Generating offline seed Electrum

[unknowncustomer]

Hi,

I was about to generate an offline seed on, however, the computer which was supposed to be used is running on windows 8.1 and Electrum does not longer support 8.1
I specifically used this computer because its wifi card is dead.

How can I do ? Is is the same if I turn off wifi on a more recent PC ?

Any tips for generating seed offline without buying a new machine ?

[1714678036]

1714678036

[1714678036]

1714678036

[OmegaStarScream]

Which version are you using? If it's older than 4.2.1, you can Right-click the .exe -> Properties -> Compatibility -> Run this program in compatibility mode for Windows 7. Although I'm not sure why it's not working for 8.1:

# Release 4.2.1 - (March 26, 2022)
* Binaries:
   - Windows: we are dropping support for Windows 7. (#7728)
     Version 4.2.0 already unintentionally broke compatibility with
     Win7 and there is no easy way to restore and maintain support.
     Existing users can keep using version 4.1.5 for now, but should
     consider upgrading or changing their OS.
    Win8.1 still works but only Win10 is regularly tested.

If this doesn't help, you can either downgrade your Electrum or, If you just want to generate the seed, you can also use a USB stick and run a LiveCD Linux.

[PawGo]

I do not recall any Electrum issues related to seed generation, so if you really want, you may use older version of the program. At the end all is about randomness and the result comes from Windows, not from Electrum itself.

Any tips for generating seed offline without buying a new machine ?

Buy hardware wallet. Cheaper than a new machine and handy.

[hosseinimr93]

How can I do ? Is is the same if I turn off wifi on a more recent PC ?

If you want to have a cold storage, you should run electrum on an airgapped device. This means that you should use a device which has been always offline and will be never online.
With turning off Wi-Fi and disconnecting your computer from internet when generating a wallet, you don't make your wallet a cold wallet.

[Charles-Tim]

Please, can anyone point to a release note that Electrum is no more supporting Windows 8.1? The last I knew was last year for Windows 7.

Electrum 4.2.0 not supporting Windows 7

Are you sure that it is OS incompatibility issue?

[OmegaStarScream]

Please, can anyone point to a release note that Electrum is no more supporting Windows 8.1? The last I knew was last year for Windows 7.

-snip-

I checked them, and there are no mentions about it but since only Win10 is being tested, it's very possible that there are some unreported compatibility issues with Win8.1 (assuming OP is using a recent version).

[pooya87]

Best course of action is using an Offline Live Linux, it fulfills all your needs for creating a cold storage in a secure way (air gap, clean and can run latest version without needing to upgrade your Windows or buy a new PC).

There are many general purpose guides about creating a Live Linux disk like this one for Ubuntu using a USB disk: https://ubuntu.com/tutorials/create-a-usb-stick-on-ubuntu#1-overview

All you have to do next is to download the tarball from the electrum.org website with the signature file and the developer public keys then transfer all of that to your Live Linux Disk which you would run without internet connection (disconnect LAN, turn off your router, etc.). Verify the binaries there using pgp then install and create your seed phrase.
Here is a guide for verification: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5240594.0

[dkbit98]

How can I do ? Is is the same if I turn off wifi on a more recent PC ?

Best option is to format hard drive and install free open source Linux OS, something like Fedora, Debian or Mint are OK.
You can even make dual installation with winOS if you never used Linux before and than install Electrum wallet on Linux.
I would not suggest upgrading to win10 or 11, they are privacy nightmare and they are much more affected by malware and viruses.

Any tips for generating seed offline without buying a new machine ?

You don't need to buy new machine for this.
One way of generating seed phrase offline is with using dices and computer that is not connected to internet to calculate last word.
Even old phone in airplane mode can be used to generate seed words with software wallet apps like Airgapped, but make sure to reset and disable everything.

[khaled0111]

If you can't install/run Electrum on windows 8.1 then something is wrong with your OS or the Electrum file you have downloaded. I don't think it's a compatibility issue!
Better figure out what is the root cause of the problem before proceeding.
- Instead of buying a new device, you can simply install a different OS. I recommend Linux distros over windows.
- An air-gapped device is a device that has never been connected to the internet or to any other network. If your turn on the wifi, even for a second, it's no longer an air-gapped device.

[Cricktor]

Release notes for Electrum 4.2.1 say that Windows 8.1 should still work but only Windows 10 is tested. I retired my Windows 8.1 when support was canceled due to end-of-life of this Windows version. So I can't test it anymore which Electrum version still starts up under Windows 8.1 and I moved all my crypto stuff to Linux systems anyway for quite some time now.

[sheenshane]

I recommend Linux distros over windows.

I tend to agree with others' opinions about Linux OS because it provides better privacy control compared to Windows.
It's generally considered to be more stable than Windows which is less prone to crashes, freezing, or sudden system errors, and most especially, this system is less prone to malware and viruses.

IMO, for cold storage, I prefer to have a hardware wallet than an air-gapped wallet because ain't that kind of techy person and I don't want to put at risk my valuable asset having a trial and error experiment.

Any tips for generating seed offline without buying a new machine ?

A paper wallet, would like it?