive adresses re smilar to tests adress before restored, all different its generating

[nc50lc]

Restore option always says please wait, no response, bored of waiting n u click cancel then i open again it starts with different wallet. it doesnt ask new or recover this time. U need to delete electrum.dat everytime
-snip-

Perhaps, that "different wallet" is the restored wallet from your seed?
Does it freeze after typing the seed phrase or right after clicking 'restore'?

in test seeds one time i waited like this n canceled after opened electrum checked the seeds if they re the same, yes same but receive adress there was none, then created but when u create new receive adress program also doesnt respond n freeze
U force quit then open again u see there is new adress in receive tab. None of receive adresses re smilar to tests adress before restored, all different its generating

Are you comparing the addresses of "test seed" restored to the latest version of Electrum with the addresses in 0.30?
Because those are expected to be different due to the difference in key derivation between those versions.

Other than that, I can't add anything because I can not reproduce the errors since I don't have a system that can run v0.30.

[Bennoko]

Yes its always freezing n saying please wait even in test. U need to quit n open again. Even u click on new receive adress button.

i didnt see any transactions in the history when its generated new wallet with my old seeds. Something is going wrong

I am working on gnome debian10  in virtualbox


ill compare the test seeds private keys in the latest version of electrum if the seeds ll be different when restoring from private keys

i also compared the seeds code in latest vers. It works with same generated seeds when u restore with code

[nc50lc]

i didnt see any transactions in the history when its generated new wallet with my old seeds. Something is going wrong

You won't see any transactions because its not online and won't be online.
The goal is to get the private keys that Electrum version 0.30 derived from your seed phrase, then import them to the latest version (v4.1.5) as an imported wallet by selecting "Import bitcoin addresses or private keys" during wallet creation; then paste the each private keys per line.

The steps on how to acquire the keys from v0.30 are already in the previous replies, try to back-read from page 2: /index.php?topic=5379817.msg58950935#msg58950935
And take note: the wallet should be unencrypted for the PrvKeys to be human-readable.

[Bennoko]

Okay ill try that. How many receive adresses i need to create?
 
I found the electrum.dat yesterday finally:) yes it opens with text page

[HCP]

Okay ill try that. How many receive adresses i need to create?

Try creating 10-20... and then import them all into the latest version of Electrum, if it doesn't find any transaction history, you could try creating more, but I would be about 99.9% certain that the wallet is empty and/or not from the wallet you believe you had in 2009 (given that Electrum didn't exist until 2011, but you seem to be very insistent that it did )

When you enter your seed in the latest version of Electrum, what is the "seed type" displayed as? I've tried with the test seed created by ETFbitcoin when he ran the 0.3.0 version... it shows as "Old":

Code:

harsh universe fantasy song other remind essence wrap grief deserve interest poem

What is interesting is that it didn't generate the same addresses:


vs.

[nc50lc]

-snip-
What is interesting is that it didn't generate the same addresses:

That's what I'm talking about in the previous replies, as stated in the release notes of v0.32+: /index.php?topic=5379817.msg58904925#msg58904925
The key derivation was changed twice since v0.31 (v0.31 and v0.34), thus, those old wallets' private keys can't be restored using the latest version.
He'll have to get the private keys from the restored wallet in v0.30 and import them to the latest (if still didn't worked, get the keys from v0.32~0.33).

But it seems OP is having trouble following the guides so I'd to stop responding to his already-answered questions (answered by the previous posts).

[Bennoko]

Okay ill try that. How many receive adresses i need to create?

Try creating 10-20... and then import them all into the latest version of Electrum, if it doesn't find any transaction history, you could try creating more, but I would be about 99.9% certain that the wallet is empty and/or not from the wallet you believe you had in 2009 (given that Electrum didn't exist until 2011, but you seem to be very insistent that it did )

When you enter your seed in the latest version of Electrum, what is the "seed type" displayed as? I've tried with the test seed created by ETFbitcoin when he ran the 0.3.0 version... it shows as "Old":

Code:

harsh universe fantasy song other remind essence wrap grief deserve interest poem

What is interesting is that it didn't generate the same addresses:


vs.

Old Seeds doesnt work in new 4.1.5 electrum. it opens totally different wallet
U can only generate 5 different adresses in 0.30, that 5 prv keys also show the balance zero in new electrum
i think All i can do is to recover the hdd which i worked on all these processes in it. It has the problem of head stuck. Am losting my hope by the way



Also u know what version of there is green orb on the right corner for connecting, there must be yellow orb next to it for seeds n one more orb. Total 3 orbs what version has that?

[Bennoko]

-snip-
What is interesting is that it didn't generate the same addresses:

That's what I'm talking about in the previous replies, as stated in the release notes of v0.32+: /index.php?topic=5379817.msg58904925#msg58904925
The key derivation was changed twice since v0.31 (v0.31 and v0.34), thus, those old wallets' private keys can't be restored using the latest version.
He'll have to get the private keys from the restored wallet in v0.30 and import them to the latest (if still didn't worked, get the keys from v0.32~0.33).

But it seems OP is having trouble following the guides so I'd to stop responding to his already-answered questions (answered by the previous posts).

Am really grateful for responses, believe me i try my best. I am sure u get it done in an hour if u were be me
I appreciate you

[Bennoko]

U can only generate 5 different adresses in 0.30, that 5 prv keys also show the balance zero in new electrum

It's possible to generate more than 5 address on Electrum 0.30. While i don't know if there are any limit (since i don't review the source code), i managed to generate more than 10 addresses.

