Remove 2FA in Electrum and use Standard Wallet instead.

[Text]

Need your help. I'm using Electrum on Android. I transferred my Bitcoin from my Trust Wallet to Electrum, setting up a wallet with 2FA. I didn't realize that there's a fee for using 2FA on Electrum at the time I did it, probably because I was eager to transfer the satoshis, fearing that my Trust Wallet might have been compromised.

I transferred it from Trust Wallet to Electrum last December, and on January 28, I attempted to make the first transaction. However, I was surprised to see an extra fee aside from the mining fee, so I inquired about it.

Here's the post I made in a thread:

The BTC fees is not expensive as before, only need less than $2 (mempool) to send a transaction with the size less than 250 bytes and it should be confirmed in the next block.

Yeah maybe, but look at my case. I'm trying to deposit 20 USD of BTC, but besides the mining fee, is there also an extra fee? And I think paying 9.68 USD for 20 USD is still expensive. It's already the same amount that I'll bet on a single match. I don't know if there's anything else I should do.

Please see the attached screenshot below.

and this was replied by Sunderland:

The BTC fees is not expensive as before, only need less than $2 (mempool) to send a transaction with the size less than 250 bytes and it should be confirmed in the next block.

Yeah maybe, but look at my case. I'm trying to deposit 20 USD of BTC, but besides the mining fee, is there also an extra fee? And I think paying 9.68 USD for 20 USD is still expensive. It's already the same amount that I'll bet on a single match. I don't know if there's anything else I should do.

Please see the attached screenshot below.
- snip -

I see, you have used the 2FA service/TrustedCoin 2FA in your Electrum wallet and that is not a free service.
That is why there is an Extra Fee, I suggest to use a standard electrum wallet.
For more info kindly read here: https://api.trustedcoin.com/#/faq



And for the mining/transaction fees, there are some outputs in your BTC address which caused the fees are a bit expensive.
The fees are not affected by the amount of BTC you send, but it depends on the outputs of that transaction.
e.g: Sending 3 outputs of $20 will be more expensive in fees than sending 1 output of $20.

I still don't have an Electrum wallet on my laptop, as I am worried that my machine might not be safe since I already had other compromised wallets before.

I hope that the experts here can answer and help me with some of my questions.

Is it possible to disable 2FA on my current wallet address? If yes, how? If not, what should be my first step? How can I restore it using the seed phrase to remove the 2FA? I followed the instructions on the TrustedCoin FAQ page but I need more guidance. Do I need to restore it on a new or different device?

Thank you

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[Charles-Tim]

Yes, you can disable the 2FA. While importing the seed phrase on Electrum, you will see where you will disable the 2FA.

Electrum 2FA wallet is a 2-of-3 multisig wallet. You will not pay the Trustedcoin fee which you are talking about, but the fee will still be a bit higher if compared with a single signature wallet.

[Text]

Yes, you can disable the 2FA. While importing the seed phrase on Electrum, you will see where you will disable the 2FA.

Hi, thanks for your prompt reply.
Can I do that using the existing Electrum Android wallet app?
I tried earlier, but after entering the 12-seed phrase, the finish button is not clickable.
Is there a step-by-step guide to follow?

[Charles-Tim]

This is what to do:

Can I do that using the existing Electrum Android wallet app?
I tried earlier, but after entering the 12-seed phrase, the finish button is not clickable.
Is there a step-by-step guide to follow?

Yes. You can use the existing wallet app. Click on your wallet name at the upper right corner -> other wallets -> create wallet-> name your wallet or go by the default name -> wallet with two-factor authentication -> I already have a seed -> input the seed phrase -> disable 2FA and proceed.

[hosseinimr93]

I tried earlier, but after entering the 12-seed phrase, the finish button is not clickable.

I guess you selected "Standard wallet" when creating the new wallet.
As stated above by Charles-Tim, you should select "Wallet with two factor authentication".

In the desktop version of electrum, you can import your 2FA seed phrase even if you select "Standard wallet", but in the android version, you have to select "Wallet with two factor authentication".

[Text]

This is what to do:

Can I do that using the existing Electrum Android wallet app?
I tried earlier, but after entering the 12-seed phrase, the finish button is not clickable.
Is there a step-by-step guide to follow?

Yes. You can use the existing wallet app. Click on your wallet name at the upper right corner -> other wallets -> create wallet-> name your wallet or go by the default name -> wallet with two-factor authentication -> I already have a seed -> input the seed phrase -> disable 2FA and proceed.

