Watch only wallet with Private key

[Bennas]

On 29 January I suggested that you try the recovery process on a different computer, a few other members have done the same, but I see you still haven't done that.
3 users you PMed have now recovered the same legacy address with no funds in it. The wallet type didn't change from imported to watch-only, which means the problem is local-yours.

Dump all your private keys from Bitcoin Core again and import them on a fresh Electrum install on a different and clean device. Post the exact download link for the Electrum software that you will install.

When you import a private key and click on Wallet > Private Keys > Export in Electrum, what does it show you? Does it show you the private key of the address? Have you tried to import a private key of an address that is not connected to any of your wallets or addresses to see how your Electrum acts? Try importing 5HpHagT65TZzG1PH3CSu63k8DbpvD8s5ip4nEB3kEsreAnchuDf. It's a leaked private key that is publicly available. Import it and see if you can sync, and then do the steps above to find that same private key.

Good day sir

Thanks for coming back to me on this frustrating topic. I want to import your key and send you the info I get but is it a Legacy wallet key? Its just for the prepend I want to add. Looks like an uncompressed Legacy wallet key. Right?

[Bennas]

Okay I imported the key into my Electrum and it synced 1391 transactions. Address starts with 1EH..........

It did it in approximately 30 seconds. Perfect.

[nc50lc]

Okay I imported the key into my Electrum and it synced 1391 transactions. Address starts with 1EH..........

It did it in approximately 30 seconds. Perfect.

That just proved that your Electrum is working as intended.
Pmalek also instruct you to check if the private key that you'll get from "1EHNa6Q4Jz2uvNExL497mE43ikXhwF6kZm" is the same as the private key that you've imported.
('1EH' is publicly known, no need to censor that address)

The shortcut is to open the 'Addresses' tab ("View->Show addresses" to enable the tab), the right-click on the address and select 'Private key'.

[Bennas]

Yes guys I imported the key in my Electrum and got back the following address and private key from wallet

Address - 1EHNa6Q4Jz2uvNExL497mE43ikXhwF6kZm
Private key - p2pkh:5HpHagT65TZzG1PH3CSu63k8DbpvD8s5ip4nEB3kEsreAnchuDf

Now is it possible at all to explain to me the following:

If I import my private key that is compressed and starts with an L into my Electrum it gives me immediately an address that is empty and obviously belongs to the key. Orb is green so one can assume it is synced. Done and accepted. But I would like to understand why if I leave it like that where the address is empty and the wallet is imported, after 2 days (it varies) it turns to watching only and the address change to my original address which was never imported to Electrum.

I dont have other keys for my addresses and therefore I wonder if I did something wrong many years ago because how is that key somehow still inked to the address I still had? Is there any way to explain this then? Why? I even tried older versions and tried it on other computers but it still gives me the same result after a day or two. It can only mean that there is still a link to my address. I dont have the knowledge to explain this but maybe someone else can.


Thanks for the help

[NeuroticFish]

But I would like to understand why if I leave it like that where the address is empty and the wallet is imported, after 2 days (it varies) it turns to watching only and the address change to my original address which was never imported to Electrum.

My take is that another software is replacing the original wallet file with an old/different/watch only wallet file.
I don't know if it was meant for protection, or recovery, or it's a malware doing this, that's why one of my (and others') suggestions was to try this on another computer.
This doesn't look like a problem of Electrum, it looks like a problem with your system.

[nc50lc]

Now is it possible at all to explain to me the following:

If I import my private key that is compressed and starts with an L into my Electrum it gives me immediately an address that is empty and obviously belongs to the key. Orb is green so one can assume it is synced. Done and accepted. But I would like to understand why if I leave it like that where the address is empty and the wallet is imported, after 2 days (it varies) it turns to watching only and the address change to my original address which was never imported to Electrum.

-snip-

Did it happen even in your latest attempt?

Anyways, so the symptom's timing varies, interesting...
Are you sure that you're the only one who have access to your computer(s)?
Because it looks like someone has been creating the watch-only wallet by importing that address while you're away.
That's the only logical answer that I can think of.

I'm wondering, are you perhaps using "Deepfreeze" (wiki) or other similar software?

Yes guys I imported the key in my Electrum and got back the following address and private key from wallet

Address - 1EHNa6Q4Jz2uvNExL497mE43ikXhwF6kZm
Private key - p2pkh:5HpHagT65TZzG1PH3CSu63k8DbpvD8s5ip4nEB3kEsreAnchuDf

That's the correct pair, so it's working as intended.
IDK what that test is for though since the issue is about 'imported' wallet turning into 'imported - watching only' wallet.

