BTCRecover for finding lost BTC?

[JMASTERJ]

So I know BTCRecover has been around but I have some questions about it before I risk using it...

1. I asked about finding my lost BTC in that I dont know what wallet it was stored in but I have my both seed and also passcode to about a 95+% accuracy but no one suggested BTCRecover?  Is there a reason?

2. All threads and posts not only here but others for "BTCRecover" seems to be years ago... is there a reason there is not much talk about it in the last couple of months?

3. If it is legit to use, is this the correct homepage?

https://btcrecover.readthedocs.io/en/latest/

4. And is this the correct Github?

https://github.com/3rdIteration/btcrecover

Because I also found this but i hear this is outdated?

https://github.com/gurnec/btcrecover

5. Is this guy the creator of it?

https://www.youtube.com/@CryptoGuide/

6. If not, is there a great tutorial (preferably video) I can find on using BTCRecover from a legit tech?

7. I see all these old posts and docs on recovering pass and seed phrases but no talk of finding the right WALLET my BTC lives in... is this still good for that, will it actually tell me the most likely or exact wallet it is in?


TIA

[ABCbits]

1. I asked about finding my lost BTC in that I dont know what wallet it was stored in but I have my both seed and also passcode to about a 95+% accuracy but no one suggested BTCRecover?  Is there a reason?

Do you mean when you asked on this thread Recovering BTC Funds with only Seed Phrase? If so, it may be because btcrecover usually suggested when someone doesn't have all 12/24 seed phrase where they need to brute force it.

2. All threads and posts not only here but others for "BTCRecover" seems to be years ago... is there a reason there is not much talk about it in the last couple of months?

Not true, see https://ninjastic.space/search?content=btcrecover.

3. If it is legit to use, is this the correct homepage?

https://btcrecover.readthedocs.io/en/latest/

Yes, although i'd say it's the correct documentation page.

4. And is this the correct Github?

https://github.com/3rdIteration/btcrecover

Because I also found this but i hear this is outdated?

https://github.com/gurnec/btcrecover

Yes and yes.

5. Is this guy the creator of it?

https://www.youtube.com/@CryptoGuide/

Yes, it's created by 3rdIteration from GitHub.

7. I see all these old posts and docs on recovering pass and seed phrases but no talk of finding the right WALLET my BTC lives in... is this still good for that, will it actually tell me the most likely or exact wallet it is in?

While btcrecover documentation mention you can specify derivation path, there's no mention whether you can configure btcrecover to try various derivation paths. So i doubt it's best tool for your use case.

[JMASTERJ]

Thank you for addressing everything so well...

On #7, I wish I had saved where I read it, it said that BTCRecover can figure out the most likely setup from the seed phrase/comb and then suggest or tell me the derivation or type that will allow me to better guess or know what wallets it can be stored in.... not true? Wallets dont have a unique "identifier" that we can deduce from a seed/pass phrase?

And FYI, I am only 90% sure of my passcode so.... The seed phrase, 99.9% sure

1. I asked about finding my lost BTC in that I dont know what wallet it was stored in but I have my both seed and also passcode to about a 95+% accuracy but no one suggested BTCRecover?  Is there a reason?

Do you mean when you asked on this thread Recovering BTC Funds with only Seed Phrase? If so, it may be because btcrecover usually suggested when someone doesn't have all 12/24 seed phrase where they need to brute force it.

2. All threads and posts not only here but others for "BTCRecover" seems to be years ago... is there a reason there is not much talk about it in the last couple of months?

Not true, see https://ninjastic.space/search?content=btcrecover.

3. If it is legit to use, is this the correct homepage?

https://btcrecover.readthedocs.io/en/latest/

Yes, although i'd say it's the correct documentation page.

4. And is this the correct Github?

https://github.com/3rdIteration/btcrecover

Because I also found this but i hear this is outdated?

https://github.com/gurnec/btcrecover

Yes and yes.

5. Is this guy the creator of it?

https://www.youtube.com/@CryptoGuide/

Yes, it's created by 3rdIteration from GitHub.

