Having Trouble With Electrum Wallet Recovery

[rocnogu]

I change my computer and tried to recover the electrum wallet with the seed, followed the instructions and.... the wallet is empty.
Any idea what's going on?

[1714849191]

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[1714849191]

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[1714849191]

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[OmegaStarScream]

I change my computer and tried to recover the electrum wallet with the seed, followed the instructions and.... the wallet is empty.
Any idea what's going on?

Start by first making sure that you're connected to Elcetrum's server and there's a green dot on the bottom right corner of the app, and then check your transaction history, can you see any funds being sent to addresses you cannot recognize?

[Zaguru12]

Let’s get back to where you restored the wallet, hope you did that correctly because electrum has two seed formats. Make sure you’re doing restoration right. You can as well follow this process here https://bitcoinelectrum.com/frequently-asked-questions/#why-does-restoring-my-wallet-from-seed-lead-to-a-different-wallet

Also if the previous seed had a passphrase and you forgot to add it then it might show an empty wallet.

If all this are ok then try the tips above by Omega

[hosseinimr93]

Let’s get back to where you restored the wallet, hope you did that correctly because electrum has two seed formats.

What do you mean by "two seed formats"? Are you talking about the script type?

In the case the seed phrase has been generated by electrum itself, its type is recognized by electrum once you enter it.
It's not possible to generate a legacy wallet from a segwit seed phrase or vice versa.

If the seed phrase has not been generated by electrum and that's BIP39, there would be three script types, not two.

[Zaguru12]

Let’s get back to where you restored the wallet, hope you did that correctly because electrum has two seed formats.

What do you mean by "two seed formats"? Are you talking about the script type?

In the case the seed phrase has been generated by electrum itself, its type is recognized by electrum once you enter it.
It's not possible to generate a legacy wallet from a segwit seed phrase or vice versa.

If the seed phrase has not been generated by electrum and that's BIP39, there would be three script types, not two.

The scripts was what I meant, since OP didn’t specify maybe he generated the seed from electrum but rather was trying to recover his electrum wallet which could have been an old seed not generated by electrum but previously used on electrum before the change of his computer

[rocnogu]

I change my computer and tried to recover the electrum wallet with the seed, followed the instructions and.... the wallet is empty.
Any idea what's going on?

Start by first making sure that you're connected to Elcetrum's server and there's a green dot on the bottom right corner of the app, and then check your transaction history, can you see any funds being sent to addresses you cannot recognize?

The green dot is here.  It's on "select server automatically" by default. I switched to some electrum servers just to check.
There is no transaction history.
It's completely empty.

[Charles-Tim]

The green dot is here.  It's on "select server automatically" by default. I switched to some electrum servers just to check.
There is no transaction history.
It's completely empty.

Likely you used passphrase or you use a wrong seed phrase.

If you can still have access your your old laptop, it would be better and do all possible means to recover your wallet through it and check your seed phrase there.

[rocnogu]

Let’s get back to where you restored the wallet, hope you did that correctly because electrum has two seed formats. Make sure you’re doing restoration right. You can as well follow this process here https://bitcoinelectrum.com/frequently-asked-questions/#why-does-restoring-my-wallet-from-seed-lead-to-a-different-wallet

Also if the previous seed had a passphrase and you forgot to add it then it might show an empty wallet.

If all this are ok then try the tips above by Omega

I did those. Still nothing.

1-a - Did it
1-b - there is no history
1-c - I never touch this

2-a - checked.
2-b - did not extend the seed with custom words
2-c - no
2-d - no
2-e - wtf bug... but no. had only 1 wallet
2-f - no. same. Had only 1 wallet. I checked the seed 3 times and save it on 3 different places.

***

I don't even know what is this passphrase.
Can i check if i have one?

[OmegaStarScream]

-snip-
I don't even know what is this passphrase.
Can i check if i have one?

Not really. If you added a passphrase to your seed when you first setup the wallet, then you should use that, otherwise, there's really no way to know. If you use your seedphrase with or without the passphrase, you will still be able to generate a wallet.

Do you have one of the addresses you used to receive funds? Maybe you could use that, to see if you have it in this wallet you just restored. If not, it means you restored the wrong wallet.

[rocnogu]

The green dot is here.  It's on "select server automatically" by default. I switched to some electrum servers just to check.
There is no transaction history.
It's completely empty.

Likely you used passphrase or you use a wrong seed phrase.

If you can still have access your your old laptop, it would be better and do all possible means to recover your wallet through it and check your seed phrase there.

Well, the hhd is still here.
Any guide how to?

[hosseinimr93]

I don't even know what is this passphrase.

Passphrase is a combination of characters or words added to your seed phrase for extra security. If you extend your seed phrase with a passphrase, you will get completely different addresses and you will need that whenever you want to recover your wallet from seed phrase.
The passphrase is also called "13th word" or "custom words".

According to 2-b in your reply, it seems that you had no passphrase.

2-b - did not extend the seed with custom words

[rocnogu]

I don't even know what is this passphrase.

Passphrase is a combination of characters or words added to your seed phrase for extra security. If you extend your seed phrase with a passphrase, you will get completely different addresses and you will need that whenever you want to recover your wallet from seed phrase.
The passphrase is also called "13th word" or "custom words".

According to 2-b in your reply, it seems that you had no passphrase.

2-b - did not extend the seed with custom words

A, ok. No, I did not add anything.

But I can still try to recover some data from the old hdd.
That might help.
Any idea how?

[hosseinimr93]

But I can still try to recover some data from the old hdd.
That might help.
Any idea how?

