About Pywallet and more

[Monnie]

Hi

I have a bunch of wallet.dat files that i want to check the contents of, to see if i've stored a bitcoin wallet that i used for mining back in 2014.

My first question is, if i copied the wallet.dat file to another disk (ssd to hdd) in 2017 would this file be dated as last modified 2014 or 2017?

Second question is about pywallet, is it really safe to use it? i mean it sounds like it could be stealing your keys easily. Like what's the way of using pywallet safely?

[Cricktor]

Why do you want to use pywallet as first step?

To your first question: how can someone give you an answer if you don't say what OS was used?

For Windows if copied with File Explorer across different volumes:

• the modification time stays the same as the source file
• the creation time of the new file is the time when the file was copied (not displayed by default)

To your second question: pywallet is a known tool if you download it from its known and reputed sources. But again, why pywallet as first step before you tried to open your wallet files in Bitcoin Core?

Make multiple backup copies of your wallet files, so that you can't ever loose the original files. You only work on copies of copies. Document any step, so you don't loose track or confuse yourself.

What is your prefered OS?

This is what I would do if I don't have Bitcoin Core. Download from bitcoincore.org and verify it's genuine.

Open Bitcoin Core and set it up as a pruned node, the amount for the blockchain doesn't need to be large, you can stick to the default of 2, 5 or 20GB (forgot what the default is, my nodes aren't pruned). When it start to sync, take your device offline to interrupt blockchain download temporarily.

Now load all your wallet files into your Bitcoin Core node. When all wallet files are loaded, you can proceed with syncing the blockchain. This can take a while to finish, maybe a few days. If you need to interrupt the sync process make sure to always shutdown Bitcoin Core cleanly!

When you restart Bitcoin Core it should reload all your wallets and continue to sync where you left.

When the blockchain sync has finished, see if you have coins in your wallets. You can switch from wallet to wallet by selecting the wallet with the dropdown menu in the upper right corner of the Core window.

[LoyceV]

Second question is about pywallet, is it really safe to use it? i mean it sounds like it could be stealing your keys easily. Like what's the way of using pywallet safely?

Assuming software might be compromised is a good default. The easiest way to be absolutely sure pywallet (or any other software for that matter) doesn't upload any data, is by using it on a system without internet access. Wipe the system when you're done.

[nc50lc]

My first question is, if i copied the wallet.dat file to another disk (ssd to hdd) in 2017 would this file be dated as last modified 2014 or 2017?

You can easily test this yourself by copying a file with timestamps at least a minute old.
It's not specific to a wallet.dat file but based from your Operating System's behavior.

Second question is about pywallet, is it really safe to use it? i mean it sounds like it could be stealing your keys easily. Like what's the way of using pywallet safely?

It's open-source so you can try to check the code for something malicious: https://github.com/jackjack-jj/pywallet
Many would say that the current 4236 lines of code is safe but don't take my word for it, verify it yourself or ask for more opinions.
Use it offline to be safe, most of its major features don't need internet.

If the goal is the same in your other topic (link);
You could just use Bitcoin Core to export the private keys from those old wallet.dat files.
My reply has the instructions on how to do that.

[ABCbits]

Open Bitcoin Core and set it up as a pruned node, the amount for the blockchain doesn't need to be large, you can stick to the default of 2, 5 or 20GB (forgot what the default is, my nodes aren't pruned). When it start to sync, take your device offline to interrupt blockchain download temporarily.

I don't remember the default size either, but i'm sure it has minimum 2GB these days. Although you'll need additional 11GB[1] to store all UTXO on disk.

[1] https://statoshi.info/d/000000009/unspent-transaction-output-set

[LoyceV]

Open Bitcoin Core and set it up as a pruned node, the amount for the blockchain doesn't need to be large, you can stick to the default of 2, 5 or 20GB (forgot what the default is, my nodes aren't pruned). When it start to sync, take your device offline to interrupt blockchain download temporarily.

For multiple pre-2017 wallets, I'd have a different approach: before you take the system offline, download the non-pruned blockchain until early 2018, so you can verify all wallets individually after that. It's "only" 200 GB that way.

[Monnie]

Why do you want to use pywallet as first step?

To your first question: how can someone give you an answer if you don't say what OS was used?

For Windows if copied with File Explorer across different volumes:

• the modification time stays the same as the source file
• the creation time of the new file is the time when the file was copied (not displayed by default)

To your second question: pywallet is a known tool if you download it from its known and reputed sources. But again, why pywallet as first step before you tried to open your wallet files in Bitcoin Core?

Make multiple backup copies of your wallet files, so that you can't ever loose the original files. You only work on copies of copies. Document any step, so you don't loose track or confuse yourself.