7. I see all these old posts and docs on recovering pass and seed phrases but no talk of finding the right WALLET my BTC lives in... is this still good for that, will it actually tell me the most likely or exact wallet it is in?

While btcrecover documentation mention you can specify derivation path, there's no mention whether you can configure btcrecover to try various derivation paths. So i doubt it's best tool for your use case.

[General_Bitcoin]

I have wallet with Blockchain.com I lost password but have seed so can I recover my bitcoin through use this because I never try before this with anything but today after reading this I have some hope of having my bitcoin back.
Anyone can use this, or we need any expertise for having this if someone can help I really appreciate, thanks.

[BitMaxz]

I don't know what exactly your problem is since you said that you have both a seed and a passcode. Why did you still want to find your lost BTC?

If it's beyond the gap limit and this is the reason why you can't find your lost BTC, then BTCrecover is not the tool you need to use.
You should use other tools like the xPub scanner to look for the right derivation or how deep the target address is. This tool can be used for scanning everything from your master public key and check all used addresses with the right derivation path.

So if you can explain and add more details about this wallet, what exactly is your problem?

[JMASTERJ]

No read the OP again

I said I have the seed and pp at 95% certainty.
That is still an infinite number away from 100%.

I have tried a couple of combos I thought was correct in electrum and squirrel in their available different settings and obviously it didnt work, it came out with addresses but all listings show zero balance.

I thought BTCRecover can help with this process in getting the for SURE 100% seed and pp and then again as I said, I heard that BTCRecover can show certain info that can help me narrow down which wallet I can test.

What info is unclear to you?

I don't know what exactly your problem is since you said that you have both a seed and a passcode. Why did you still want to find your lost BTC?

If it's beyond the gap limit and this is the reason why you can't find your lost BTC, then BTCrecover is not the tool you need to use.
You should use other tools like the xPub scanner to look for the right derivation or how deep the target address is. This tool can be used for scanning everything from your master public key and check all used addresses with the right derivation path.

So if you can explain and add more details about this wallet, what exactly is your problem?

[Cricktor]

And FYI, I am only 90% sure of my passcode so.... The seed phrase, 99.9% sure

For your mnemonic recovery words (what you call "seed phrase") what does 99.9% certainty mean? Such mnemonic recovery words contain a checksum, partly represented by the last word, and if the checksum is OK, it's highly likely the sequence of recovery words is OK, too.

So, if you're certain about the sequence of your recovery words and you have at least one address of your wallet, you could in theory brute-force your mnemonic passphrase. About 90% certainty for your mnemonic passphrase isn't too bad, of course it depends upon what clues you have about the uncertain part.

My additional advise:
if you try to crack a problem with BTCRecover, construct a recovery test situation first where you know the solution. Try to find this known solution with your cracking procedure. If you can't find it, you highly unlikely will crack your real problem!

[ABCbits]

On #7, I wish I had saved where I read it, it said that BTCRecover can figure out the most likely setup from the seed phrase/comb and then suggest or tell me the derivation or type that will allow me to better guess or know what wallets it can be stored in.... not true?

By any chance, do you refer to this page https://btcrecover.readthedocs.io/en/latest/bip39-accounts-and-altcoins/?

Wallets dont have a unique "identifier" that we can deduce from a seed/pass phrase?

No. Wallet software typically generate entropy or words using secure RNG rather than fixed in certain ways.

[JMASTERJ]

My 12 word seed phrase was noted by someone else back then, I did not do it myself, thats why the 99.9%.
I mean I trusted him enough back then so its probably 100% but I am trying to be as accurate as possible.

I dont have any address of the wallet. I dont have any other info besides the ones I said I have now.

"construct a recovery test situation first where you know the solution"
I have no idea what this means... I thought you just use this program directly as is? You have to run tests on it first?

And FYI, I am only 90% sure of my passcode so.... The seed phrase, 99.9% sure

For your mnemonic recovery words (what you call "seed phrase") what does 99.9% certainty mean? Such mnemonic recovery words contain a checksum, partly represented by the last word, and if the checksum is OK, it's highly likely the sequence of recovery words is OK, too.

