Win 7 - electrum-3.3.4.exe file missing

[cperesco]

Hello, I have the electrum wallet in an old notebook I don't usually use. It has WIN 7, today I tried to open my Electrum wallet (after months of not doing so), and the .exe file is no longer there. I can't open de program.

Also, I tried to recover the wallet in Coinomi but the recovery phrase is not working.

My next step is to install updated Electrum version in another notebook and try to recover there.

In the meantime, any recommendations? How much should I worry? It is strange that the file suddenly disappeared, since the Electrum folder is still there.

Am I facing a serious risk here or is it only a matter of installing  a new version in a computer with Win11?

Thanks a lot!!

[OmegaStarScream]

Installing the latest version should do the trick, you have nothing to be worried about. Just make sure you're doing it from the official website: https://electrum.org/#download

You could not recover the wallet on Coinomi because Electrum's seedphrase is not a BIP39 seedphrase.

[Frankolala]

If you have the seed phrase of your wallet no worries what you need is to download the latest version of electrum wallet and import your seed phrase there to have access to your old wallet.

[Charles-Tim]

Installing the latest version should do the trick, you have nothing to be worried about. Just make sure you're doing it from the official website: https://electrum.org/#download

Electrum is no more compatible on Win 7. Electrum 4.2.0 not supporting Windows 7

He can upgrade the laptop to upper version of Windows. Or install other OS like Linux or Tails.

Or he can use Android Electrum mobile version.

He can import the seed phrase on Bluewallet if using macOS or iOS or Android but increasing transaction fee (RBF) is not going to be supported while making transactions.

Small amount of coins is recommended on an online wallet. If it is big amount, cold wallet is recommended.

[cperesco]

Hello, thanks a lot for your quick responses!!!

So, I will install Electrum in a supported OS and recover the wallet.

What it is still strange to me is that it suddenly disappeared the .exe file in my computer. Why can this happen? I didn't download any update.

Thanks!!!

Installing the latest version should do the trick, you have nothing to be worried about. Just make sure you're doing it from the official website: https://electrum.org/#download

Electrum is no more compatible on Win 7. Electrum 4.2.0 not supporting Windows 7

He can upgrade the laptop to upper version of Windows. Or install other OS like Linux or Tails.

Or he can use Android Electrum mobile version.

He can import the seed phrase on Bluewallet if using macOS or iOS or Android but increasing transaction fee (RBF) is not going to be supported while making transactions.

Small amount of coins is recommended on an online wallet. If it is big amount, cold wallet is recommended.

I tried with Electrum mobile and it worked correctly, thanks a lot!!

[BitMaxz]

I tried with Electrum mobile and it worked correctly, thanks a lot!!

I guess the reason why Electrum 3.3.4 just suddenly missing it is because of the default antivirus if your device is connected online maybe it downloads the latest AV database since the old version below Electrum 3.3.4 is vulnerable to phishing attacks not good if you are going to recover your old wallet with this version.

Anyway, since you successfully recovered your wallet on the mobile Electrum then I suggest do not use the old wallet anymore that you just recovered if you have Bitcoin there I'd like to suggest you to create a new wallet on Electrum mobile and move all your funds to the new wallet.

[SilverCryptoBullet]

Electrum is no more compatible on Win 7. Electrum 4.2.0 not supporting Windows 7

The download link on Electrum.org website is for a newest version that does not support Windows 7.
Newest version: https://electrum.org/#download

If OP wants to continue with Windows 7, choose a version that supports that OS.
Previous version: https://download.electrum.org/

Version 3.3.4.
https://download.electrum.org/3.3.4/

OP might need to read release notes for each version
https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum/blob/master/RELEASE-NOTES

