Transferring wallet.dat file and getting an Open wallet failed error

[thekingsking]

Hey everyone!

Was on my old PC from 16-17 and saw that I still had my Bitcoin folder on the hard drive with the wallet.dat file.

I've redownloaded Bitcoin Core onto my PC and let it fully sync, I have then closed the client and deleted the wallet.dat file and replaced it with my wallet.dat file from 16-17.

When I re-open Bitcoin core and go to File/Open Wallet I notice it's called 'itcoin'? When I click to open it prompts me with an error:

Wallet file verification failed. Failed to load database path 'E:\itcoin'. Path does not exist.

Can someone advise where I'm going wrong here? Not sure why the Bitcoin client is trying to open 'itcoin' and why the first character of that word is missing.

Thanks


p.s Just created a new wallet within the Bitcoin core as 'newwallet' Then when I open Bitcoin core and go to File/Open Wallet it appears in the list as 'ewwalet'.

Seems as though my Core isn't registering the first character of .dat files? Any ideas?

[LoyceV]

Failed to load database path 'E:\itcoin'. Path does not exist.

It sounds like somehow the path got changed in your settings. Try to change it back:

Right-click on your bitcoin-qt shortcut, press properties, and add

Code:

-datadir=E:\Bitcoin

Turn off Bitcoin Core before changing it's file path.

[thekingsking]

Failed to load database path 'E:\itcoin'. Path does not exist.

It sounds like somehow the path got changed in your settings. Try to change it back:

Right-click on your bitcoin-qt shortcut, press properties, and add

Code:

-datadir=E:\Bitcoin

Turn off Bitcoin Core before changing it's file path.

Appreciate the response, sorry I'm not the most tech-savvy.

Last week I downloaded Bitcoin Core and sync'd it up to 99% on one of my HDs until it ran out of space, so I had to start the whole process again on a different drive and it's just sync'd fully today. Maybe that's why the pathing is wrong when I'm trying to open a .dat file now.

In regards to:

Right-click on your bitcoin-qt shortcut, press properties, and add

-datadir=E:\Bitcoin

When I've right-clicked and gone to properties I can't see any option to add? It just brings up the tabs General/Security/Details/Shortcut/Compatability/Previous Versions.

Could you please point me in the right direction?

[BitMaxz]

When I've right-clicked and gone to properties I can't see any option to add? It just brings up the tabs General/Security/Details/Shortcut/Compatability/Previous Versions.

Could you please point me in the right direction?

There is no add button you just need to paste the -datadir=E:\Bitcoin into "target:" under shortcut look at this image below as a sample



Make sure to add a space before you paste it then apply

Or alternatively, you can edit your bitcoin.conf file and add this line below then save

Code:

datadir=E:\Bitcoin

[RickDeckard]

Could you please point me in the right direction?

If you're having trouble following LoyceV advise you always have the reply from nc50lc here[1]. I don't think this is the same "method" implied by LoyceV, but the result should be the same:

Using Windows?
If yes, create a shortcut from the Bitcoin-qt.exe then add -datadir=(your preferred location) to the target file.
Example: "C:\Users\(username)\Desktop\bitcoin-qt.exe" -datadir=E:\BitcoinData



Then use that shortcut to access bitcoin-qt with the new data directory.

EDIT: Looks like we're in sync BitMaxz!
[1]https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=4519310.msg40705970#msg40705970

[odolvlobo]

One weird possibility is that the "\B" of "Bitcoin" is being interpreted as a backspace (0x08) and "\n" of "newwallet" is being interpreted as a new line (0x0a).

I don't know how you manage your settings, but perhaps make sure you are not referring to your folders as "\bitcoin" or "\newwallet". Also, perhaps try using forward slash "/" instead of "\" in the paths.

[thekingsking]

I think it's how my PC is just setup in regards to the back/forward slashes.

I have the Bitcoin Core now fully DL'd it's just each time I am trying to put my wallet.dat into a folder or sub folder the Bitcoin Core removes the first character so I can never open the wallet.dat. Tried to do some Googling about the problem but nothing seem to came up.

Annoyingly pretty sure I have some coins in the file too as I never spent them back in the day!

[RickDeckard]

That's odd. Doing some good old google search lead me to this issue[1] - now closed - reported by a user over at Twitter[2]. Could this be the same problem as yours? Another user opened a big ticket with the same behavior such as yours as well[3]. I think that eventually the issue was merged in these(?)[4][5] PR's and, supposedly, it should have fixed the issue.

What version of Bitcoin Core are you running @thekingsking? The latest one is 22.0[6] and the issue shouldn't be present on that one...
[1]https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/issues/19928
[2]https://twitter.com/2btc10000pizzas/status/1303768424133398528
[3]https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/issues/21501
[4]https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/21944
[5]https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/20080
[6]https://bitcoincore.org/en/download/

[BitMaxz]

Annoyingly pretty sure I have some coins in the file too as I never spent them back in the day!

Did you successfully import or paste the wallet.dat file from the right wallet folder? But still do not show any balance.

Would you mind checking the addresses from windows>receiving addresses then checking them manually on blockchair.com then let's see if one of the used addresses has funds on the explorer.

Here's the image as reference

[HCP]

What version of Bitcoin Core are you running @thekingsking? The latest one is 22.0 and the issue shouldn't be present on that one...

