Fully airgapped or half baked airgapped

[YellowSwap]

I read online and even on here that you can make a airgapped wallet out of your old devices like Laptops or p4 desktop, I want to try this as an experiment even though I have my own hardware wallet already, I just want to see how they will work compare to a hardware wallet.

What I couldn't settle a score with the airgapped area, like is it ever enough to call a crypto wallet airgapped because it is always offline? Becausey hardware wallet stays offline even when I want to make some transactions, now if you manage to run a wallet crypto wallet on a old laptop and it is time to make transaction how will you do it and still maintain that airgapped idea?

Wouldn't that be impossible? Because I will still need to connect to the internet when it is time to move my Bitcoin out of the wallet on the laptop, haven't this break the airgapped idea?

[BattleDog]

You're mixing two different things together: "airgapped device" and "getting a transaction to the network."

An airgapped wallet doesn't mean the machine never has anything to do with the internet ever again. It means that the machine that holds the private keys never talks directly to the internet. The way you use it is the same basic dance hardware wallets do.

At no point does the key-bearing laptop need Wi-Fi, a browser, or a network cable. If you plug it in "just this once" to send coins, yeah, you just turned an airgapped setup into a sad old hot wallet.

[Sim_card]

You have to set up two wallets, one is your electrum cold storage that stays offline forever and the second wallet will be your watch only wallet. It's your watch only wallet that you will use to create the transaction and save it on your USB stick. You remove your USB stick and insert it into the device of your cold storage wallet.

After you have opened your cold storage wallet and from there you go to tools> menu> select> load transaction from file. Electrum signs the transaction using your cold wallet private keys. You are to save the signed transaction again in your USB stick and remove it from your cold storage. After that you insert your USB stick back to your watch only wallet and broadcast it.Your watch only wallet is a hot wallet used to sign, broadcast and monitor your transactions.
Electrum cold storage

[melinoe]

To make a transaction using an air-gapped laptop wallet, so to speak, is to create an unsigned transaction (PSBT, or similar) on an online device, transfer it via the QR code, SD card, or else to the laptop for signing, then transfer the signed transaction to the online device for broadcast.

This way, private keys never touch the internet-connected device.

[OcTradism]

What I couldn't settle a score with the airgapped area, like is it ever enough to call a crypto wallet airgapped because it is always offline?

Because I will still need to connect to the internet when it is time to move my Bitcoin out of the wallet on the laptop, haven't this break the airgapped idea?

Airgap is no connection to Internet and you can not have anything like half airgap.
Like a cold wallet is a cold wallet and a hot wallet is a hot one, you never can turn a cold wallet to a hot wallet and a hot wallet to a cold one.
21 tips for securing your bitcoin.
[Guide] Secure air-gapped crypto wallet storage method.

You can read more topics on security and privacy because these following topics are helpful for your Bitcoin security, privacy and even your anonymity financially.
Security and Privacy Encylopedia.

[Lucius]

It should be clearly said that most hardware wallets are not air-gapped because users have to connect them to the internet sooner or later in order to install the firmware or coin app. It is true that the private keys (seed) of hardware wallets are generated exclusively on the device, but it is also true that one of the most famous manufacturers (Ledger) offers the option that the same seed can literally be extracted from the device remotely and forwarded to third parties for safekeeping.

Any hardware wallet that functions on a similar principle is therefore theoretically vulnerable, so a full air-gapped approach is the only correct way to protect ourselves.

[betswift]

^ Ledger is centralized as it can be for the company that provides such services, but it's the most on the ear name I hear when it comes to cold wallets.

Also, as far as I know - it's disabled by default (such an option as Ledger Recover), but, yeah, it destroys all initial purpose to the wallet.

[BlackHatCoiner]

In addition to BattleDog's reply:

I read online and even on here that you can make a airgapped wallet out of your old devices like Laptops or p4 desktop, I want to try this as an experiment even though I have my own hardware wallet already, I just want to see how they will work compare to a hardware wallet.