Release notes for version 3.3.4

# Release 3.3.4 - (February 13, 2019)

 * AppImage: we now also distribute self-contained binaries for x86_64
   Linux in the form of an AppImage (#5042). The Python interpreter,
   PyQt5, libsecp256k1, PyCryptodomex, zbar, hidapi/libusb (including
   hardware wallet libraries) are all bundled. Note that users of
   hw wallets still need to set udev rules themselves.
 * hw wallets: fix a regression during transaction signing that prompts
   the user too many times for confirmations (commit 2729909)
 * transactions now set nVersion to 2, to mimic Bitcoin Core
 * fix Qt bug that made all hw wallets unusable on Windows 8.1 (#4960)
 * fix bugs in wallet creation wizard that resulted in corrupted
   wallets being created in rare cases (#5082, #5057)
 * fix compatibility with Qt 5.12 (#5109)

[Charles-Tim]

If OP wants to continue with Windows 7, choose a version that supports that OS.
Previous version: https://download.electrum.org/

No need to use old version if you can be able to access the latest version on your device.

This thread is not too long. You can even skip some posts and read the posts that were sent merit and also important to read every OP's post because he is the one in need of help. OP has been able to have access to his coins.

I tried with Electrum mobile and it worked correctly, thanks a lot!!

[NotATether]

Third-party anti-virus software has probably quarantined the Electrum binary. Not Windows Defender because in Windows 7 it is has only an anti-spyware tool. It's possible because some antivirus sees Electrum making the SPV connections on random ports when Electrum is running and sees that as a threat. At least, this is the only plausible explanation I can offer.

[Lucius]

~snip~
He can import the seed phrase on Bluewallet if using macOS or iOS or Android but increasing transaction fee (RBF) is not going to be supported while making transactions.

I know that BlueWallet has an RBF option, and what you wrote would mean that if I enter a seed from Electrum or maybe even another wallet, I won't be able to do RBF in that wallet? I have never had the opportunity to experience such a situation, but it really does not make sense to me that there is such a limitation...

[Pmalek]

I know that BlueWallet has an RBF option, and what you wrote would mean that if I enter a seed from Electrum or maybe even another wallet, I won't be able to do RBF in that wallet?

Blue Wallet generates BIP-39 compatible seed phrases, and with those, you can bump the fee using Blue Wallet. You can also bump the fee using other imported BIP-39 compatible seed phrases. But I think the same is not true with Electrum-native seed phrases. So, if you have an Electrum seed (generated on Electrum) and you import it into Blue Wallet, you won't be able to do RBF and CPFP. But you can still do it using Electrum.

[SilverCryptoBullet]

If OP wants to continue with Windows 7, choose a version that supports that OS.
Previous version: https://download.electrum.org/

No need to use old version if you can be able to access the latest version on your device.

If OP does not want to upgrade Windows 7 to newest one, I shared the link to OP because of this.

I don't know OP wants to use Windows 7 or later versions.

[dkbit98]

Man it's time to ditch that wind0ws 7 junk and switch to open source Linux alternative, but as temporary solution you could try running exe file in compatibility mode and disable your antivirus.
It is not safe to run ancient operating systems with confirmed security flaws, especially not for anything related with Bitcoin.
In Linux you dont need to have antivirus running all the time and you are not being constantly spied.

[BitMaxz]

If OP does not want to upgrade Windows 7 to newest one, I shared the link to OP because of this.

I don't know OP wants to use Windows 7 or later versions.

+1 for Linux as suggested above but if you don't want to format your device or if you want to stay using Windows 7 then you might need an extra hard drive even a hard disk with a pretty small storage size of around 25 GB should be enough to run Linux and latest Electrum. I do not recommend dual boot on the same hard drive it sometimes overwrites the Linux boot files unless you encrypt both OS only do this if you don't have an extra hard drive.

[pooya87]

I do not recommend dual boot on the same hard drive it sometimes overwrites the Linux boot files unless you encrypt both OS only do this if you don't have an extra hard drive.

Dual booting is always challenging but in most  cases if you install Windows first and then install Linux, it will be fine since it's just Windows that messes things up.