Bitcoin Core restore from backup. wallet.dat "data not in recognized format"

[brunelleschi]

Hi,
I have Bitcoin Core 22.0
Windows 10 o/s
I did encrypt the wallet so a password was required to send and receive.  

Downloaded full blockchain, synced, and used to receive and send bitcoin, no problems.  Then i emptied the wallet to make an experiment and see if I could restore the wallet from backup.  Shut down the software.  Went to the present wallet file C:\Users\User\AppData\Roaming\Bitcoin\wallets\Wallet 1\wallet.dat and saved that file to a new location in Documents.  Then I took the backup file created by Bitcoin Core in and saved as  C:\Users\User\AppData\Roaming\Bitcoin\wallets\Wallet 1\wallet.dat.  Tried to run the program and got an error message "data is not in recognized format".  So I tried reversing process and bringing the original .dat file back to its original location and now it has the same error.  "data is not in recognized format".

Any ideas?  

[1715150131]

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[1715150131]

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[BitMaxz]

If you copy or move the wallet.dat file to another folder without closing the Bitcoin core the file you copy or move are corrupted that is why they always recommend to close the Bitcoin core first before you copy or move the wallet.dat.

So I believe that is why you get that error it's because of wallet file corruption.

Next time if you are going to backup wallet.dat make sure the bitcoin core is completely closed or backup all private keys inside the wallet.dat.

[brunelleschi]

I thought I did close the program.  But maybe I'm mistaken.  So I suppose the only way to remedy the situation now is to uninstall and start over?  Download the whole blockchain again? 

[nc50lc]

-snip- So I suppose the only way to remedy the situation now is to uninstall and start over?  Download the whole blockchain again?  

No, re-downloading the whole blockchain isn't necessary unless it's set to be pruned.
If the "prune" setting is disabled, you don't have to since the error is for the wallet file.

It will only return with that error if the wallet.dat is corrupted to the point that the contents can't be recognized by Bitcoin Core.
I doubt manually switching wallets could corrupt it to that point, are you certain that it's created by Bitcoin Core?

BTW, you don't have to replace an existing wallet to restore another (that will just produce issues).
You just have to create another folder (with the wallet name that you want) in wallets folder, then paste the wallet.dat in there.
(Alternatively, paste the wallet.dat inside wallets folder and rename it like for e.g. wallet1.dat)
Open Bitcoin Core and load that wallet using the menu: "File->Open Wallet"; after that, you can select it in the "Wallet:" drop-down menu at the right.

[brunelleschi]

Thanks for the help, man.  But as it turns out, i found another backup file i didn't realize i had and was able to restore the wallet with that.  whew!