I followed this step but after clicking the next button, I got this error

Please see the attached screenshot below:

[Charles-Tim]

I followed this step but after clicking the next button, I got this error

I was unable to proceed as well, you are not wrong. Report this on  https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum

It is a bug.

I tried it on Desktop Electum and it worked. But not working on Android. Maybe a lower version may work on Android. But best is to report it so that it can be solved in the next update, or use desktop version of Electrum.

[Husna QA]

Here is a translation of a post I wrote about 2FA Electrum wallet recovery on a local Indonesian board:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3664755.msg60890555#msg60890555

2FA Electrum Wallet Recovery

I have just created a sample Electrum wallet with 2FA first (see the current cosigning fee charged by TrustedCoin):



Here's how to recover your 2FA wallet when you lose your authenticator or forget your password:

- Create New Wallet





- Select the Wallet with two-factor authentication option. Click Next.



- In the Create or restore, select I already have a seed.



- Enter the seed phrase of the 2FA wallet you want to restore.
  If you previously used Options by adding custom words, select those Options.



- In the Restore 2FA wallet option, select Keep if you want to use 2FA again or Disable not to use 2FA.
  In this example, I chose Disable.



- Create a new password for the Wallet recovery.



- Here are the results. When reopening the wallet, 2FA will not be requested again because it has been turned off.
  And when you disable 2FA, no cosigning fee will be charged to the transaction.



The following are some examples of screenshots from Electrum Android, where some of the recovery steps are almost the same as the desktop version of Electrum as above;

[Charles-Tim]

@Husna QA

I was unable to recover the 2FA on Android just as Text posted. The error I got was different but it was an error. I tried it the first and second time with the same error. Test is using a mobile phone for it.

It works perfectly on desktop as it should be, but there was an error on Android Electrum.

[Agbe]

In other way round, if you put pin before, you can click on the green button at the right top on the android Electrum wallet and click on references then you will see pin protection payment then you modify it.

[hosseinimr93]

I was unable to recover the 2FA on Android just as Text posted. The error I got was different but it was an error. I tried it the first and second time with the same error. Test is using a mobile phone for it.

I also tried to import a 2FA seed phrase into the android version of electrum to see how it works and got the following error.
 


I cleated electrum's cache to see if it solves the problem. It didn't and I got the same error again.
After that, I cleared all electrum's data from my device and then imported a 2FA wallet. It worked.

It seems that once you create your first wallet in electrum, it no longer allows you to import a 2FA wallet.

[Charles-Tim]

@Text

I tried what hosseinimr93 posted and it worked. If you do not have any other wallet on the wallet app, you can just reinstall the wallet or delete the wallet storage data, that will make your wallet new as if you have just downloaded it. To do that, long press on the wallet app and select app info which is represented with i within a circle on Android 14. Or just go to phone settings, select and click on app management to look for Electrum app and go to its wallet information. I tried it and it worked.

[Text]

I was unable to recover the 2FA on Android just as Text posted. The error I got was different but it was an error. I tried it the first and second time with the same error. Test is using a mobile phone for it.

I also tried to import a 2FA seed phrase into the android version of electrum to see how it works and got the following error.
 


I cleated electrum's cache to see if it solves the problem. It didn't and I got the same error again.
After that, I cleared all electrum's data from my device and then imported a 2FA wallet. It worked.

It seems that once you create your first wallet in electrum, it no longer allows you to import a 2FA wallet.

This is also the prompt error that I encountered on my second attempt.

@Text

I tried what hosseinimr93 posted and it worked. If you do not have any other wallet on the wallet app, you can just reinstall the wallet or delete the wallet storage data, that will make your wallet new as if you have just downloaded it. To do that, long press on the wallet app and select app info which is represented with i within a circle on Android 14. Or just go to phone settings, select and click on app management to look for Electrum app and go to its wallet information. I tried it and it worked.

Thank you very much for the help, I appreciate it.

I have already disabled the 2FA, but when I checked the wallet details, this is what appeared on the screen:


When I click "show report contents," this appears:


I confirm that there's no longer any extra fee when I send.

[Charles-Tim]

About the arrow, if you back it once, you will see your wallet details.

I confirm that there's no longer any extra fee when I send.

Also that the wallet synchronized with the blockchain, so you are able to spend your coins.

[Text]

About the arrow, if you back it once, you will see your wallet details.

I confirm that there's no longer any extra fee when I send.

Also that the wallet synchronized with the blockchain, so you are able to spend your coins.

Yup, correct.

