$500 puzzle

[hexagonist]

I've hidden $500 worth of bitcoin in a legacy address where the private key is the SHA-256 hash of a random file within the Windows XP installation disc. Random, I know. It shouldn't take too long to try each one and find it.

[Geshma]

this information can help alot:

Service Pack Version: A disc with Service Pack 3 (SP3) will have more files than one with SP2 or the original RTM (Release To Manufacturing) version, as service packs include numerous updates and bug fixes.

Edition: While the core files are similar, there might be slight differences between Windows XP Home, Professional, Media Center Edition, or Tablet PC Edition discs.

Language: Different language versions would naturally have different sets of language-specific files.

[Denevron]

this information can help alot:

Service Pack Version: A disc with Service Pack 3 (SP3) will have more files than one with SP2 or the original RTM (Release To Manufacturing) version, as service packs include numerous updates and bug fixes.

Edition: While the core files are similar, there might be slight differences between Windows XP Home, Professional, Media Center Edition, or Tablet PC Edition discs.

Language: Different language versions would naturally have different sets of language-specific files.

Roughly speaking, we need to go through all the XP options 

[pooya87]

Random, I know. It shouldn't take too long to try each one and find it.

The search itself is very fast, it's just a simple hash and a binary search. The problem is spending time to write the script that does the search without being confident about the existence of the reward

[e1ghtSpace]

Once I sync my custom bitcoin client (coded completely using ai) I will have a go at the puzzle.



Edits:
155,000 blocks synced
200,000 blocks synced, database size: 4.78GB
225,000 blocks synced, my custom wallet is too slow, switching to bitcoin core...
230,000 blocks synced
400,000 blocks synced
416,000 blocks synced - going to bed, will resume tomorrow
516,000 blocks synced - going to bed again, will resume tomorrow

[e1ghtSpace]

I've hidden $500 worth of bitcoin in a legacy address where the private key is the SHA-256 hash of a random file within the Windows XP installation disc. Random, I know. It shouldn't take too long to try each one and find it.

Can you supply the address?

[memz13155n]

My sha256 to WIF code is as follows:

Code:

import base58
import hashlib

def sha256_to_wif(hex_str, compressed=True):
    if len(hex_str) != 64:
        raise ValueError("Invalid SHA256 hex string length")
    
    # Step 1: Add 0x80 prefix
    prefix = b'\x80'
    priv_key_bytes = bytes.fromhex(hex_str)
    
    if compressed:
        priv_key_bytes += b'\x01'  # Add compression byte

    extended_key = prefix + priv_key_bytes

    # Step 2: Double SHA-256 and get checksum
    checksum = hashlib.sha256(hashlib.sha256(extended_key).digest()).digest()[:4]

    # Step 3: Append checksum
    wif_bytes = extended_key + checksum

    # Step 4: Base58Check encode
    return base58.b58encode(wif_bytes).decode()

def convert_file_to_wif(input_file, output_file, compressed=True):
    with open(input_file, 'r') as infile, open(output_file, 'w') as outfile:
        for line_num, line in enumerate(infile, start=1):
            hex_str = line.strip()
            try:
                wif = sha256_to_wif(hex_str, compressed=compressed)
                outfile.write(wif + '\n')
            except Exception as e:
                print(f"")

# --- Usage ---
if __name__ == '__main__':
    input_file_path = 'sha256_hashes.txt'   # Input: one hex hash per line
    output_file_path = 'wif_keys.txt'       # Output: WIF keys
    convert_file_to_wif(input_file_path, output_file_path)
    print("Done.")

I suspect the OP wanted an uncompressed version of WIF since a legacy address is being used here.

[kTimesG]

I think this is a hoax. Tried around 100k compressed/uncompressed legacy addresses over night, zero history or balance on any of them. There are around 7000 files in each ISO. Didn't bother to undupe the hashes, some files didn't change.

Only tried english ISOs though. XP Pro/Home original OEM, all SPs, retail / VL.

At this point it's not worth my time anymore, so good luck to everyone else.

[HABJo12]

where to get the file ?