Topic: can't access electrum wallet (Read 528 times)

There's a certain chance that it'll be pre-selected.
Since it's in the data directory where the configuration file is included where the previously loaded wallet directories are listed,
chances that it'll be the first wallet that a newly installed Electrum will show during its "Install Wizard" screen,
you wont even have to setup the wallet since its already there, it'll just open. You can add the password in the wallet menu if it's not encrypted. (sounds familiar?)

Plus the data directory isn't deleted if the previous owner deleted/uninstalled Electrum.

Why? Is there a chance that the PC was someone else's?
Because that's a good start since you can ask him if he used Electrum before and the whereabouts of that address.

Yes, the two wallets are only a little over a week old.

I did the selfie, id, etc. thing when I opened the blockchain wallet. They asked for it again when I attempted a transaction noting I may be a "victim".

It is likely I am "misremembering" some things about the initial install of the Electrum wallet. But, as I said before, I don't have the know how to even think about modifying the program and don't recall doing anything to add/change any aspect thereof. As for the wallet already being there when I installed Electrum it makes me wonder what are the odds I would randomly select a wallet that just happened to already be on my computer?

I do admit to making several mistakes (mostly of omission) by venturing into crypto wallets half-cocked. Whatever happened seems to be irreparable. Perhaps I have failed in relaying the information needed by those of you who are quite well versed in this stuff. Perhaps I did do something I can't remember to foul up the install. Perhaps it's just an odd glitch that's never been seen before.  To all of you who've been so generous to  put in the time and brain power to help me I thank you and I envy you. From here on out I'll check the blockchain from time to time to see what might have been. I've already lost half of my investment in bc so losing the other half will be something I'll just have to live with. Maybe one day I'll run across someone who can physically go into this Pc and figure out what went wrong since the coin doesn't seem to be going anywhere. It's time for me to put this down and move along. Again, thank you all for all you've done.

So those wallets are just created recently and not before creating your Electrum wallet?
If so, the address can't be from any of those.
If not and those are before Electrum: it's worth to check those wallet's address list if it belongs there.

For the additional info requested by blockchain.com (not affiliated with Bitcoin), it's mandatory to their Buy/Sell and Exchange services.

Then the wallet is created by someone else or as mentioned above, already there when you installed Electrum.
It's possible since Electrum's data directory is separate from the install directory and wont be deleted during uninstall.

There also inconsistencies that leads to my suspicion that you've totally misremembered what happened.

Is your computer second hand? Is there a chance this wallet file already existed on your device and when you installed Electrum it simply opened the already existing wallet? It's very strange behavior for malware, which would be much better off just letting you generate a wallet normally and stealing your seed phrase.

And did you not say above that you wrote down a seed phrase? But here you say all you did was create a password?

It's highly unlikely. The only thing I can think of would be to try the following:

• Take your list of 30 private keys
• Delete all the addresses and all of the "p2wpkh:" prefixes, so you are just left with a list of 30 raw private keys beginning with K or L
• Create a new Electrum wallet, and select "Import Bitcoin addresses or private keys"
• Paste in your list of 30 private keys

This will generate the corresponding legacy address (starting with "1") for each of your private keys. It's highly unlikely any of these are the 1N8vh... address in question, but it's the only possibility I can think of.

I think it's obvious and well established, to all. I didn't know what I was doing right from the start. I didn't verify the download and, therefore, it's very possible I did download a malicious copy/wallet file. I wouldn't have any way of knowing that unless I verified it which I didn't. (Mistake #4) As I stated in another reply, I did nothing other than enter my password into the field when prompted during set-up. What puzzles me is why is the bc still in the same place and not been moved after almost two years if the objective was to steal it?

Private keys were mentioned earlier. In the Electrum file I have a list of about 30 private keys that look like this:  "bc1......" : "p2wpkh : [numbers and letters]",  Does the possibility exist the bc can be accessed by using these? I was thinking I could delete everything Electrum I can from this PC and download a verified wallet but that would only create a wallet completely separate with no connection to my bc, correct?

nc501c, I can assure you I did not paste anything from the clipboard into the program. I don't even know how to use a clipboard. I have no idea where this 1N8vh... number came from. When the install process was complete the window opened with the Electrum name, version and 1N8vh... number at the top. The only thing I remember doing is creating a password. At that point I thought I was good to go and at some time shortly thereafter made a bc purchase. I've learned, on here, I made three mistakes. The first was assuming the 1N8vh number was not the address for conducting transactions and the second was not checking the wallet after the purchase to see if the bc made it into the wallet. The third was going to blockchain.com (a link to which was emailed to me after the initial purchase) to follow the first and all subsequent purchases. Since 4/2021 I had lost one half of my investment due to the drop in value of bc. When it recently began to come back I was going to sell it off and get out of crypto altogether. That's when I went to the wallet to find there was a  "0" balance. I can tell you with 100% certainty I did not interfere with the install by adding or deleting anything except a password in the field presented when prompted.

I opened two other wallets at the advice of what turned out to be a couple suspicious characters on another forum. This was about a week ago after discovering the problem with the Electrum wallet. I attempted to buy a small amount of bc for a blockchain.com wallet but the transaction did not go through because they thought I may have been a victim of a scam and wanted further verification (selfie, official ID, dated note, etc.). Perhaps the 1N8vh... "address" instead of a bc1q address triggered an alarm or something, I don't know.  I decided to forego the transaction and return to attempting to resolve the electrum wallet. That's when I found this forum. I also opened a Trust wallet that I have done nothing with.