What is your prefered OS?

This is what I would do if I don't have Bitcoin Core. Download from bitcoincore.org and verify it's genuine.

Open Bitcoin Core and set it up as a pruned node, the amount for the blockchain doesn't need to be large, you can stick to the default of 2, 5 or 20GB (forgot what the default is, my nodes aren't pruned). When it start to sync, take your device offline to interrupt blockchain download temporarily.

Now load all your wallet files into your Bitcoin Core node. When all wallet files are loaded, you can proceed with syncing the blockchain. This can take a while to finish, maybe a few days. If you need to interrupt the sync process make sure to always shutdown Bitcoin Core cleanly!

When you restart Bitcoin Core it should reload all your wallets and continue to sync where you left.

When the blockchain sync has finished, see if you have coins in your wallets. You can switch from wallet to wallet by selecting the wallet with the dropdown menu in the upper right corner of the Core window.

Back in 2014 i used windows 8, later on i upgraded to windows 10 and that's when i added a hdd and copied most stuff but the os from the ssd to this hdd, and now it's windows 10 enterprise.

Why pywallet? I've read that it can search your drives for stored or lost wallet.dat files. Also i thought i can't get my private keys with bitcoin core, see when i was mining in 2014 i think i used bitcoin core version 0.9.1 And i didn't find a way to make it show me my private keys, i remember core asking me for a password or something and i was like huh? Did i put a password on it?? So i think i've read that as long as i store the wallet.dat file maybe i would be able to retrieve my keys.

[ABCbits]

--snip--
Why pywallet? I've read that it can search your drives for stored or lost wallet.dat files. Also i thought i can't get my private keys with bitcoin core, see when i was mining in 2014 i think i used bitcoin core version 0.9.1 And i didn't find a way to make it show me my private keys, i remember core asking me for a password or something and i was like huh? Did i put a password on it?? So i think i've read that as long as i store the wallet.dat file maybe i would be able to retrieve my keys.

It's true pywallet can perform search on storage drive. But Bitcoin Core use password in order to encrypt wallet.dat file. So you still need to specify the password/passphrase.

[Cricktor]

And i didn't find a way to make it show me my private keys, i remember core asking me for a password or something and i was like huh? Did i put a password on it?? So i think i've read that as long as i store the wallet.dat file maybe i would be able to retrieve my keys.

I don't blame you, I've had my own share of mess-ups with passwords, especially when I used one which was very similar to some I've used before (not equal because I avoid password re-use). I thought, I won't forget this password, the little change is too obvious for me. Guess what, if you don't use it regularly and weeks later, at least I forgot it, many other will, too.

Are you sure, you didn't document your Bitcoin Core wallet encryption password/passphrase?

If not documented, do you remember common passwords you used from that period of time? If yes, document them immediately. Try to remember how you constructed your passwords. You will need it likely later.


However you find your wallet.dat file(s), if your Bitcoin Core wallet.dat is locked with an encryption passphrase, you can't reveal or use your private keys which are encrypted in such a locked wallet. You either have the encryption passphrase documented, you remember it or if neither of those two, you would need to brute-force the encryption passphrase.

Depending on the length and complexity of the encryption passphrase and what you may remember about its parts, it may be possible to brute-force it or not. The less you know about your passphrase the more unlikely it is to find it.

[Monnie]

--snip--
Why pywallet? I've read that it can search your drives for stored or lost wallet.dat files. Also i thought i can't get my private keys with bitcoin core, see when i was mining in 2014 i think i used bitcoin core version 0.9.1 And i didn't find a way to make it show me my private keys, i remember core asking me for a password or something and i was like huh? Did i put a password on it?? So i think i've read that as long as i store the wallet.dat file maybe i would be able to retrieve my keys.

It's true pywallet can perform search on storage drive. But Bitcoin Core use password in order to encrypt wallet.dat file. So you still need to specify the password/passphrase.

Ok,so is this password that encrypts the wallet.dat file the same format as the private keys or is it a password to gain acces to core's function of sending the contents of wallet.dat to another adress?

[Cricktor]

The wallet owner chooses the wallet encryption password or passphrase. It can be whatever you want and whatever you deem secure. Private keys are internally blobs of 256 bits of random data. A wallet encryption passphrase is usually a string of letters, numbers, symbols, even spaces are allowed. It's mandatory to carefully document such a wallet encryption passphrase precisely. It's not recommended to have it only in your wet brain memory. It could be a recipe for later desaster.