[o_e_l_e_o]

I even tried older versions and tried it on other computers but it still gives me the same result after a day or two.

So you are saying you are experiencing the same strange behavior of a wallet "converting" to a watch only wallet on multiple different devices? Were any of those devices new, clean devices? Did you install Electrum from the same installer on each device, or did you download and verify it separately each time? Does anyone else have physical access to your devices?

It seems like either someone is trying really hard to make you deposit coins to an address you don't control, or you have some bug or malware across all your devices which is opening old wallets.

[Pmalek]

IDK what that test is for though since the issue is about 'imported' wallet turning into 'imported - watching only' wallet.

I wanted to see if he was able to import the key and sync the software properly, and if his Electrum client works normally. He claims his wallet loads normally but after a while it turns into a watch-only wallet. I wanted to see if that happened in this case as well. If it turned into a watch-only wallet, he wouldn't be able to export private keys since watch only-wallets don't have private keys. When he attempted to do that, everything was OK.

@Bennas
Let's check something else. Each Electrum wallet can be named manually or the software assigns names to them like wallet1, wallet2, 3, 4... After your wallet turns into a watch-only wallet, does its name change as well? If it does, what's the new name.
Let's say the wallet you are trying to create with your private key is called wallet3, is it still wallet3 after it turns itself into a watch only-wallet?

[nc50lc]

IDK what that test is for though since the issue is about 'imported' wallet turning into 'imported - watching only' wallet.

-snip- If it turned into a watch-only wallet, he wouldn't be able to export private keys since watch only-wallets don't have private keys. When he attempted to do that, everything was OK.

Right... and it will display "watching only" beside the wallet type next to the wallet name (at the  title bar on top).

[Pmalek]

Right... and it will display "watching only" beside the wallet type next to the wallet name (at the  title bar on top).

Correct. This issue hasn't been solved for quite some time already and I can't remember if anyone asked OP how many Electrum wallets does he even have. Can it be possible that his software loads an old wallet of his whenever he tries to load some other wallet for whatever reason? I can't wrap my head around the fact that an imported private key that creates a standard wallet suddenly turns into a watch-only wallet.

@Bennas
How many wallets do you have on Electrum? You can check it manually by going into the Roaming > Electrum > Wallets folder. Or when Electrum loads, click on the 'Choose' button and it will open a new window displaying all your wallets in the standard location. Do you recognize all of those and did you create all of them?

It's time for you to make a post about the problem on their GitHub by creating a new issue. 

[o_e_l_e_o]

[This issue hasn't been solved for quite some time already and I can't remember if anyone asked OP how many Electrum wallets does he even have. Can it be possible that his software loads an old wallet of his whenever he tries to load some other wallet for whatever reason?

I went over this issue with OP here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5380670.msg59097045#msg59097045

He posted links to a bunch of images in this folder: https://bennas.imgbb.com/

He said (emphasis mine):

We loaded the private key (only) in Electrum after creating a new wallet and then choosing option 4 to import/restore wallet. With or without prepend doesn’t make a difference as we are using Legacy wallets. We didn’t encrypt it and it started syncing. At first it gave us a wallet that says imported and in the address line gave an address with the option of a private key (see image – Electrum1). It synchronized for around 30 hours and then gave us the total coins with the transaction history.  Besides that it turned to watching only and then in the address line it gives our old address.  (See image – Electrum2). At some point after that it gave a green line at the bottom that says Coin Control active and synchronized until the total 2022 was done (see image – coin control).

His image Electrum1 shows a wallet named "default_wallet", while Electrum2 shows a wallet named "john 4". They are quite clearly different wallet files that Electrum is opening, and not one wallet file converting itself from imported to watch only, as OP mistakenly believes.

[Pmalek]

His image Electrum1 shows a wallet named "default_wallet", while Electrum2 shows a wallet named "john 4". They are quite clearly different wallet files that Electrum is opening, and not one wallet file converting itself from imported to watch only, as OP mistakenly believes.

OK, so we are thinking the same thing. At least based on the images he has provided. It still doesn't answer the question why his Electrum client switches the loaded wallet to a different one after some time if that is the thing that is happening. Or why it requires 30 hours to sync. Even with bad internet connection, that shouldn't be the case.

