Restoring a BTC address

[hosemary]

Then I decided to re-visit again, and when I saw the "Detect Existing Accounts" button, I clicked it and already then the wallet began to reflect the transaction history, balance, etc. It seemed strange to me.

By clicking on "Detect Existing Accounts", electrum check some other derivation paths to see if the wallets associated with them have any transaction history.

And, to be honest, I didn't quite understand what needs to be done. Where to edit this path?

See the image below.
Change the last zero to generate the other portfolios in exodus.

[rdluffy]

@wanderer888
Later, I will download the Exodus wallet because it is not a wallet I am very familiar with (I used in the past but only a few times), and I will try to retrace your steps and see how it works to try to understand what happened
It is difficult to locate this error. I confess that I looked at the BTC address several times and tried to understand it, but I still couldn't

I will tag @Forsyth Jones
He knows a lot about BTC wallets and might be able to help

[Cricktor]

I took the address from the list of addresses in Electrum, which was next to the old one. I didn't generate any additional addresses at that time, I just went to the "Addresses" tab and took the first or second available one from there.

But as I already said, address bc1q4vyqj8d80fnaj8dnn8qmr98edln0tg2tpgdu0q isn't part of your first Electrum wallet, at least from what is visible for us. Address replacement malware isn't likely here because usually stolen funds are moved more after theft and that's not the case here. Anyway, everybody should always carefully check when an address is copy-pasted (it's usually sufficient to check few continuous symbols at the front, around the middle and end of an address; if those groups match, commonly the rest matches too).

You can check with following command in the Electrum console tab if an address certainly belongs to already known wallet addresses (within gap limit):

Code:

ismine("bc1q4vyqj8d80fnaj8dnn8qmr98edln0tg2tpgdu0q")

. The console tab isn't visible by default, you likely have to enable it beforehand.

I documented points a-c, but I never took into account the formats and the derivation path, because I did not understand anything about it and did not attach importance to it. It seemed important to me only to write down 12 words and the method through which the wallet was created.

When standard derivation paths are used, it's less important. To learn more about it, go to https://learnmeabitcoin.com/technical/keys/hd-wallets/

By the way, it's true that when I tried to log in to my wallet for the first time in 12 words the other day, the wallet was empty. Then I decided to re-visit again, and when I saw the "Detect Existing Accounts" button, I clicked it and already then the wallet began to reflect the transaction history, balance, etc. It seemed strange to me.

Interesting, apparently your wallet with history doesn't have the default derivation path for first default account! What do you get when you click on menu "Wallet" and then "Information" for Derivation path: ?
(You don't need to disclose what's in the box for Master Public Key, you should keep that to you, even when you have posted your screenshots.)

Will this method be relevant if the operating system has already been reinstalled on the computer?

This has nothing to do with the OS of your computer.

And, to be honest, I didn't quite understand what needs to be done. Where to edit this path?

Credit to hosemary, who was faster when I wrote my more verbose answer.

When you restore a wallet in Electrum, you choose "Standard wallet" at the first step of Create new wallet from box What kind of wallet do you want to create?,
then for Keystore you choose "I already have a seed",
at Enter Seed click Options button and choose "BIP39 seed" for Seed type, click OK to close Seed Options,
enter your mnemonic recovery words and click Next button,
at the bottom of Script type and Derivation path dialog you have an entry box labeled "You can override the suggested derivation path. If you are not sure what this is, leave this field unchanged."; for native Segwit (p2wpkh) it shows by default

Code:

m/84h/0h/0h

The last 0h is the first (default) account index. The second account would have

Code:

m/84h/0h/1h

the third account would have

Code:

m/84h/0h/2h

and so on. For every different account index you would have to create a separate Electrum wallet file (you can't switch accounts in one Electrum wallet file).

Depending on what Derivation path is shown for your wallet, you might want to check adjacent accounts if those contain your "mystery" target address bc1q4vyqj8d80fnaj8dnn8qmr98edln0tg2tpgdu0q.