If you set such an encryption passphrase for your Bitcoin Core wallet, this is roughly what happens behind the curtains:

• a random encryption key is generated which the user never sees; this encryption key encrypts the private keys in your wallet
• above random encryption key is encrypted separately with the user's wallet encryption passphrase
• to display or dump private keys or sign a transaction with one of the private keys, those need to be decrypted with above random encryption key and the latter will need to be decrypted with the user's wallet encryption passphrase, therefore Bitcoin Core has to ask for it in any case where one of the private keys is needed

Why so complicated? Reason is, that you can change the user's wallet encryption passphrase without the need to decrypt and re-encrypt the private keys when the user decides to change the wallet encryption passphrase. Exposing the unencrypted private keys is considered a dangerous action as malware could intercept such a process and steal private keys from memory. It's more secure if you can avoid such dangerous situation internally for a lot of private keys. Yes, you can't completely avoid one short decryption and re-encryption step for the random encryption key, but that moment is only very short.

[ABCbits]

--snip--
It's true pywallet can perform search on storage drive. But Bitcoin Core use password in order to encrypt wallet.dat file. So you still need to specify the password/passphrase.

Ok,so is this password that encrypts the wallet.dat file the same format as the private keys or is it a password to gain acces to core's function of sending the contents of wallet.dat to another adress?

1. The password used to encrypt sensitive data (such as private key and master private key) on each wallet.dat file.
2. Bitcoin Core itself doesn't have feature to lock/unlock feature using password.

[mcdouglasx]

--snip--
Why pywallet? I've read that it can search your drives for stored or lost wallet.dat files. Also i thought i can't get my private keys with bitcoin core, see when i was mining in 2014 i think i used bitcoin core version 0.9.1 And i didn't find a way to make it show me my private keys, i remember core asking me for a password or something and i was like huh? Did i put a password on it?? So i think i've read that as long as i store the wallet.dat file maybe i would be able to retrieve my keys.

It's true pywallet can perform search on storage drive. But Bitcoin Core use password in order to encrypt wallet.dat file. So you still need to specify the password/passphrase.

Ok,so is this password that encrypts the wallet.dat file the same format as the private keys or is it a password to gain acces to core's function of sending the contents of wallet.dat to another adress?

The password does not have a specific format; you simply choose whatever you want when creating it.

For example: "123456", "hello", "adfe13dfasdfds...".

Later, this is used for encrypting critical data, as ABCbits previously mentioned. Obviously, you must choose one that is not susceptible to brute-force attacks, using case sensitivity, numbers, letters, and symbols, with an appropriate length.

[takuma sato]

My first question is, if i copied the wallet.dat file to another disk (ssd to hdd) in 2017 would this file be dated as last modified 2014 or 2017?

You can easily test this yourself by copying a file with timestamps at least a minute old.
It's not specific to a wallet.dat file but based from your Operating System's behavior.

Second question is about pywallet, is it really safe to use it? i mean it sounds like it could be stealing your keys easily. Like what's the way of using pywallet safely?

It's open-source so you can try to check the code for something malicious: https://github.com/jackjack-jj/pywallet
Many would say that the current 4236 lines of code is safe but don't take my word for it, verify it yourself or ask for more opinions.
Use it offline to be safe, most of its major features don't need internet.

If the goal is the same in your other topic (link);
You could just use Bitcoin Core to export the private keys from those old wallet.dat files.
My reply has the instructions on how to do that.

I wouldn't even bother with pywallet or any other Bitcoin Core alternative even if they are open source. With Bitcoin Core you get the most peer reviewed software, with pywallet you get a wallet that has less people looking for exploits, which is a less secure software in principle. Why bother? Just use Bitcoin Core for the wallet too, and if any ease of life quality features are missing, then we should request it, as long as it's not something too convulted, it may get added. Im still not convinced to switch to Electrum or Sparrow even if they have cooler features, because it feels less safe than Bitcoin Core, so I will stay with what I know.

[LoyceV]

I wouldn't even bother with pywallet or any other Bitcoin Core alternative even if they are open source. With Bitcoin Core you get the most peer reviewed software, with pywallet you get a wallet that has less people looking for exploits, which is a less secure software in principle. Why bother?

I don't think anyone uses pywallet as a wallet. It's a tool meant for data recovery, see [GUIDE] Recover your deleted keys.

[ABCbits]

I wouldn't even bother with pywallet or any other Bitcoin Core alternative even if they are open source. With Bitcoin Core you get the most peer reviewed software, with pywallet you get a wallet that has less people looking for exploits, which is a less secure software in principle. Why bother?

I don't think anyone uses pywallet as a wallet. It's a tool meant for data recovery, see [GUIDE] Recover your deleted keys.

Or rather, no one can use pywallet as wallet. After all, pywallet does not have wallet feature/functionality despite it's name.