Topic: Computer No Longer Works, Restoring Electrum? (Read 2392 times)

To remove the wallet file on the computer you are NOT going to use find the electrum data directory and then delete it. The location of the data directory depends on your operating system:
http://docs.electrum.org/en/latest/faq.html#where-is-my-wallet-file-located

Uninstalling electrum from add/remove programs will NOT remove the data directory. You have to delete the data directory manually.

Don't check any boxes.


It'll come in the next step after you enter the seed.

You ask a lot of questions here. You should just try stuff. Your computer won't bite!

okay so i assume click on


standard wallet


then


I already have a seed


then input my 12 word phrase




After i enter the 12 word phrase, do i need to check add a passphrase to this seed or BIP39 seed?  I have no idea what is this.


Also where is the option to add a password that you have to enter before you send your bitcoins?  For example when i restored my bitcoins in my computer, i put the 12 word phrase and put a password to encrypt my bitcoin?  Thus if i dont do this, anyone with access to my laptop could send bitcoins easily since there is no password.  Where is the option for this on electrum 2.7?

hey guys i downloaded electrum 2.7 on the new computer.


Options are


standard wallet

wallet with two factor authorization

multi-signature wallet

watch bitcoin addresses



Its the 1st one i assume i click on?  When i previously restored electrum on another computer it was 2.6.4.



Thanks guys.

hi there.  I will not format this old computer.  I will not use it but just want electrum deleted?  So remove programs and remove electrum?

Best is to restore your wallet through the seed in the  new computer and the newly installed electrum. Download the latest version which is out 2.7.0 so you will have the latest electrum installed.

Then you can just format your HDD of the PC you will not use anymore. Do something good about it, install a Linux distro and when you become more knowledgeable in using Electrum use that PC for cold storage.

Check here in case you want to do this in the future, just bookmark the link below to your new PC.

http://docs.electrum.org/en/latest/coldstorage.html

hey guys.  Im going to install electrum on a new computer.  The current computer that i installed electrum on recently, i will not use anymore and will want electrum deleted here.


Do you guys suggest i download electrum on the new computer first and restore it with the 12 word phrase?  Then i go and delete electrum on the other computer that i no longer will use?  Or it doesn't matter which one first?  Probably better to restore electrum on new computer first in case right?  Does that mean you can have electrum opened on 2 different computers at once?  Or i should x electrum on the old computer first?


And can someone confirm how to delete electrum fully on my old computer that i no longer will use?  Do i have to remove programs electrum?  Or can i just delete it off of my desktop.  I assume the first one right since removing just the desktop, the desktop icon is nothing more than a shortcut?  Thus if i type electrum on the search bar, then its still there?  Thanks.

hey guys looking for advice on this.  The hard drive is fine.  I have the hard drive and actually connected it to my desktop and i can see everything that is on it.  Here is my issue.  I am going to a repair shop because i bought a new laptop but the hard drive is a very slow hard drive.  I want to use this ssd in the broken computer put into the new computer.  First off, i already copied the files from it to an external.  When i look through this ssd hard drive via an enclosure, i see all my other programs there including electrum wallet.


The thing that i want to do is wipe everything on the ssd hard drive clean to be used on the new laptop.  So do you guys say i should just delete electrum on it even though i will not have an issue?  Someone here mentioned if someone has access to your hard drive and you have electrum there, they could see the amount of bitcoin you have but cannot do anything if you have a password which i do.


Is there a way to delete the electrum off this ssd hard drive?  Should i bother this or not necessary?  I also assume it not as simple as just delete it and send recycle bin?  I believe someone mentioned there was another way to do this.  Im also curious about this because the desktop that i restored my electrum in, im using this desktop temporarily and will be using another computer soon.  But i should delete it before i bring it to repair shop?


My old computers broke.  Hard drive is fine.

Can someone tell me this?  I have to go there later.

Is the hard drive broken? Or maybe only the motherboard?
If the hard drive is fine, you should be able to put it in a different laptop and transfer the coins by normal sending to a new wallet.

The seed should also work and would be very safe if the laptop is new and basically hasn't touched the internet yet.

when someone has access to your computer with Electrum wallet installed on it but he doesn't have access to your private keys if you have set a password so he doesn't have access to your coins (can not spend them),
he has access to the following :
- your bitcoin addresses and how much bitcoin you have
- your wallet.dat file which is encrypted with your password
- your computer so he can install a key logger to steal your password next time you type it in and then de-crypt your wallet with your password and gain access.