I have a feeling that this address is from the default first account derivation path m/84h/0h/0h, while your wallet with transaction history has a different account index, maybe m/84h/0h/1h or near that account index.

[nc50lc]

use "Detect Existing Accounts" button to check if you used to have another Portfolio in Exodus.
Take note that it will stop searching for subsequent account_index if the previous one has no transaction history for its first 20 addresses.

By the way, it's true that when I tried to log in to my wallet for the first time in 12 words the other day, the wallet was empty. Then I decided to re-visit again, and when I saw the "Detect Existing Accounts" button, I clicked it and already then the wallet began to reflect the transaction history, balance, etc. It seemed strange to me.

You said "it", so there's only one result when you used that button, or are there two or more results?

If there's only one result:
From that information alone, I can tell that it's not in your second portfolio in Exodus and you may try to manually restore the third using the instructions they've provided.

If there are more "Accounts" in the result:
You should separately restore those as separate wallets in Electrum, just repeat the wallet-creation process but select a different account each time.

[wanderer888]

You can check with following command in the Electrum console tab if an address certainly belongs to already known wallet addresses (within gap limit):

Code:

ismine("bc1q4vyqj8d80fnaj8dnn8qmr98edln0tg2tpgdu0q")

. The console tab isn't visible by default, you likely have to enable it beforehand.

issued: false
https://i.postimg.cc/y8HWjhCq/6.jpgphoto upload

Interesting, apparently your wallet with history doesn't have the default derivation path for first default account! What do you get when you click on menu "Wallet" and then "Information" for Derivation path: ?
(You don't need to disclose what's in the box for Master Public Key, you should keep that to you, even when you have posted your screenshots.)

https://i.postimg.cc/k5DCvDG3/4.jpg

You said "it", so there's only one result when you used that button, or are there two or more results?

If there's only one result:
From that information alone, I can tell that it's not in your second portfolio in Exodus and you may try to manually restore the third using the instructions they've provided.

https://i.postimg.cc/jqHpNycn/5.jpg
Outputs only one value. I tried to create accounts m/84h/0h/1h and m/84h/0h/2h, but they turned out to be completely empty.

[Cricktor]

This is kind of odd to me and based on your recent screenshots. Especially regarding what you said here, though it doesn't really describe what exactly you've done in the first step that gave you an empty wallet.

By the way, it's true that when I tried to log in to my wallet for the first time in 12 words the other day, the wallet was empty. Then I decided to re-visit again, and when I saw the "Detect Existing Accounts" button, I clicked it and already then the wallet began to reflect the transaction history, balance, etc. It seemed strange to me.

Can you reproduce all the steps and post them here that gave you the empty wallet from your first sentence above? Of course, keep your mnemonic recovery words secret!

issued: false

That was more or less expected because I couldn't spot the address in your earlier screenshot of your wallet's addresses. But sometimes it's easy to oversee something in a wall of addresses.

OK, so this wallet has default standard BIP84 derivation path m/84h/0h/0h for extended account level for native Segwit address type bc1q....

IIRC this is what Electrum should also use per default when you restore from BIP39 recovery words. The funny part it why you said that it gave you an empty wallet first (though we don't know your exact steps you made).

Outputs only one value. I tried to create accounts m/84h/0h/1h and m/84h/0h/2h, but they turned out to be completely empty.

Your screenshot shows that it only detects the default first BIP84 account. You should've gotten the same wallet without having to click on "Detect existing accounts".


Out of curiosity: can you restore with your mnemonic recovery words in Electrum the BIP39 wallet with native Segwit address type but derivation path m/44h/0h/0h and maybe also try m/49h/0h/0h. Check with ismine() for the address you're looking for.

It's still a mystery where this address came from and you haven't really tried to answer it. AFAIR it doesn't belong to your two Exodus wallets. Can you exclude the possibility that you somehow have another (third?) set of recovery words? I remember you said you didn't mess with an optional mnemonic passphrase that extends the recovery words. Any unique mnemonic passphrase would create a totally different new wallet.