[Bennas]

Good day Everyone (Guys who helped me so far)

Sorry for being absent a while as it felt I was running into a brick wall. I was trying to figure out what my next step should be when I started reading through Bennoko's thread and it looks a lot more that we have common problems with our old wallets. The only difference is that he wants to recover from a seed phrase and I am using my private key. What is similar is that his seed phrase also recover another address that is empty, the same with my private keys.

NeuroticFish

My take is that another software is replacing the original wallet file with an old/different/watch only wallet file.
I don't know if it was meant for protection, or recovery, or it's a malware doing this, that's why one of my (and others') suggestions was to try this on another computer.
This doesn't look like a problem of Electrum, it looks like a problem with your system.

I don’t think so as it is doing the same thing on all my computers with different versions of Windows installed as well as no Firewall or Anti-Virus on it.

Nc50lc

Did it happen even in your latest attempt?
Anyways, so the symptom's timing varies, interesting...
Are you sure that you're the only one who have access to your computer(s)?
Because it looks like someone has been creating the watch-only wallet by importing that address while you're away.
That's the only logical answer that I can think of.
I'm wondering, are you perhaps using "Deepfreeze" (wiki) or other similar software?

It happened in all my attempts, on different computers, different Windows and also the different Electrum Releases (at least 4 different releases as old as v1.4)
No one can access my laptop for any reason, only my wife but don’t even know how to open Electrum.
Not sure what Deepfreeze is but never used it at all.

Oeloe

So you are saying you are experiencing the same strange behaviour of a wallet "converting" to a watch only wallet on multiple different devices? Were any of those devices new, clean devices? Did you install Electrum from the same installer on each device, or did you download and verify it separately each time? Does anyone else have physical access to your devices?

It seems like either someone is trying really hard to make you deposit coins to an address you don't control, or you have some bug or malware across all your devices which is opening old wallets.

The same behaviour over all my attempts. And all the releases came from Electrum’s website and the signatures were confirmed every time. No one is trying to convince me to deposit into any different address. (I can’t access the funds anyway)

Pmalek

OK, so we are thinking the same thing. At least based on the images he has provided. It still doesn't answer the question why his Electrum client switches the loaded wallet to a different one after some time if that is the thing that is happening. Or why it requires 30 hours to sync. Even with bad internet connection, that shouldn't be the case.

No I think no one who helped me from the forum left his Electrum on for 30+ hours after syncing when trying to import my Private Key on your Electrum. So it didn’t have time to change. It syncs in a few seconds right. Mine as well but giving the empty address and then…….after a day or two (sometimes 15 hours – not always the same duration) it turns to watching only by itself.

I see the following remarks on Bennoko’s thread which made me think there is another problem here:

Quoting Bennoko”

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 experience the same problem with when importing my Private Keys in Electrum 4.1.5. Totally different address.

Nc50lc

Okay, so that can be the potential solution for the various threads authors who claims that they have a "very old" electrum seed.

It means that there is a lot more problems with old wallets, seeds and private keys. There should be an easier solution for people with older wallets that created before version 0.34.

Also

Regardless of the date: if it's from versions lower than v0.31, then your seed phrase can't be used to recover the wallet to the later versions.

These are the "release notes" that came with Electrum v0.32 and some later versions:
Quote from: RELEASE-NOTES for v0.32
version 0.31 fixes a vulnerability in the key generation function.
Unfortunately, this means that wallets created prior to 0.31 are
incompatible with newer versions. We apologize for the
inconvenience. We try to keep this kind of upgrades as rare as
possible.

If you use an older wallet, you will see a message asking you to
create a new wallet and to move your balance to the new wallet.

-snip-

Note that you may keep your current seed. For this, all you need to do
is to create the new wallet using the wallet recovery procedure. You
will not recover your old wallet with the new software, but you will
get a new wallet instead.
Quote from: RELEASE-NOTES for v1.1
LIST OF UPGRADES:
-----------------

Version 0.34: The key derivation was changed again in version 0.34, in order to offer "type 2 wallet" capabilities.
Version 0.31: This version fixes a vulnerability in the key generation function.



After getting nowhere my son started loading Linux with Electrum 0.34 on a freshly installed computer. The following happened:

When not linked to a server and the private key is imported into the old Electrum 0.34 it gives the right address immediately. The one that is displayed in Electrum 4.1.5 after watching only switched.
When Electrum 0.34 is linked to a server using Node JS it gives the new wallet like Electrum 4.1.5 gives before watching only switch.

Does this make any sense? Any idea how to approach new information?
Anything will be appreciated. Thanks in advance

[nc50lc]

Nc50lc

Okay, so that can be the potential solution for the various threads authors who claims that they have a "very old" electrum seed.