^^^-- This.

I suspect the OP has run into the "first character" bug... but as RickDeckard has pointed out, it shouldn't be an issue if they update to the very latest version.

[RickDeckard]

What version of Bitcoin Core are you running @thekingsking? The latest one is 22.0 and the issue shouldn't be present on that one...

^^^-- This.

I suspect the OP has run into the "first character" bug... but as RickDeckard has pointed out, it shouldn't be an issue if they update to the very latest version.

Amongst the many comments that were made between the links that I've posted early, I'm also now very aligned with your affirmation HCP - @thekingsking is probably using a version equal or older than v0.21.0 since the issue reported by a user on GitHub also had this version:


@thekingsking : Whenever you can, update your Bitcoin Core client by following the steps mentioned here[1]:

How to Upgrade
If you are running an older version, shut it down. Wait until it has completely shut down (which might take a few minutes in some cases), then run the installer (on Windows) or just copy over /Applications/Bitcoin-Qt (on Mac) or bitcoind/bitcoin-qt (on Linux).

As always, make sure you verify[2] the installer after the download is finished so that you can ensure you're installing a non-tampered version of Bitcoin Core.
[1]https://bitcoin.org/en/releases/22.0/
[2]https://mooniversity.io/posts/verify-core

[thekingsking]

Appreciate all the replies here from everyone on the subject.

It does appear I have the same issue as the other user in v.0.21.0 with the 'first character' bug. I have double checked, I am using v.22.0 downloaded from https://bitcoincore.org/en/download/ (I'm based in the UK so am blocked from downloading bitcoin.org.

In regards to pasting the wallet.dat file into the folder I believe I am doing it correctly as the client recognises a wallet file (without the first character).

So presently I'm not sure what to try next. Might try and download Bitcoin Core on my dad's computer and see if encountering the same problem.

If anyone has any other ideas please advise.

Thanks

[RickDeckard]

That is ... odd. I've looked up your problem again on the internet and wasn't able to find any suitable solution (or report) other than updating your client to v22.0 (the PR associated with this error - #21944 - was implemented in v22.0[1]) . I wonder, what if you tried to tweet your problem to @LukeDashjr? Apparently it was the reason  according to my previous link - that lead for this bug to be reported on their GitHub page[2]. You can also try to open an issue on BitcoinCore GitHub repo[3]? Or, even better from my perspective, joining in their IRC channel[4] and expose your struggle:

If have any questions, please stop by the #bitcoin IRC chatroom (IRC, web) and we’ll do our best to help you.

This may be a stupid suggestion, but have you tried creating a folder, placing the wallet.dat file there and load the file from that folder instead from the root (E:)?
[1]https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/master/doc/release-notes/release-notes-22.0.md
[2]https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/issues/19928
[3]https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/issues
[4]https://bitcoincore.org/en/2021/09/13/release-22.0/

[nc50lc]

I have double checked, I am using v.22.0 downloaded from https://bitcoincore.org/en/download/ (I'm based in the UK so am blocked from downloading bitcoin.org.

I have the Bitcoin Core now fully DL'd it's just each time I am trying to put my wallet.dat into a folder or sub folder the Bitcoin Core removes the first character so I can never open the wallet.dat. Tried to do some Googling about the problem but nothing seem to came up

So Bitcoin Core is working normally until you replaced the wallet.dat.

Try to open the wallet.dat instead of replacing the current wallet.dat file.

To do that, create a copy of the wallet.dat and rename it into something else like "old_wallet.dat", paste into 'wallets' folder, then use the UI's "File->Open Wallet" menu to open it.
If there's no 'wallets' folder, create one inside your bitcoin data directory.
Also, before doing so, clear the loaded wallets by deleting "settings.json" file from Bitcoin's data directory.

[litecoin_messiah]

this is pointless just make a new folder and put the wallet.dat file there right click the folder and open debug console in bitcoin-qt

type

loadwallet "path-to-the-folder-with-wallet.dat"

and then wait.

[BitMaxz]

If anyone has any other ideas please advise.

If all suggestion doesn't work try to point your wallet.dat file directly through bitcoin.conf you can find them under the Bitcoin folder usually under %UserProfile%\AppData\Roaming\Bitcoin\

Just edit the bitcoin.conf file through notepad and add this line below take note it's an example so you need to use the right path of your wallet.dat file

Code:

wallet=C:\\Users\Admin\AppData\Roaming\Bitcoin\wallets\wallet

Let's hope this one will work.

[thekingsking]

I'm going to do everything as you guys have suggested at some point today.

https://imgur.com/a/iqHNqBt

Prior to trying the suggestions I had a little play around with the folders and got the Bitcoin Core to start opening the [default wallet] which it's been doing now for the last 15 minutes...not sure if it's stuck or not but going to let it do it's thing for a couple of hours then work back on the suggestions.

Thanks


UPDATE : Bitcoin Core is now 'Rescanning' when I've attempted to open the old wallet.dat file

[nc50lc]

UPDATE : Bitcoin Core is now 'Rescanning' when I've attempted to open the old wallet.dat file

So far, so good.
It rescanned so the wallet was loaded successfully, "rescanning" means that it's now looking for wallet-related transactions in your node's blockchain.
That may take hours depending on the hardware.