So, if you're certain about the sequence of your recovery words and you have at least one address of your wallet, you could in theory brute-force your mnemonic passphrase. About 90% certainty for your mnemonic passphrase isn't too bad, of course it depends upon what clues you have about the uncertain part.

My additional advise:
if you try to crack a problem with BTCRecover, construct a recovery test situation first where you know the solution. Try to find this known solution with your cracking procedure. If you can't find it, you highly unlikely will crack your real problem!

That page does not look familiar... The one I read specifically stated that BTCRecover can list some stat/attribute that will greatly narrow down the wallet that it is stored on so I wont have to test 100 different wallets.

So this means that if BTCRecover somehow is able to test my seed phrase and passphrase accurately, theoretically it should know and tell me exactly what these 2 are 100% accurately and then I can confidently plug these into any one of the hundreds of wallets?

Meaning BTCRecover in my case only helps with confirming my 2 passwords, but it cannot help me in actually finding what wallet my funds are in still?

On #7, I wish I had saved where I read it, it said that BTCRecover can figure out the most likely setup from the seed phrase/comb and then suggest or tell me the derivation or type that will allow me to better guess or know what wallets it can be stored in.... not true?

By any chance, do you refer to this page https://btcrecover.readthedocs.io/en/latest/bip39-accounts-and-altcoins/?

Wallets dont have a unique "identifier" that we can deduce from a seed/pass phrase?

No. Wallet software typically generate entropy or words using secure RNG rather than fixed in certain ways.

[Cricktor]

I dont have any address of the wallet. I dont have any other info besides the ones I said I have now.

"construct a recovery test situation first where you know the solution"
I have no idea what this means... I thought you just use this program directly as is? You have to run tests on it first?

Let's assume your mnemonic recovery words are correct by words and their sequence. You can't brute-force a mnemonic passphrase when you don't know any public address of your wallet.

Any individual mnemonic passphrase will give you an unique wallet. There's no right or wrong like with a password entry. Your only chance to know you got your correct mnemonic passphrase is when you can match a know public address of your wallet. How do you want to identify yours without any other details, especially when you don't have any public address of your wallet?

On the other hand if you've transfered some coins into your "unknown" wallet in the past, well, how did those coins get into your wallet? There need to be some transactions with destination outputs, public addresses as receiving ones. Any chance to have records of those? Who did transfer coins into your wallet? I would assume it was you.


A recovery test situation to check if you're able to use BTCrecover correctly could e.g. be:

• a set of 12 mnemonic recovery words with known sequence, the goal here is not to find their correct sequence because we assume the sequence is known and correct
• in the test situation the test mnemonic passphrase is known, but we pretend we only know it partly with some wiggle room for uncertainty
• a list of parts that may comprise the mnemonic passphrase, their correct sequence may need to be determined yet
• other variable parts, like special characters or numbers that can occur at variable spots in the mnemonic passphrase
• if upper or lowercase letters are not certain this can be addressed to, also common typos
• at least one address of maybe known derivation that belongs to your wallet
• you construct rules how BTCrecover should compose and brute-force the mnemonic passphrase (this can be hard for newbies of BTCrecover or those who don't have a clue how such composition rules have to be expressed correctly to effectively exhaust the sample search space for the mnemnoic passphrase

You now run BTCrecover to brute-force the mnemonic passphrase. Your rules must be complete enough so that the real mnemonic passphrase must be constructed at some point correctly by the rules and BTCrecover has to find the solution with the one known public address of the test wallet.

If this test recovery fails and can't find the (prior known) solution, you don't master the tool and you won't succeed in a real recovery situation where you don't know the solution.

Constructing efficient and most importantly sufficient assembly rules for what is the variable part of a recovery and what needs to be properly brute-forced isn't that easy.

[nc50lc]

"construct a recovery test situation first where you know the solution"
I have no idea what this means... I thought you just use this program directly as is? You have to run tests on it first?

It's quite complicated to explain this but it's easy to show an example.
Check this (my) post for a BTCRecover (seedrecover) example of an "easy mode" of the one asked by the OP,
link: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5510362.msg64571995#msg64571995

If you need assistance on it, reply with the best description of the situation like the OP in that thread did.

