wallet.dat corrupted or encrypted help!!!

[eddy40btc]

Hi guys,

Can somebody help me out with my wallet, i dont now what i did with my wallet. i tryed to import in bitcore core its give error. I openend with WinHex and see only 2020 in it. Has somebody idea what the problem is with my wallet?
i will add printscreen of it any help will be appriced. Thanks  https://i.stack.imgur.com/WWdm1.jpg

[1714655114]

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[LoyceV]

Start from the beginning: how did you get this wallet? If you created it yourself: how and when? And where's your backup?

[BitMaxz]

What error did you get from Bitcoin Core when importing?

Weird the hex code from the wallet.dat shows "2020" Maybe the wallet file is encrypted that WinHex can't read.

Maybe the wallet.dat file you have is not generated from Bitcoin core it might an altcoin.

[eddy40btc]

i think it was around 2011, i founded on may old compaq laptop. no clue how the wallet is created.  I will make a screenshot from the error when i place in bitcion core.

[DannyHamilton]

i think it was around 2011, i founded on may old compaq laptop. no clue how the wallet is created.

You were running Bitcoin-QT in 2011? And you don't remember how the wallet was created?

What is the timestamp on the file?
What folder did you find the wallet file in?
How big is the wallet file (how many byes)?
Do you know any of the bitcoin addresses from the wallet?

Why do you think that a random file you found on your old Compaq is a Bitcoin wallet?
Were there any other files in the same folder? If so, what were the file names?

A hex value of 20 indicates a "space" from the spacebar on a standard keyboard.  If that image that you provided is from a hex dump of the file that you found, then it's just filled with nothing but blank spaces. No actual data. It's as if you opened up a text editor and just held down the spacebar for a while and then save the file and renamed it to "wallet.dat".

Does that sound like something you might have done back in 2011?  If so, then this is not a Bitcoin wallet.

Or, did you perhaps purchase this file from someone?  If so, you've been scammed.

[eddy40btc]

Well my brother (passed away 2021) the folders what i have 2 folders 1 with only wallet.dat file 188mb is modified @ 2019, and text file with btc address is from 2012 there is a other sign folder with gpg2, pgp, btc.usebsv.com ms-dos application.

Is it possible that it is encrypted?

[nc50lc]

-snip- the folders what i have 2 folders 1 with only wallet.dat file 188mb is modified @ 2019,

Was your brother an owner of an exchange or something?
Because that wallet.dat has a file size comparable to a typical exchange hot wallet. It's usually just a few kB or MB in size.

If it doesn't contain a lot of transactions, it could be an altcoin wallet or just pure garbage/corrupted data (like seen in the screenshot).

[odolvlobo]

A file filled with 20's when it should have real data looks a lot like the file is corrupted, or perhaps there was an attempt to recover a deleted file. Either way, the original data is gone.

[litecoin_messiah]

looks like you copied the wrong file using something like https://r2wiki.readthedocs.io/en/latest/tools/rafind2/ to search for the bytes