I didn't know this, but Coinmama Wallet is actually non-custodial so this is a real possibility! OP would still need to find his wallet details though.

The download link on Electrum.org is always up to date, so if you downloaded it from the official site, then this would not have happened. I am assuming you didn't bother to verify your download with the developer's PGP keys prior to installing?

There is no scenario in which Electrum will automatically generate a wallet with an address in the file name. The only two remaining options are that either someone else put it there (meaning you downloaded a malicious copy of Electrum or a malicious wallet file by mistake), or you put it there without realizing what you were doing (meaning that you must have copied it from somewhere else first - it's not a Coinmama deposit address?).

Does this "Install Window" seem familiar?:

Because that's where you've entered that "1N8vh" address that you may have copied from somewhere else.
I'm thinking that you may have it in your clipboard back then, pasted it there, then proceeded to create the wallet.

Have you been using other wallet(s) aside from Electrum before?

I think the download and the first purchase were close together. Certainly not nearly a month apart. Me being the dullard I am, perhaps I clicked on a download link that had not been updated. I don't know. I remember it being a 3. something version. When this problem started I upgraded to the 4.3.4 version hoping that might "fix" something. Your colleague on here, LoyceV, feels I may have changed something at the time of the initial purchase. They may be right. I can't categorically deny that. It seems I've broken/manipulated it beyond repair.

I'm at a loss there, LoyceV. I knew going in I knew nothing about manipulating a wallet so I just loaded and ran the program. How it appeared on the screen and where the number came from was what I got when it opened. This was over two years ago but I'm pretty sure I didn't do anything to this wallet that would generate any changes to the original download. I may have done something that buggered up the delivery of the bc but I don't recall even attempting to do so. That being said, I think it's time to drop it for now. For peace of mind and with great gratitude for your help, I'll admit I broke it somehow and paid the price.

I think I can safely say Electrum didn't create that wallet name on it's own, so (somehow) you must have done it. If you can figure out how that happened, that might give you a clue.

You don't just go from private keys in a new (bc1q) Electrum wallet to a legacy ("1") address without manually doing something.

Yes, I created the wallet on my own. Did a search for how to buy bitcoin and then looked at several wallets. Chose Electrum because it was highly rated. When I opened the download the Electrum 4.3.4 line was at the top along with the 1N8vh... no help from anyone. (I should have done a bit more reading up, it appears.)

I am totally in the dark about private keys. I've seen where they're listed in the pull-down menu but have no idea what to do with them. It just says sweep or export. Is there some kind of connection between them and the 1N8v... label that might give me access to the coin?

All of this is normal, except for that "1N8vh..." is at the place where your wallet's name is. That means it is actually the name of your wallet, and that should not be a Bitcoin address.
Did you create this wallet by yourself? Or did someone "help" you do this? Did you get a phone call, or email, telling you what to do?

It sounds like it's unrelated.

Like all Bitcoins, it can only be moved by someone with access to the private key.

No. Miners don't look for lost coins, but scammers prey on Newbies (and on experienced members too).

I'd say dig a bit deeper. Try to remember what exactly you did when you created the wallet. How did it get it's name ("1N8vh...")?

This is the top line of my wallet:  Electrum 4.3.4 - 1N8vh... [standard]

I don't know if it matters but I did open an electrum wallet on my phone. It seems somewhat different than the PC version. I don't see the 1Nvh... number on there anywhere. I just recently opened this wallet when I discovered the problem I have. Haven't done anything with it except look at it. I don't think the two are connected in any way.

Regardless, is it your expert opinion the bc showing on the blockchain under 1N8vh... is "locked" there having no way to be moved to my wallet or anywhere else for that matter? (Is this the kind of thing "miners"  look for?) It's really not that much money to go further down this rabbit hole any deeper.

Unlikely. The default wallet is named default_wallet, and that's not something you accidentally change into a Bitcoin address.

One possibility is clipboard malware, although I haven't read about malware that replaces a bc1q-address with a legacy ("1") address. And if that's the case, I would have expected the funds to be moved by now.

It's unlikely you create an address by just typing it (I think there's about a 1 in 4 billion chance to type a correct checksum), so it's much more likely the address was created from a private key.
Your "fatal error" is not checking your wallet after the first withdrawal. Checking block explorers isn't enough if the address doesn't belong to your wallet.

I think I've figured out what happened through this line of questioning. Could it be the address (1N8vh...) I copied is not, in fact, the address but the name of the wallet? By not knowing, I should have gone into the wallet and selected a "receive" address from the list and an amount so the bc could be routed correctly? If this is what happened I suppose this is a fatal error on my part and, given the security protocols, the bc can not be moved out of 1N8vh... since there is no such address owner.

What is the timeline here? How soon before your first withdrawal from Coinmama did you set up the Electrum wallet?

I ask because the first transaction to that address was on April 20th, 2021. However, approximately one month earlier, Electrum released version 4.1.0 which stopped generating legacy seed phrases and legacy addresses (without going through the console) and started generating segwit seed phrases and segwit addresses instead. Such addresses would start with "bc1", and not look like the legacy address which you have shared.

That sounds legit.

What do you mean with "from the top of the wallet"? The top-address on the Addresses list is fine. If you would have created one on the Receive tab, that's fine too. I don't have an address "on the top", so I'm not sure what you mean.

The site is Coinmama.

I got it from the top of the wallet.

I went to the Electrum.org site for the download. When I purchased the bc I was asked to enter the wallet address. I put in the 1N8vh.... address on the top of the wallet. Should I have chosen an address from the list of addresses? If so, I was unaware of that.