[JMASTERJ]

To clarify my situation in reply to these and my pending process:

• Someone else (who is not available anymore) managed my BTC back then... and all I have is a roughly handwritten 12 word seed phrase, and another handwritten password that's supposed to be part of this
• No addresses were recorded, back then did not even think an address would be critical
• The seed, I am 99.9% sure I am reading it correctly and since they are usually simply words and there is definitive spacing between them, the only reason it is not 100% is because I myself did not write them down and I trust the other party 99.9% because that is the human thing right
• The passcode is such that it is more than 1 "word" but I am not certain what might be capitalized and if there are any spaces in between (do passcodes support spaces? someone told me they do which makes life a little harder
• I have zero info about the wallet except that a while ago I vaguely remember it had some blue possible opaque/translucent banner and it supported landscape and portrait view, i.e., you can see the full balance I think in landscape but it got cutoff a bit in portrait view... but this isnt exactly anattribute you can search for unless we hit the jackpot with one you who might know from personal usage, which would be amazing... but all this is still useless until I confirm 100% both the above right

So I guess the plan is:

• Use BTCRecover to confirm the seed phrase + the passcord, because that is what it does right?
• Then take that and input into Electrum, Mycelium, Exodus, TrustWallet, all the way down the list?
• And this is the info on the wallet through BTCRecover from Ai:
  _______________________________________________
  
  How BTCRecover Helps You Identify Compatible Wallets:
  
  Although BTCRecover doesn't list wallets directly, here's how it helps you:
  
  Identifies Wallet Standards and Formats:
  
  By determining which derivation paths and address formats generate valid addresses for your seed phrase and passphrase, BTCRecover helps you understand which wallet standards are compatible.
  
  Narrows Down Wallet Options:
  
  Knowing the wallet standard (e.g., BIP-39, BIP-44, Electrum format) allows you to focus on wallets that use those standards.
  Example:
  
  If BTCRecover Finds That:
  
  Your seed phrase works with the BIP-39 standard.
  The addresses generated follow the Native SegWit format (bc1... addresses).
  Then You Can Try Wallets Like:
  
  Electrum (when set up for BIP-39 seeds and Native SegWit).
  Wasabi Wallet, BlueWallet, or others supporting BIP-39 and Native SegWit.
  ______________
  
  Is this not true?
  
  

I dont have any address of the wallet. I dont have any other info besides the ones I said I have now.

"construct a recovery test situation first where you know the solution"
I have no idea what this means... I thought you just use this program directly as is? You have to run tests on it first?

Let's assume your mnemonic recovery words are correct by words and their sequence. You can't brute-force a mnemonic passphrase when you don't know any public address of your wallet.

Any individual mnemonic passphrase will give you an unique wallet. There's no right or wrong like with a password entry. Your only chance to know you got your correct mnemonic passphrase is when you can match a know public address of your wallet. How do you want to identify yours without any other details, especially when you don't have any public address of your wallet?

On the other hand if you've transfered some coins into your "unknown" wallet in the past, well, how did those coins get into your wallet? There need to be some transactions with destination outputs, public addresses as receiving ones. Any chance to have records of those? Who did transfer coins into your wallet? I would assume it was you.


A recovery test situation to check if you're able to use BTCrecover correctly could e.g. be:

• a set of 12 mnemonic recovery words with known sequence, the goal here is not to find their correct sequence because we assume the sequence is known and correct
• in the test situation the test mnemonic passphrase is known, but we pretend we only know it partly with some wiggle room for uncertainty
• a list of parts that may comprise the mnemonic passphrase, their correct sequence may need to be determined yet
• other variable parts, like special characters or numbers that can occur at variable spots in the mnemonic passphrase
• if upper or lowercase letters are not certain this can be addressed to, also common typos
• at least one address of maybe known derivation that belongs to your wallet
• you construct rules how BTCrecover should compose and brute-force the mnemonic passphrase (this can be hard for newbies of BTCrecover or those who don't have a clue how such composition rules have to be expressed correctly to effectively exhaust the sample search space for the mnemnoic passphrase

You now run BTCrecover to brute-force the mnemonic passphrase. Your rules must be complete enough so that the real mnemonic passphrase must be constructed at some point correctly by the rules and BTCrecover has to find the solution with the one known public address of the test wallet.