Yes? How? i made it 10 for the test at the beginning If its about the gap limit, generated just 5. Its freezing already when u click on, server doesnt respond back


Whats the point of generating more and more receive adresses? 20 or 40?

[moderator's note: consecutive posts merged]

[HCP]

i think All i can do is to recover the hdd which i worked on all these processes in it. It has the problem of head stuck. Am losting my hope by the way

This would probably yield far more clues and useful information that guessing at versions of Electrum (or what wallet it was that you were using).

Also u know what version of there is green orb on the right corner for connecting, there must be yellow orb next to it for seeds n one more orb. Total 3 orbs what version has that?

The current setup with the padlock, the settings button, the "seed" icon and the "connection" orb has been around since at least 0.40, judging by the screenshot on an early version on the bitcoin wiki:


The orb simply changes colour depending on what the connection state is:
Green Orb = Connected and Synced
Blue Arrows = Connected and Syncing
Red Orb = Not connected
Blue Orb = Connected via Proxy (and synced)

Whats the point of generating more and more receive adresses? 20 or 40?

There probably isn't any point.

If you can generate the first 5-10 addresses, and then import the addresses into the latest version (or just look them up on a block explorer) and there is no transaction history to be found on any of them, then it's almost guaranteed that the seed you have is for an empty wallet.

By default, the newer versions generate 20 receive addresses... and sometimes, users do "unexpected" things like select a random address from the list on the address tab rather than letting Electrum select the first "unused" address by selecting the "new address" button on the receive tab.

However, given that the early version only seems to generate a couple of addresses by default, then I doubt that you would have just randomly created 20-40 addresses and picked one of those.

[nc50lc]

Whats the point of generating more and more receive adresses? 20 or 40?

Because the unencrypted (no password) electrum.dat file will display 20 private keys if you generated 20 addresses in the receive tab.
There's no "export private key" option in v0.30 but you can exploit that to dump the wallet's private keys.

The point is to make sure that you will export enough private keys in case you've made as much transactions at that time.
Exporting a few prvKeys may not be enough in case if you previously used 20 addresses before, right?

[Bennoko]

Whats the point of generating more and more receive adresses? 20 or 40?

Because the unencrypted (no password) electrum.dat file will display 20 private keys if you generated 20 addresses in the receive tab.
There's no "export private key" option in v0.30 but you can exploit that to dump the wallet's private keys.

The point is to make sure that you will export enough private keys in case you've made as much transactions at that time.
Exporting a few prvKeys may not be enough in case if you previously used 20 addresses before, right?

No there was only one adress i used, never created one more, i didnt need it to and never send any btc to anyone. I only get paid in that adress, what i tell u if i say i get paid less than 7 seconds when the job is done after write down my btc adress in their payment option. Believe that?

The electrum i was using,  on the Right down the corner must be 3 orbs, just orbs no more icons, first one is make the password for electrum.dat, second is for ur seeds n last orb for servers connections
I think thats the version am looking for, any clues?


0.30 generates just 5 adresses i dont know why it does not make more. otherwise i clicked a lot to new receive adress. there is only 5 private keys in electrum.dat

[nc50lc]

No there was only one adress i used, never created one more, i didnt need it to and never send any btc to anyone. I only get paid in that adress, what i tell u if i say i get paid less than 7 seconds when the job is done after write down my btc adress in their payment option. Believe that?

Okay, if you're certain on that, then 5 is good.
Now, open electrum.dat as a text file and you should find 5 uncompressed WIF private keys as plain text.
e.g. (from ETF's electrum.dat): 5JTvMqQhEeBQwcGBjPGsBod2XTsAQB7TWGgCMEpAdfsjVBcAze3 and 5K5rq6DKJ95VxjLnkf26uF2NBMdMh1fkrZupm5rCKNcqCNj9ivA
(The array of 51-character strings that start with "5")

Then in the latest version of Electrum, create a new wallet but during wallet creation, select the option "Import bitcoin addresses or private keys" instead.
Paste the private keys one line each (no need to prepend anything since those are uncompressed WIF).
Finish the wallet and see if it comes up with a balance (if it's the first time Electrum launched, you must wait for a few minutes).

If it's empty, try the same procedures again with the private keys from old Electrum version 0.32 or v0.33.

When you enter your seed in the latest version of Electrum, what is the "seed type" displayed as? I've tried with the test seed created by ETFbitcoin when he ran the 0.3.0 version... it shows as "Old":

It must be "old" since he's able to restore it to 0.30 since that old Electrum do not support the new seed version.

[Bennoko]

How do i open the mnemonic word list for 0.30 or where to find?
I had one more wallet n there was a word it’s “glamorous” thats not in v1 mnemonic word list. Am very sure about the word because i didnt know the meaning n i checked in the dictionary few times in that time n its came into my mind in these days
Something is wrong i can’t figure out

[pooya87]

How do i open the mnemonic word list for 0.30 or where to find?
I had one more wallet n there was a word it’s “glamorous” thats not in v1 mnemonic word list. Am very sure about the word because i didnt know the meaning n i checked in the dictionary few times in that time n its came into my mind in these days
Something is wrong i can’t figure out

Is it possible that you used a custom dictionary with your own set of words to create the wallet? I looked around and couldn't find any word lists that uses the word "glamorous" such as the list used in version 0.56.
There is also always the possibility of what you have being a brain wallet. Think if you ever used any of the brain wallet tools.