BIG Problem, can't acces my cold wallet.dat file

[Furio]

It seems my encryption software let me down, about one month ago I placed 5 btc into cold storage, by generating a wallet.dat with my client while not on internet. I changed the password, and saved this to my file with all my passwords.

I can't find the password back, so it seems it hasn't been saved

I thought, well maybe I did use one of my generic passwords, sadly no. Tried everything, recovered files with all sorts of tools, even thought I got lucky by funding a recent wordpad file with a random password, but sadly not the right one...

I'm out of options... But it seems to happen daily that people get robbed out of their well encrypted hotwallets, so it must be possible to recover my 5 btc. Does anyone know what to do, or know anyone who knows what to do?

Much appreciated!

[shorena]

It seems my encryption software let me down, about one month ago I placed 5 btc into cold storage, by generating a wallet.dat with my client while not on internet. I changed the password, and saved this to my file with all my passwords.

Do you have a backup before this? Do you remember the old password?

I can't find the password back, so it seems it hasn't been saved

Do you remember anything about the password? If so, try this thread -> https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=85495.0

I thought, well maybe I did use one of my generic passwords, sadly no. Tried everything, recovered files with all sorts of tools, even thought I got lucky by funding a recent wordpad file with a random password, but sadly not the right one...

I'm out of options... But it seems to happen daily that people get robbed out of their well encrypted hotwallets, so it must be possible to recover my 5 btc. Does anyone know what to do, or know anyone who knows what to do?

Much appreciated!

If someone gets robbed out of a well encrypted wallet its usually because they unknowingly installed a trojan/key logger.

[Agestorzrxx]

Try this service
http://www.walletrecoveryservices.com/

[Anillos2]

It's a good idea to write passwords on paper.

Also, paperwallets are useful for long term savings.

[Furio]

IF your password isn't too long / you remember anything about your password, you still can try use bruteforce
Check here for more info : https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=170694.0


Or you can try some service to hack your wallet.dat, but they will take 10% fee
Check here for more info : https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=717334.0

Thanks for all the help, 10% sounds fair too me, cost alot of power I guess

[Furio]

It seems my encryption software let me down, about one month ago I placed 5 btc into cold storage, by generating a wallet.dat with my client while not on internet. I changed the password, and saved this to my file with all my passwords.

Do you have a backup before this? Do you remember the old password?

I can't find the password back, so it seems it hasn't been saved

Do you remember anything about the password? If so, try this thread -> https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=85495.0

I thought, well maybe I did use one of my generic passwords, sadly no. Tried everything, recovered files with all sorts of tools, even thought I got lucky by funding a recent wordpad file with a random password, but sadly not the right one...

I'm out of options... But it seems to happen daily that people get robbed out of their well encrypted hotwallets, so it must be possible to recover my 5 btc. Does anyone know what to do, or know anyone who knows what to do?

Much appreciated!

If someone gets robbed out of a well encrypted wallet its usually because they unknowingly installed a trojan/key logger.

Thanks for your help, It's purely the passphrace for my client, and no I don't have a back up. I have a back up offcourse, but because my password somehow didn't save in my regular file, my back doesn't have it too

[TheBtcBank]

if u still have the wallet file. its possible to recover it by a professional

[Furio]

if u still have the wallet file. its possible to recover it by a professional

I have the wallet file offcourse, and I see my 5 btc . How exactly, talked to multiple people, they all say it would take decades with brute force if you don't have a clue of the password and it's totally random, maybe you know something or someone?

[DannyHamilton]

if u still have the wallet file. its possible to recover it by a professional

You are incorrect.

If it has a weak password, or if he can remember a significant portion of the password, then it *might* be possible to use a brute force algorithm to crack the password.

If the password is strong and he can't remember a significant portion of it, then the bitcoins are permanently lost.

[onemorexmr]

you may try btcrecover

it does not use the daemon, it tries to crack the wallet.dat directly - that way its much faster.

https://github.com/gurnec/btcrecover

edit: atm i am trying to crack a password for my friend.. he told me most of his password but 12cores have calculated for 4days now - doesnt seem good ;( (DAMN... why did i tell him "use a secure password its money")

[notlist3d]

if u still have the wallet file. its possible to recover it by a professional

You are incorrect.

If it has a weak password, or if he can remember a significant portion of the password, then it *might* be possible to use a brute force algorithm to crack the password.

If the password is strong and he can't remember a significant portion of it, then the bitcoins are permanently lost.

I would agree all depends on your password.  Longer more complex password it is likely gone forever or until some day far in future we have a lot more power.

You most likely will use a few GPU's to try to recover it, if weak sure it will work.  But again if you used a proper password its gone most likely forever.

[ObscureBean]

Find yourself a good hypnotist, I hear regression therapy can work wonders in cases of lost memory 
Seriously though, I looks like your memory block is induced by panic/fear that you gonna lose the BTC, the more you try to force the memory the less likely you are to succeed. The memory of you typing in the new password can't be a complete blank, it's somewhere inside your brain and you probably can get to it if you relax. Good luck!

[Furio]

Find yourself a good hypnotist, I hear regression therapy can work wonders in cases of lost memory 
Seriously though, I looks like your memory block is induced by panic/fear that you gonna lose the BTC, the more you try to force the memory the less likely you are to succeed. The memory of you typing in the new password can't be a complete blank, it's somewhere inside your brain and you probably can get to it if you relax. Good luck!

Thanks for the tip, I still have a bit of hope left that it will surface. Yet the only options are a typo or not saving of my random password, I hope the first. I will use one of the servvices as soon as I have some time to extract the data needed from wallet file. If it doesnt help I will just have to wait untill the cracking power is significantly more

[ranlo]

IF your password isn't too long / you remember anything about your password, you still can try use bruteforce
Check here for more info : https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=170694.0


Or you can try some service to hack your wallet.dat, but they will take 10% fee
Check here for more info : https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=717334.0

Thanks for all the help, 10% sounds fair too me, cost alot of power I guess

I'm actually surprised they'd only ask for 10%...

But keep in mind that if you let ANYONE else to your coins, you never know what's going to happen to them. They might return your 90% or they might not.

[shorena]

-snip-
I'm actually surprised they'd only ask for 10%...

But keep in mind that if you let ANYONE else to your coins, you never know what's going to happen to them. They might return your 90% or they might not.

Welsh is using a method that makes sure they can figure out the password, but not access the private keys once they got it. Similar to walletrecoveryservice. Thus its pretty safe if you follow the instructions. Payment usually works via escrow as well, because once the customer has the password they could just run.

[sgk]

-snip-
I'm actually surprised they'd only ask for 10%...

But keep in mind that if you let ANYONE else to your coins, you never know what's going to happen to them. They might return your 90% or they might not.

Welsh is using a method that makes sure they can figure out the password, but not access the private keys once they got it. Similar to walletrecoveryservice. Thus its pretty safe if you follow the instructions. Payment usually works via escrow as well, because once the customer has the password they could just run.

Also, from walletrecoveryservices FAQ:
"Fortunately, the design of the bitcoin wallet is such that you can send us just part of the wallet information. The part you send us allows us to decrypt the wallet, without giving us any opportunity to steal your money."

More technical explanation:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=240779.msg2555111#msg2555111