If you still have your wallet on that HDD, you can simply copy the wallet file to your new computer.
To know your wallet file location, click here and visit electrum FAQ.

You can also export your seed phrase from the wallet and create a new wallet by importing that in your new computer.
To do so, you should click on "Wallet" at top of the window and select "Seed".

[Stalker22]

Well, the hhd is still here.
Any guide how to?

You said, 'I changed my computer.' Do you still have access to the old computer? Does it work? Can you run Electrum on it?

By the way, it's better to do wallet recovery on a new computer while you still have access to the old one, just in case something goes wrong, like in this example. But as long as you have saved your seed phrase, you should not have any problems with wallet recovery. I suggest you try again, slowly, step by step. If you can, take screenshots of each step (censor sensitive parts like backup seed phrase, wallet address, etc.) and post them here so we can see. I dont know what the problem is in your case, but it is probably something trivial.

[khaled0111]

Can you tell us what instructions did you follow to recover your wallet?
If you are totally certain you didn't make any mistake while typing the seed and the wallet is fully synced (green dot) but there is nothing in the history tab then you, definitely, imported the wrong wallet.

Since you still have access to your old hdd and assuming your wallet file is not corrupted then all you have to do is to move it to your new device and use Electrum to open it. You will need its password.

[rocnogu]

But I can still try to recover some data from the old hdd.
That might help.
Any idea how?

If you still have your wallet on that HDD, you can simply copy the wallet file to your new computer.
To know your wallet file location, click here and visit electrum FAQ.

You can also export your seed phrase from the wallet and create a new wallet by importing that in your new computer.
To do so, you should click on "Wallet" at top of the window and select "Seed".

It seems like the wallet location is in C drive. So, it's gone.
Why those files are in C and not in the installation folder, is very strange.
Every time you loose OS, you loose and the wallets.
I have to admit, Electrum seems like complete garbage.
Now I have to do miracles to restore a wallet for which I actually have the seed.

I can restore the whole Electrum app, but what for? Completely useless.

I restored the seed from the old hdd and it is the right one.
So, the problem is not the seed. Its the right one.

What are BIP39 and SLIP39 seeds? Should I try with them?

[rocnogu]

Can you tell us what instructions did you follow to recover your wallet?
If you are totally certain you didn't make any mistake while typing the seed and the wallet is fully synced (green dot) but there is nothing in the history tab then you, definitely, imported the wrong wallet.

Since you still have access to your old hdd and assuming your wallet file is not corrupted then all you have to do is to move it to your new device and use Electrum to open it. You will need its password.

https://bitcoinelectrum.com/restoring-your-standard-wallet-from-seed/

The restore is straight easy. I Google it just to be sure I don't make mistakes.

[hosseinimr93]

Why those files are in C and not in the installation folder, is very strange.

You could save the wallet file on any other location, but you didn't and the wallet file was saved in the default directory.

I restored the seed from the old hdd and it is the right one.
So, the problem is not the seed. Its the right one.

You don't have the correct seed phrase.

What are BIP39 and SLIP39 seeds? Should I try with them?

No.
Since you generated your seed phrase using electrum itself and you could create a wallet with that, it can't be BIP39 or SLIP39.

[blue Snow]

The green dot is here.  It's on "select server automatically" by default. I switched to some electrum servers just to check.
There is no transaction history.
It's completely empty.

1st step if you want to recover your wallet is to make sure your address is correct and the same as one.
If the address is different, it means you entered a different seed or you have forgotten the seed passphrase (password after electrum seed).

So if the address is correct, and there is no history on your wallet, you just make sure the internet is connected and the wallet is connect to the Electrum server.

It seems like the wallet location is in C drive. So, it's gone.

to make sure the electrum folder is really gone, go to keyboard: windows+r and type: %appdata%,

What are BIP39 and SLIP39 seeds? Should I try with them?

BIP39 is a mnemonic seed that is different from the electrum seed, You use the electrum seed, so you have to ignore it (BIP39),
you can't import that BIP39 seed (without ticking the option BIP39) on the Electrum wallet.

while SLIP39 is applied from the BIP39 seed, That SLIP39 word is derivative, where you must have much knowledge to implement it to electrum wallet.

[nc50lc]

Why those files are in C and not in the installation folder, is very strange.
Every time you loose OS, you loose and the wallets.
I have to admit, Electrum seems like complete garbage.

And that's what the seed phrase is for.

Most wallets including Bitcoin Core does it too, it saves the wallet in the data directory which defaults to the same upper directory as Electrum's.
In fact, most applications does it, Games don't save the savedata in the same game directory, etc.
The most probable reason is if the user decided to uninstall or update, the wallets and other user data wont be overwritten or deleted.

What are BIP39 and SLIP39 seeds? Should I try with them?

Both options aren't available when creating a new wallet.
Those will only show during restore (I already have a seed phrase).

SLIP39: https://github.com/satoshilabs/slips/blob/master/slip-0039.md
It's basically multiple seed phrases from your BIP39 seed. It should be provided with enough required shares to be restored.

"BIP39" checkbox forces BIP39 derivation to the seed phrase which changes the default passphrase from "electrum+extension" to "mnemonic+extension".
But unlike in actual BIP39 wallets, Electrum wont enforce the checksum or wordlist, only displays if it's valid or not; even invalid seed phrase can be restored.
So unless did something 'special' during wallet creation like going from "create a new seed" (copy) to "I already have a seed phrase" to enable the checkbox, you wont have to bother with this option.
Note: Some users do that to generate P2SH-SegWit with Electrum.

Any idea what's going on?

How old is the wallet file?
Do you have a screenshot of the original wallet that shows the wallet type next to the wallet name?