Here are the steps, for you to try:

• Download Tails from tails.net (verify signature)
• Install Tails on a USB stick.
• Remove your Wi-Fi antenna from your laptop to make it impossible to connect via Wi-Fi. Obviously remove Ethernet cables, if any.
• Power on your laptop with the USB stick connected, and let Tails start up. Note that you don't need to download any additional wallet software as Tails comes with Electrum pre-installed.
• Generate a seed phrase in Tails' Electrum, write it down and export your Master Public Key (Wallet -> Information). Click the QR code button to export it without plugging in any other USB sticks.
• Import this into an internet connected computer with Electrum installed.

Now you can use the internet connected computer as a watch-only environment. Whenever you want to spend from that wallet, you can construct the transaction from watch-only wallet and send it to the airgapped laptop using QR codes for signing it and exporting it back to the internet connected computer for broadcasting.

[Wincob]

At no point does the key-bearing laptop need Wi-Fi, a browser, or a network cable. If you plug it in "just this once" to send coins, yeah, you just turned an airgapped setup into a sad old hot wallet.

This is what I was looking for.
On a airgapped hardware wallet, you can send your coins at anytime and still retained that special feature called airgapped.
If you try the same on a old laptop that you have turned into a airgapped device it is no more a airgapped device, is there any way to sign transaction without using the internet on a old device?

[Wincob]

In addition to BattleDog's reply:

I read online and even on here that you can make a airgapped wallet out of your old devices like Laptops or p4 desktop, I want to try this as an experiment even though I have my own hardware wallet already, I just want to see how they will work compare to a hardware wallet.

Here are the steps, for you to try:

• Download Tails from tails.net (verify signature)
• Install Tails on a USB stick.
• Remove your Wi-Fi antenna from your laptop to make it impossible to connect via Wi-Fi. Obviously remove Ethernet cables, if any.
• Power on your laptop with the USB stick connected, and let Tails start up. Note that you don't need to download any additional wallet software as Tails comes with Electrum pre-installed.
• Generate a seed phrase in Tails' Electrum, write it down and export your Master Public Key (Wallet -> Information). Click the QR code button to export it without plugging in any other USB sticks.
• Import this into an internet connected computer with Electrum installed.

Now you can use the internet connected computer as a watch-only environment. Whenever you want to spend from that wallet, you can construct the transaction from watch-only wallet and send it to the airgapped laptop using QR codes for signing it and exporting it back to the internet connected computer for broadcasting.

This part "using QR codes for signing it and exporting it back to the internet connected computer for broadcasting", this is it, this is what I am looking for.

Wow, so signing transaction using QR codes is possible without using an actual hardware wallet? This keeps the airgapped idea  in checked, exactly what I am looking for. We don't even need to buy a so called airgapped wallet, we can build one for ourselves. Thank you for sharing this.

[YellowSwap]

In addition to BattleDog's reply:

I read online and even on here that you can make a airgapped wallet out of your old devices like Laptops or p4 desktop, I want to try this as an experiment even though I have my own hardware wallet already, I just want to see how they will work compare to a hardware wallet.

Here are the steps, for you to try:

• Download Tails from tails.net (verify signature)
• Install Tails on a USB stick.
• Remove your Wi-Fi antenna from your laptop to make it impossible to connect via Wi-Fi. Obviously remove Ethernet cables, if any.
• Power on your laptop with the USB stick connected, and let Tails start up. Note that you don't need to download any additional wallet software as Tails comes with Electrum pre-installed.
• Generate a seed phrase in Tails' Electrum, write it down and export your Master Public Key (Wallet -> Information). Click the QR code button to export it without plugging in any other USB sticks.
• Import this into an internet connected computer with Electrum installed.

Now you can use the internet connected computer as a watch-only environment. Whenever you want to spend from that wallet, you can construct the transaction from watch-only wallet and send it to the airgapped laptop using QR codes for signing it and exporting it back to the internet connected computer for broadcasting.

Ok, good explanation 👍

I guess this is how my Keystone wallet works, I have to sign a QR code both back and forth before the transaction goes through, this is the first time I will hear about Tails too, will definitely check it out.

[Cookdata]

^ Ledger is centralized as it can be for the company that provides such services, but it's the most on the ear name I hear when it comes to cold wallets.

Also, as far as I know - it's disabled by default (such an option as Ledger Recover), but, yeah, it destroys all initial purpose to the wallet.

Did you forgot to take breakfast?  What are you saying man?