Lightning to Onchain? What does this screen convey?

[salmoner]

I had about 347000 sats in my Lightning channel in my electrum that I could not send or spend, so I decided to close it and get it to onchain.
But now I see this screen. What does this even mean ? Does this transaction exist only locally or already broadcasted?

http://i.ibb.co/hRw3cS3T/Screenshot-from-2025-07-14-06-58-54.png

[salmoner]

When I click on the broadcast button, I see this error.

https://i.ibb.co/Hfxps9H9/Screenshot-from-2025-07-14-07-06-38.png

[nc50lc]

You must have "force-closed" it instead of "close".
The latter requires the cooperation of the remote node but the funds will be available right after it's closed.
The former can be done solely at your end, however will require to pass a certain timelock before it can be swept to your wallet,
And that's the local "our_ctx_to_local" transaction that you see.

But don't worry, that should be automatically broadcasted once the timelocked has passed. (monitor that "future: in xxx blocks" text)

When I click on the broadcast button, I see this error.

Even if it's cropped, I can guess that the "...al" error is "transaction not final" that's usually caused by what I've explained above.

[Abdussamad]

OP posted on reddit too:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Electrum/comments/1m01puy/help_please_lightning_channel_close_transaction/

The error in the second image is non-bip68 final.

[nc50lc]

OP posted on reddit too:
-snip-
The error in the second image is non-bip68 final.

Great find, so the error is now specific on what's "not final".

In any case, @OP that's caused by my mentioned locktime of the input of your local our_ctx_to_local transaction.
You do not have to broadcast it, just wait for the future number of blocks that I've mentioned.

[salmoner]

Great find, so the error is now specific on what's "not final".

In any case, @OP that's caused by my mentioned locktime of the input of your local our_ctx_to_local transaction.
You do not have to broadcast it, just wait for the future number of blocks that I've mentioned.
[/quote]

Thank you.
I waited and got my sats back on chain.

In fact, now I found why I ran into that problem first of all.

I don't know how to create new channels.
I tried once again, and the transaction is stuck as 'unconfirmed'. Do I have to increase the fee for this to get confirmed soon?
How do I increase the fee or what other things i can do to cancel this one, and retry opening a new channel please?

https://imgur.com/a/uUxXVpx

Guys,

I need help because I'm really struggling with this.

I moved some additional sats to the onchain wallet and tried creating a lightning channel again using the Electrum GUI in Linux. There are no options to select any custom fees ( to increase it beyond 1 sats/vb) and there in no option to select RBF yes.

I don't want to create another channel with 1 sats/vb because it will also remain Unconfirmed for hours.

Why is the GUI version so barebones and not offer options to increase fees?
What else I can do to successfully create a new lightning channel?

I have more than 200000 sats..


After 9 hours, it finally confirmed and I have my first lightning channel now. Hurray.
My questions above are still unanswered..
If I want to create another channel, how do I set a higher fees so that it happens fast and not after 9 hours, please?

[nc50lc]

If I want to create another channel, how do I set a higher fees so that it happens fast and not after 9 hours, please?

There should be a slider to set the fee rate when creating the channel's funding transaction.
That's the 'New Transaction' preview after clicking "OK" in the 'Open Channel' window.
If you want to fine-tune it, you'll have to tick "Edit fees manually" on the settings icon on its right for it to be editable.

If you mean "RBF" an existing unconfirmed funding transaction, it's not possible yet.
There's actually an open issue aiming to enable RBF flag on it but it's still open: github.com/spesmilo/electrum/issues/7072

[salmoner]

If I want to create another channel, how do I set a higher fees so that it happens fast and not after 9 hours, please?

There should be a slider to set the fee rate when creating the channel's funding transaction.
That's the 'New Transaction' preview after clicking "OK" in the 'Open Channel' window.
If you want to fine-tune it, you'll have to tick "Edit fees manually" on the settings icon on its right for it to be editable.

If you mean "RBF" an existing unconfirmed funding transaction, it's not possible yet.
There's actually an open issue aiming to enable RBF flag on it but it's still open: github.com/spesmilo/electrum/issues/7072

Thank you, I found the slider.
I do have a couple of things to while about the UI of the GUI wallet, lol