PLEASE HELP ME RECOVER MY BITCOIN CORE WALLET

[jwi5]

Hi, I just downloaded Bitcoin core to transfer my bitcoin from an exchange into a wallet. Right after my transaction had started, my bitcoin core crashed, and I wasnt able to record the private key or anything. The error message I get when I try to open is this:

Error initializing settings: Failed loading settings file:
- Unable to parse settings file /Users/jwiraj99/Library/Application Support/Bitcoin/settings.json.

I saw another post talking about how I need to delete the content of my settings.json file, but I do not have this file, so I have no clue what to do.

I am the least tech savvy person and really screwed up with this so any help would be greatly appreciated.

[jackg]

Can you find your wallet.dat? Back up that file before you do anything else so you're sure you can't delete it accidentally.

Being without a settings file sounds OK as long as you still have the wallet.dat and it hasn't been corrupted.

Did you encrypt your wallet?

I'd recommend going straight to trying to do a reinstall or download the binaries from bitcoincore.org and try to see what you get access to.

When you load up your wallet with core it'll say 0 for a quite a while because it also needs to sync. But once you see the address again, it'll become a lot easier to get the funds out if you need them quickly or to wait for the software to sync.

[jwi5]

I did not encrypt my wallet and I dont think I have a wallet.dat.

If i dont have a wallet.dat, is there a chance my wallet would still be accessible without a private key if I just redownload bitcoin core?

[hosemary]

If i dont have a wallet.dat, is there a chance my wallet would still be accessible without a private key if I just redownload bitcoin core?

As you have created a wallet, you should have a wallet.dat. Click here to know the default location of bitcoin core data directory.
If you neither have the wallet.dat nor the private key, there won't be any way to recover the fund.

[jwi5]

When I put open /Users/jwiraj99/Library/Application Support/Bitcoin into terminal, it says it does not exist.

[jwi5]

I actually realized that I never even created a private key. All I did was create a wallet, name the wallet, and then create an address to receive bitcoin from the exchange. Does that change anything?

[hosemary]

When I put open /Users/jwiraj99/Library/Application Support/Bitcoin into terminal, it says it does not exist.

I am not familiar with Mac. I just guess that your library folder may be hidden.

I actually realized that I never even created a private key. All I did was create a wallet, name the wallet, and then create an address to receive bitcoin from the exchange. Does that change anything?

You have a generated a private key as well.
The address you got and sent bitcoin to has been generated from a private key. That private key can be easily exported if you can open your wallet.

[jwi5]

Is there any reason why it wouldnt save? Maybe lack of space on my disk?

[jwi5]

UPDATE: I have found both my wallet.dat and my bitcoin settings.json. However, when i open my settings.json file a blank screen appears, and my wallet.dat i also cant seem to open. Could anyone guide me through what my next step should be? Thanks.

[DaveF]

Take a look here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5319613.0
There are a bunch of other posts about it too, but this one seems to have the working answer.
You can't just open the wallet.dat more or less it's a file that only the bitcoin app understands.
*Not 100% accurate but close enough to make the point.

Once you fix your json file you should be able to open the app.

-Dave

[jwi5]

Okay, so i was able to correct settings.json. So I am resynchronizing the bitcoin network now on bitcoin core, but when I try to load by bitcoin wallet I am getting another error: "Wallet file verification failed. Refusing to load database. Data file '/Users/jwiraj99/Library/Application Support/Bitcoin/wallets/BTC Wallet/wallet.dat' is already loaded". Is there a way to fix this?

I should add that the first time I tried to load my wallet while i was resynchronizing to the network I got an error that said: You need to rebuild the database using -reindex to go back to unpruned mode.  This will redownload the entire blockchain." Now I am getting the former error each time I try to load the wallet.

[jackg]

when I try to load by bitcoin wallet I am getting another error: "Wallet file verification failed. Refusing to load database. Data file '/Users/jwiraj99/Library/Application Support/Bitcoin/wallets/BTC Wallet/wallet.dat' is already loaded". Is there a way to fix this?

I should add that the first time I tried to load my wallet while i was resynchronizing to the network I got an error that said: You need to rebuild the database using -reindex to go back to unpruned mode.  This will redownload the entire blockchain." Now I am getting the former error each time I try to load the wallet.

It doesn't look like an error that needs fixing, it's just saying you've already loaded that wallet file so it won't accept it again because then you'd have to rescan.

[achow101]

I am getting another error: "Wallet file verification failed. Refusing to load database. Data file '/Users/jwiraj99/Library/Application Support/Bitcoin/wallets/BTC Wallet/wallet.dat' is already loaded". Is there a way to fix this?

The error message tells you everything you need to know - the wallet is already loaded, you don't need to load it again.

Bitcoin Core will automatically load wallets that are loaded via the GUI.

I should add that the first time I tried to load my wallet while i was resynchronizing to the network I got an error that said: You need to rebuild the database using -reindex to go back to unpruned mode.  This will redownload the entire blockchain." Now I am getting the former error each time I try to load the wallet.

Since that only happened once, you have presumably allowed it to redownload the blockchain. There is nothing you need to do now except to wait for it to finish.

[jwi5]

Thanks a lot for responding. The reason im confused about it being loaded despite that error message is because on the bitcoin core page it still says "No wallet has been loaded. Go to file > Open Wallet to load a wallet.

So is it that once it becomes fully synchronized with the network this wont be a problem and ill be able to access my wallet, despite not having the private key information?

[achow101]

Thanks a lot for responding. The reason im confused about it being loaded despite that error message is because on the bitcoin core page it still says "No wallet has been loaded. Go to file > Open Wallet to load a wallet.

So is it that once it becomes fully synchronized with the network this wont be a problem and ill be able to access my wallet, despite not having the private key information?

No, if it is loaded, you will see that it is loaded regardless of the synchronization state.

Try restarting the program. If you don't see it load after restarting, and get the "is already loaded" message when you try to open it, post the contents of the debug.log file. There may be some corruption happening.

[jwi5]

Restarting the program worked. Thank you so much.

[LoyceV]

Can you find your wallet.dat? Back up that file before you do anything else

Have you done this yet? Making a backup should be the first thing you do after creating Bitcoin Core, even before sending any funds to it. But if you didn't, now is the best time.