It means that there is a lot more problems with old wallets, seeds and private keys. There should be an easier solution for people with older wallets that created before version 0.34.
-snip-

AFAIK, that's my reply to the other thread (with different author and issue).

Unfortunately I don't think that it's related to your issue since it only affects the keys that the wallet derive from the seed.
In other words, those versions' seed when restored to an earlier versions will still create a standard wallet (not watching only)
but with different set of addresses and private keys.

Nc50lc

Did it happen even in your latest attempt?

It happened in all my attempts, on different computers, different Windows and also the different Electrum Releases (at least 4 different releases as old as v1.4)

If you're telling the truth... I'm stumped.
Honestly, I don't have any idea on what's happening in your case. Sorry.

[pooya87]

The same behaviour over all my attempts. And all the releases came from Electrum’s website and the signatures were confirmed every time. No one is trying to convince me to deposit into any different address. (I can’t access the funds anyway)

But Electrum doesn't randomly choose which wallet file to open. You have to explicitly choose which wallet to open from the menu and next time you run Electrum it will open the last opened wallet (not a random one). So if you did indeed create the wallet using your keys (lets call it wallet1) next time you open your Electrum it will open wallet1 file not something else like the other watch only file.

Does someone have access to your computer that may have created and opened the other file between your attempts?

[Bennas]

The same behaviour over all my attempts. And all the releases came from Electrum’s website and the signatures were confirmed every time. No one is trying to convince me to deposit into any different address. (I can’t access the funds anyway)

But Electrum doesn't randomly choose which wallet file to open. You have to explicitly choose which wallet to open from the menu and next time you run Electrum it will open the last opened wallet (not a random one). So if you did indeed create the wallet using your keys (lets call it wallet1) next time you open your Electrum it will open wallet1 file not something else like the other watch only file.

Does someone have access to your computer that may have created and opened the other file between your attempts?

Yes sorry I meant it brings up different addresses if importing the private key - not wallets.

Sorry about that.

My issue is still the private key import a new address in new Electrum (anything after 1.4 I tested) . When importing in old Electrum 0.34 bring up my original address.

I am totally confused.

[Bennas]

Nc50lc

Okay, so that can be the potential solution for the various threads authors who claims that they have a "very old" electrum seed.

It means that there is a lot more problems with old wallets, seeds and private keys. There should be an easier solution for people with older wallets that created before version 0.34.
-snip-

AFAIK, that's my reply to the other thread (with different author and issue).

Unfortunately I don't think that it's related to your issue since it only affects the keys that the wallet derive from the seed.
In other words, those versions' seed when restored to an earlier versions will still create a standard wallet (not watching only)
but with different set of addresses and private keys.

Nc50lc

Did it happen even in your latest attempt?

It happened in all my attempts, on different computers, different Windows and also the different Electrum Releases (at least 4 different releases as old as v1.4)

If you're telling the truth... I'm stumped.
Honestly, I don't have any idea on what's happening in your case. Sorry.

Thanks for the help so far

[Pmalek]

Electrum seeds can by default not be imported into any other wallet because they are not compatible with the BIP-39 standard. However, if the wallet isn't empty, it can be imported and recovered with BlueWallet. Your issue is with private keys, but maybe you can still give it a try and see if BlueWallet can recover the correct addresses because that wasn't the case when you tried doing the import into blockchain.com.

Check if it works with BlueWallet, but only for funded addresses:
https://github.com/BlueWallet

[pooya87]

My issue is still the private key import a new address in new Electrum (anything after 1.4 I tested) . When importing in old Electrum 0.34 bring up my original address.

The only possibility that I can think of which would cause this is if there were some sort of bug in 0.34 that is creating an "invalid" address from your private key whereas the new versions are creating the valid address which is the reason for the difference. (BTW I already pointed out this is not a compressed/uncompressed issue).

I'm curious, can you spend from your address or sign a message from it in Electrum 0.34? Because that would clarify a lot of things.

[Bennas]

Electrum seeds can by default not be imported into any other wallet because they are not compatible with the BIP-39 standard. However, if the wallet isn't empty, it can be imported and recovered with BlueWallet. Your issue is with private keys, but maybe you can still give it a try and see if BlueWallet can recover the correct addresses because that wasn't the case when you tried doing the import into blockchain.com.

Check if it works with BlueWallet, but only for funded addresses:
https://github.com/BlueWallet

Thank you

I am going to give it a try. I'll come back to you on this