If this test recovery fails and can't find the (prior known) solution, you don't master the tool and you won't succeed in a real recovery situation where you don't know the solution.

Constructing efficient and most importantly sufficient assembly rules for what is the variable part of a recovery and what needs to be properly brute-forced isn't that easy.

"construct a recovery test situation first where you know the solution"
I have no idea what this means... I thought you just use this program directly as is? You have to run tests on it first?

It's quite complicated to explain this but it's easy to show an example.
Check this (my) post for a BTCRecover (seedrecover) example of an "easy mode" of the one asked by the OP,
link: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5510362.msg64571995#msg64571995

If you need assistance on it, reply with the best description of the situation like the OP in that thread did.

[ABCbits]

• The passcode is such that it is more than 1 "word" but I am not certain what might be capitalized and if there are any spaces in between (do passcodes support spaces? someone told me they do which makes life a little harder

Looking at BIP 39 specification, you can use space character as the passcode/passphrase. In fact, you could use any character from UTF-8 NFKD.

• I have zero info about the wallet except that a while ago I vaguely remember it had some blue possible opaque/translucent banner and it supported landscape and portrait view, i.e., you can see the full balance I think in landscape but it got cutoff a bit in portrait view... but this isnt exactly anattribute you can search for unless we hit the jackpot with one you who might know from personal usage, which would be amazing... but all this is still useless until I confirm 100% both the above right

Based on your vague memory, such behavior usually exist on both web and mobile application.

[Cricktor]

So I guess the plan is:

• Use BTCRecover to confirm the seed phrase + the passcord, because that is what it does right?
• Then take that and input into Electrum, Mycelium, Exodus, TrustWallet, all the way down the list?
• And this is the info on the wallet through BTCRecover from Ai:

You could simply first try to recover your wallet with just Electrum (download it only from electrum.org and don't forget to verify it properly). You will quickly see if your recovery words are an Electrum mnemonic seed or a BIP39 mnemonic seed.

Tick the option to extend the mnemonic words with a mnemonic passphrase. Be very carefull to avoid any error with the mnemonic passphrase as the smallest error will give you an empty wallet. (You can also check if there's a decoy wallet without the extension by a mnemonic passphrase, just in case...)

You can let Electrum search for the most common derivation paths as you don't have any details about that, nor about what public address format is used in your wallet.

I would avoid trying wallets that are closed-source, especially when it's unknows how much coins are potentially at stake.

Only when wallet recovery with available details fails, it may be time for BTCrecover for specific tasks.


Why do you ask a f****** AI for its "opinion"? That doesn't make you appear smarter.

[nc50lc]

• No addresses were recorded, back then did not even think an address would be critical

So I guess the plan is:

• Use BTCRecover to confirm the seed phrase + the passcord, because that is what it does right?
• Then take that and input into Electrum, Mycelium, Exodus, TrustWallet, all the way down the list?
• And this is the info on the wallet through BTCRecover from Ai:

My answers, in respective order:

• No it can't, with BTCRecover, you'll be the one who will indicate the source of the mnemonic, not the other way around.
  Plus is requires you to know an address or others like derived public key/extended public key from the provided mnemonic seed and passphrase,
  Otherwise, there'll be nothing to compare the keys derived from the resulting seed from your mnemonic seed and passphrase.
  
  
• There's "Standard" to that, most wallets support the same implementation of BIP39 so you can just select one wallet and try if it'll work there. (Electrum requires you to toggle 'BIP39 seed')
  If it doesn't work, there's no point in testing it to other BIP39-compatible wallets and you might have to try if it's on other derivation path or from another seed phrase implementation.
  DYOR to segregate wallets that uses BIP39 and which ones aren't so you can narrow-down that list to about 3 or 4.
  