Is there a way to make this disabled 2FA wallet to a standard wallet besides sending bitcoins to a standard wallet?

And also coming back to the comment of Sunderland on my first post, he mentioned that "The fees are not affected by the amount of BTC you send, but it depends on the outputs of that transaction.
e.g: Sending 3 outputs of $20 will be more expensive in fees than sending 1 output of $20."

So since there is no extra fee covering that 1 output, there are now only 2 outputs. What is the basis of the outputs? How can it be to be 1 output only?

Like on this screenshot below:

[Charles-Tim]

Is there a way to make this disabled 2FA wallet to a standard wallet besides sending bitcoins to a standard wallet?

You have to create a new wallet which would be a standard (single signature) wallet and send your coins to the one or more of the addresses generated there. You should know that the more addresses you send to, the more the fee required.

And also coming back to the comment of Sunderland on my first post, he mentioned that "The fees are not affected by the amount of BTC you send, but it depends on the outputs of that transaction.
e.g: Sending 3 outputs of $20 will be more expensive in fees than sending 1 output of $20."

So since there is no extra fee covering that 1 output, there are now only 2 outputs. What is the basis of the outputs? How can it be to be 1 output only?

The more the inputs and outputs, the more the fee. The second output will likely be the change address (the address you will receive your change). The difference in the fee will be minimal.

The output is the number of addresses that you are sending to. If your coin has change, it would be sent to the change address.

[hosseinimr93]

Is there a way to make this disabled 2FA wallet to a standard wallet besides sending bitcoins to a standard wallet?

Electrum 2FA wallet is a 2 of 3 multi-signature wallet and there is no way to turn a multi-signature address to a single-signature address.

As long as 2FA is enabled, your wallet file contains one master private key and if you want to make a transaction, you should ask trustedcoin to cosign your transaction.
If you disable 2FA, your wallet would be still a 2 of 3 multi-signature wallet, but with two master private keys.

As mentioned by Charles-Tim above, if you want your fund to be in a singles-signature wallet, you have to make a new transaction and send the fund to your new wallet.

So since there is no extra fee covering that 1 output, there are now only 2 outputs. What is the basis of the outputs? How can it be to be 1 output only?

If you want your transaction to include only 1 output, you should spend the entire balance of selected UTXOs, so that your transaction doesn't have any change.

[Text]

The more the inputs and outputs, the more the fee. The second output will likely be the change address (the address you will receive your change). The difference in the fee will be minimal.

The output is the number of addresses that you are sending to. If your coin has change, it would be sent to the change address.

I can't understand the part that is in bold. I'm confused, sorry.

-snip
If you disable 2FA, your wallet would be still a 2 of 3 multi-signature wallet, but with two master private keys.

Of the 2 master private keys, one of them is for my receiving wallet address, is that correct? and the other one is?

-snip
If you want your transaction to include only 1 output, you should spend the entire balance of selected UTXOs, so that your transaction doesn't have any change.

So what I need to do is just send the maximum amount of the current multi-signature wallet to a standard wallet, right?

Thanks again for the help.

[Charles-Tim]

Assuming you have 1 BTC sent to one address on your wallet. If you want to spend 0.2 BTC, the remaining 0.8 BTC would be sent to your change address (an address on your wallet). If you send the coin and track it on an explorer, you will noticed that you sent the coin to two addresses. 0.2 BTC that you sent, and 0.8 BTC sent to an address on your wallet. So if you send all the coins on your wallet at ones, you will have no change, which means no coin sent to change address and that makes the transaction to have 1 output.

If you are sending to 1 address and the transaction has change, that is 2 outputs
If you are sending to 1 address and the transaction has no change, that is 1 outputs

If you are sending to 2 addresses and the transaction has change, that is 3 outputs
If you are sending to 2 addresses and the transaction has no change, that is 2 outputs

If you are sending to 3 addresses and the transaction has change, that is 4 outputs
If you are sending to 3 addresses and the transaction has no change, that is 3 outputs and so on.

[Abdussamad]

-snip
If you disable 2FA, your wallet would be still a 2 of 3 multi-signature wallet, but with two master private keys.

Of the 2 master private keys, one of them is for my receiving wallet address, is that correct? and the other one is?

Your addresses are hashes of a small computer program called a script. That script outlines a condition for spending coins sent to the corresponding address. The condition states that you have to prove control over 2 out of 3 private keys. The two master private keys can be used to generate 2 out of the 3 private keys behind each address and using those private keys you can generate digital signatures proving control over them.