Help with transferring wallet

[jtcweb]

I was running bitcoin 0.3.24 on windows and had to do a system reload.  I installed the current version from bitcoin.org and am confused about transferring my wallet.dat file that I backed up from the old computer.  There are very few bitcoins in it, but it is something I want to learn to before I move into this further.  I assumed that I would import the wallet.dat file into the new client, but I cannot find a way to do that and I cannot find where a new wallet.dat file has been created.  What am I missing here?

[1713256384]

1713256384

[1713256384]

1713256384

[deus-ex-machina]

No need to worry. As long as you still have the file you still have the Bitcoins. The file should be located in your program files folder. If you are running a 64 bit operating system, this would end in X84. There is a sub-directory which is a folder inside a folder named Bitcoin .Inside of that folder, you will find the wallet.dat file that and after that it's a simple matter of copy and paste. This is how to do it without a transaction fee. An easier way but more expensive is to send the Bitcoins over to your new wallet. This is usually not worth it. You were probably better off just copying the old wallet over to the new one.

Just make sure the new wallet does not have any Bitcoins in it. Deleting the last copy of a wallet means losing every Bitcoin in it. Those Bitcoins are lost and can never be recovered.

[jtcweb]

The bitcoin folder under program files doesn't have a wallet.dat file, that's what is confusing me.

[Stephen Gornick]

The bitcoin folder under program files doesn't have a wallet.dat file, that's what is confusing me.

A new installation of Bitcoin doesn't come with a wallet.dat

Each time the bitcoin client is launched it checks for wallet.dat.  If none exists, it will create a new one.

So simply copy your wallet.dat from the backup to the Bitcoin data directory and launch Bitcoin.  It should load the wallet.dat just fine, even though it is from a prior release.
 - http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Data_directory#Default_Location

[Raoul Duke]

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Securing_your_wallet#Locating_Bitcoin.27s_data_directory

Replace the wallet dat inside that folder with the one you backed up. I hope you also have the blockchain and the wallet index, etc. backed up... It will be a lot easier for you if you have all the contents from the previous folder
One thing is bugging me... How the hell did you find the folder before, when you made the backup, and aren't finding it now?

[jtcweb]

I'm not sure how I found the wallet file before, it was 4 months ago and version 0.3 of the bitcoin software.

This was the piece I was missing, where this version of bitcoin stores the wallet file.  I copied my backed up wallet file to the appdata/roaming/bitcoin directory and what do you know they are back.  Thanks

[Raoul Duke]

I'm not sure how I found the wallet file before, it was 4 months ago and version 0.3 of the bitcoin software.

This was the piece I was missing, where this version of bitcoin stores the wallet file.  I copied my backed up wallet file to the appdata/roaming/bitcoin directory and what do you know they are back.  Thanks

Glad to hear you have your bitcoins back