I don't remember that Exodus uses non-standard derivation paths, but I'll have to look into it a bit deeper.

[nc50lc]

If there's only one result:
From that information alone, I can tell that it's not in your second portfolio in Exodus and you may try to manually restore the third using the instructions they've provided.

Outputs only one value. I tried to create accounts m/84h/0h/1h and m/84h/0h/2h, but they turned out to be completely empty.

Okay, I already provided an answer in advance in that quote.
Additionally, if you're going to play with derivation paths in the next days, you may skip these script-type and derivation path combinations
since those are the ones already tested by that feature: /electrum/bip39_wallet_formats.json

At that point, I'm out of ideas aside from the "longshot" possibility of the address at 20+ address_index of a receiving addresses or at the 10+ of a change_address of those second and third Exodus portfolios.
Increase the gap limit or manually derive thousands of addresses to test that.
You may also do that to the first restored wallet.

Use this command to manually derive 2000 more receiving and change addresses beyond the default gap limit:

Code:

[wallet.create_new_address(False) for i in range(2000)]

Code:

[wallet.create_new_address(True) for i in range(2000)]

If you can't find the console tab, it should be enabled first in "View->Show Console" menu.

[wanderer888]

Can you reproduce all the steps and post them here that gave you the empty wallet from your first sentence above? Of course, keep your mnemonic recovery words secret!

The most standard process. I just logged into Elctrum, selected a standard wallet - that I have a seed phrase, entered it, selected BIP39 (because only with this option the Next button was active) and selected native segwit, without changing anything. I don't know why it turned out to be empty on the first run, maybe I made a mistake in some word...

Out of curiosity: can you restore with your mnemonic recovery words in Electrum the BIP39 wallet with native Segwit address type but derivation path m/44h/0h/0h and maybe also try m/49h/0h/0h. Check with ismine() for the address you're looking for.

I tried to do this. Everything is empty, there is no necessary address.

It's still a mystery where this address came from and you haven't really tried to answer it.

This is really the biggest mystery that I hope to solve, because I understand that they could not just disappear into "nowhere". I checked all my records, this address appeared in several chats and my records, and it is marked everywhere that refers specifically to this wallet (to these 12 secret words). That is, these are more facts in the piggy bank that the address was not taken "accidentally" from some other source.

AFAIR it doesn't belong to your two Exodus wallets. Can you exclude the possibility that you somehow have another (third?) set of recovery words?

When I first downloaded Electrum, before logging into my wallet using secret words, I went to see what and how. And the wallets that I created, I wrote down on paper just in case (meaning 12 words), because I didn't know if they could be useful or not. I've already checked all these records several times, and those wallets are completely empty. In addition, I know my caution, I understand that it is extremely unlikely for me to make a mistake and accidentally take an address from an empty wallet, but due to the human factor, I do not exclude anything. But as I said, I've already checked all these wallets.

I remember you said you didn't mess with an optional mnemonic passphrase that extends the recovery words. Any unique mnemonic passphrase would create a totally different new wallet.

It's very unlikely that if I were creating something like this, I would definitely write it down on paper right away.

[Cricktor]

I'm out of ideas for now.

Do you remember with high confidence that you copied this address from an Electrum wallet or from Exodus? Unfortunately, it's more than three years ago when the transaction was broadcasted and confirmed in block 741463.

If you write down every mnemonic recovery words and keep them also then all I'm left to suggest is to methodically restore every wallet you documented, check if funded accounts are found by Electrum and as nc50lc suggested, try to generate maybe 500-1000 additional addresses in each wallet and check if the "mystery address" can be found by using ismine() in Electrum console tab.
If you generate many hundreds additional addresses with an existing Electrum wallet, then do this maybe with a copy of the wallet, if you don't want the large number of additional addresses to clutter your wallet.

[rdluffy]

Hey @wanderer888 any news?

There is a thread where the user is also trying to recover their wallet and may have tips that can help you, especially about derivation paths
Here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5552260.0

Take a look and let us know