  
• Don't rely on AI on Bitcoin-related stuffs.
  With the pace of Bitcoin's development and how AI (Machine Learning) generate its responses, most of the answers that you'll get are outdated or even partly/entirely wrong.

[ABCbits]

• No addresses were recorded, back then did not even think an address would be critical

So I guess the plan is:

• Use BTCRecover to confirm the seed phrase + the passcord, because that is what it does right?
• Then take that and input into Electrum, Mycelium, Exodus, TrustWallet, all the way down the list?
• And this is the info on the wallet through BTCRecover from Ai:

My answers, in respective order:

• No it can't, with BTCRecover, you'll be the one who will indicate the source of the mnemonic, not the other way around.
  Plus is requires you to know an address or others like derived public key/extended public key from the provided mnemonic seed and passphrase,
  Otherwise, there'll be nothing to compare the keys derived from the resulting seed from your mnemonic seed and passphrase.
  

I just want to remind that BTCRecover actually support address database (contain list of address with balance) which can be be used if you don't have either address, master public key or wallet file.[/list]

[JMASTERJ]

I just want to remind that BTCRecover actually support address database (contain list of address with balance) which can be be used if you don't have either address, master public key or wallet file.[/list]

That's what I though I read somewhere... So are the others still not understanding my question or... isnt this exactly what I need?

I went through doing each of the 3 default derivations on Electrum and still no balance showed.

So I thought the best next step was to use BTCRecover, but will it list ALL the addresses, meaning is this the final boss for getting the address I need?

And will BTCRecover actually show the balance? (I assume I have to be online to see this is possible?)

Of course I rather be offline but if it lists like 200 addresses, I am hoping I dont have to type in each one separately into the blockchain viewer, but if that's the only way, then at least I know that is the path.

[bulleteyedk]

I can confirm BTCrecover works with databases (if you don't know your public address), it's not that easy to get going, but doable.

Crypto Guide on YT have some really good videos on BTCrecover, this video shows how to use it with databases -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vw2x053LW4
and the dude also offers private sessions if you want his help recovering your funds, go find that information her -> https://cryptoguide.tips/recovery-services-consultations/

NB. i've never used his private sessions for recovery, but messaged him in regards to a recovery i did a couple of years ago, and he really seems to be very helpful, and trustworthy.

I hope you get those funds recovered

[mcdouglasx]

Is your seed phrase and password of the type:

1-seed plus extension (password)

2-seed and password to enter the software?

If it is type 1, your seed and password must be 100% correct.
If it is type 2, you only need the seed.

or use the software where you have used the seed.

example:

From the description you give it is probably bluewallet
there the password is used to encrypt the wallet file (wallet.dat). However, the seed phrase alone is enough to restore access to your funds.

if this doesn't work you should brute force the password.

[nc50lc]

I just want to remind that BTCRecover actually support address database (contain list of address with balance) which can be be used if you don't have either address, master public key or wallet file.[/list]

That's what I though I read somewhere... So are the others still not understanding my question or... isnt this exactly what I need?

That's just a minor nitpick, using a huge address database is too much for what you need.
It can cross-check your seed phrase from a list but you'll be the one who'll select which mnemonic seed implementation it may be from a small list.
Plus BTCRecover only searches the standard derivation paths by default unless you specifically set it as an arg.
It's not too different that what you already did in Electrum (iterate derivation paths, passphrases)

You said that you have the correct seed + passphrase at 95% certainty, right? so it's a matter of restoring it to the correct client.

E.g.: it's a given if it has the correct "BIP39 checksum", it may be a BIP39 seed and 99% correct. (checksum is 4Bits for 12-words)
If it failed to restore the correct addresses to a BIP39 compatible client, you might have used a different BIP39 passphrase or it's in a non-standard derivation path.
If it has an invalid BIP39 checksum, it's not a BIP39 seed and may be an Electrum seed, a Blockchain.info old recovery phrase which can be easily tested in the said wallets.

Now if the passphrase is actually wrong, then that's when you'll going to need to bruteforce it with BTCRecover and using an address database of all funded address to that isn't optimal.
You can try it though.