wallet.dat from 2010

[fanwa]

Hi,

My partner passed away a few years ago and I was going through our photos on a SD card of his and I found a wallet.dat file. I googled it and it wasn't surprising when I found out it could be a bitcoin wallet as he was very much into computers, he was incredibly smart. After some research I downloaded pywallet and I'm not very techie but I got it to give me some information but not the address.
It came back with an encrypted key but told me the password was correct. It said the wallet version and some salt numbers. It didn't tell me the address or anything else.

On the SD card there is also a crypto_keystore file that is shown when I clicked "show hidden file" .
The files are located in a subheading HTC backup.

Would it still be a bitcoin wallet and if so what can I do?

Thankyou

[un_rank]

I have never heard of pywallet and checking it now it has a bad reputation, and you may make a mistake that willl hand the file over to scammers.
I will suggest you switch to a reputable wallet like bitcoin core and run the file when it has synced fully. There is a link to download the latest core version at the top of this page. Remember to back up the wallet.dat file first to a different device to be extra careful.

Have you ever come across anything in documents or stored papers that looks like a collection of random words, maybe 12 or 24 words as they are the most common ones? If not, you can check through personal things if they are still available.

- Jay -

[nc50lc]

Would it still be a bitcoin wallet and if so what can I do?

That depends on where your partner got it from, "wallet.dat" file can be from any of Bitcoin's forks so it can be an Altcoin wallet file.

Or even a fake if he just bought it from somewhere.

Would it still be a bitcoin wallet and if so what can I do?

If you can spare about 500GB of bandwidth:
Install Bitcoin Core 27.0 (link above this forum's menu), launch it.
Set your preferred settings (enable "pruning" if don't have enough storage) and immediately restore the wallet.dat file with "File->Restore Wallet...".
Then let the node sync and your Bitcoins should be displayed once it reached year 2010+ blocks.

Reply if you encountered an error during the restore wallet process.

[Charles-Tim]

I have never heard of pywallet and checking it now it has a bad reputation

I have not used it before but I think it can be used offline on an airgapped device.

If you can spare about 500GB of bandwidth:
Install Bitcoin Core 27.0 (link above this forum's menu), launch it.
Set your preferred settings (enable "pruning" if don't have enough storage) and immediately restore the wallet.dat file with "File->Restore Wallet...".
Then let the node sync and your Bitcoins should be displayed once it reached year 2010+ blocks.

I thought there is a way Pywallet can be used to convert the wallet.dat to json format and also it can be used to export the converted json format which can be used to access the private key?

Do not mind my little knowledge about this because I have not used Bitcoin Core or Pywallet before. I do not think Pywallet requires Bitcoin Core or blockchain download and it can be used to extract the private keys. Or is that not correct.

[nc50lc]

Do not mind my little knowledge about this because I have not used Bitcoin Core or Pywallet before. I do not think Pywallet requires Bitcoin Core or blockchain download and it can be used to extract the private keys. Or is that not correct.

My reply is about loading the wallet.dat to Bitcoin Core which is the straightforward way, nothing about Pywallet.
If it's a "wallet.dat", I'd would go for the actual software rather than 3rd-party tools unless if there's no other choice.

And I asked for possible errors because it can be from another wallet that supports the "wallet.dat" wallet name.

If he want to use pywallet, there's --dumpwallet arg to export it in json format.

[LoyceV]

It came back with an encrypted key but told me the password was correct.

How did you know the password without knowing your partner had a Bitcoin wallet?

I have never heard of pywallet

See this topic from 2011.

it now it has a bad reputation, and you may make a mistake that willl hand the file over to scammers.

Pywallet shouldn't be used on an online system.

Set your preferred settings (enable "pruning" if don't have enough storage) and immediately restore the wallet.dat file with "File->Restore Wallet...".

If there's any chance there's a significant amount of Bitcoins in the wallet, it's better to keep the key offline.

Or even a fake if he just bought it from somewhere.

It's really unfortunate so many people come here with BS stories. It makes the genuine people look suspicious.

[nc50lc]

Set your preferred settings (enable "pruning" if don't have enough storage) and immediately restore the wallet.dat file with "File->Restore Wallet...".

If there's any chance there's a significant amount of Bitcoins in the wallet, it's better to keep the key offline.

Fair enough.
In that case, he should be at least informed not to unlock the wallet if it successfully scanned unspent transactions if he can't setup an air-gap system.
"Restore Wallet" doesn't unencrypt the private keys as it keeps the wallet's encryption as it is.

Or even a fake if he just bought it from somewhere.

It's really unfortunate so many people come here with BS stories. It makes the genuine people look suspicious.

Right?
And I've 'low-key' pointed that just in case since I've found a couple of suspicious info and inconsistencies in the OP.

Namely: pywallet's output; his wallet is from 2010, yet it outputs an "encrypted key" which is under "mkey", suggesting the the wallet is HD.
(but the 2010 wallet might be converted to HD at a later date which is highly unlikely)
Encryption and the wallet's alleged date; Bitcoin Core implemented wallet encryption in late 2011.
(but the 2010 wallet might be encrypted at a later date)

[MysteryMiner]

You all are making things unnecessary complex! Just copy wallet.dat to Bitcoin data directory and run Bitcoin Core. Old wallet formats work with latest Bitcoin Core versions. Forget about pywallet it is for recovery of damaged or lost wallets and keys!

[Easteregg69]

"wallet.dat" was the name. Tell that to the random guy with with a wallet problem!

It's a wallet thing. Thanks heavens.

You need the mnemonic phrase. I made private keys into QR codes. Pretty standard.

BTW. It's a bread mixer and baking machine in one on my avatar pic. It mixes the doe. And bakes the bread. No one cleans it because I don't own one. Next up is I bought an electric kettle. Same line of products.

My "Richard Richard moment". Quoting.