- also if your password is week it can be brute forced and it would be as if you never had any password.

okay i will install electrum on my new wallet when i get one.


about the password thing, so you are telling me if someone has access to your electrum but don't know your password, they can or cannot access your bitcoins?  I heard many cases where people bitcoins got hacked but i think a few of them were them clinking on a link.  So if someone does have your electrum wallet or access to your computer, couldn't they click on a virus link and then hack your bitcoin wallet?


thanks all.

Electrum stores the wallet in your user directory. When you uninstall electrum the wallet is not removed. If you reinstall it it will detect that an old wallet is still there and open it up by default. To get it to create and/or restore another wallet you have to use the file -> new/restore option and later the file >open option to open a specific wallet file.

The 12 word phrase lets electrum recreate all your private keys and corresponding addresses. The wallet file stores transaction and address labels that cannot be recovered with just the 12 word seed. So you can access your bitcoins but the labels will not be there unless you keep a copy of the wallet file too.

The password encrypts the 12 word phrase before it is written to your hard disk. The idea is that if someone malicious gets their hands on your computer, either locally or remotely, they can't spend your bitcoin until and unless they enter the password.


Exactly. Setting a password is good.


After uninstalling electrum from add/remove you should remove the wallet file too. You will find this in the data dir:

http://docs.electrum.org/en/latest/faq.html#where-is-my-wallet-file-located

Right.




Correct.


Yes.  If someone get your wallet file and it's not password protected, they'll be able to spend any bitcoins stored in it.



Just uninstalling won't be enough to remove your wallet.  If you're using windows you'll have to go to C:\Users\[Username]\AppData\Roaming\Electrum\wallets and delete everything inside the folder (ofc you should back them up first if you haven't).
Appdata is usually hidden but you can go there by pressing Win+R and enter "appdata" without quotes.

okay i put the 12 word phrase and then put in a new password.  So just to confirm this is the password that is used to send bitcoins right?  Because in my laptop, i had to put a password to put in my password before sending the bitcoin.


So you are telling me i were to forget the password, that isn't an issue since i have the 12 word phrase is that correct?  And thus when i reinstall electrum, well it won't ask for that password of mine and thus i have the option to put password or not?  Thus having the 12 word phrase is enough for everything?  Also does anyone here not put a password?  I think that would be very bad idea because anyone that has access to your computer could send the bitcoin easily right if they search your computer?  I haven't sent any password yet but i am happy that i was able to restore it on another computer.


The thing is i will not use this computer anymore soon.  Its basically a computer im using to access my electrum because my laptop went down on me and i have to buy a new laptop.  So how would you suggest i go with this?  Just do the same thing right now on the new laptop when i get one... then erase electrum on this desktop?  Thus add/remove programs and delete the program? 

hey there.  So you mean don't download electrum from the site and just open it up from the file in my usb right?  Then do this?  Or you suggest downloading electrum from site.  Don't open the electrum 2.6 from my usb and then do that?


I just don't want to make any silly mistakes here and going to do it now.

Select:

- Restore a wallet or import keys

- Standard wallet type

Then it'll ask you to enter your seed. So type those 12 words in. If they are correct the next button at the bottom of the window will be clickable ( i.e NOT grayed out). Click on that and it'll generate addresses and ask you to set a password for your restored wallet. This password has nothing to do with your previous password. It's a new password and if you like it can be the same as your old one or a different one. You will be asked for it when spending your bitcoins.

You can always restore from the 12 words only. The 12 words alone are a sufficient backup.

Both.  Download electrum 2.6 from the site if you haven't already then restore it by choosing "Restore a wallet or import keys" and "Standard wallet".  If you already have downloaded the latest version from https://electrum.org/#download there's no need to download it again.

I will put it this way.  When i start electrum on my laptop, i would type electrum on the start key then see it then i click on it.  this is the exact electrum that is in my downloads folder.  Well it SHOULD be... because theres only one 2.6 electrum.  I have a old electrum as well but upgraded to 2.6 later on.


My 12 word phrase im positive is correct.  So you want me to click on Restore a wallet or import keys and then standard wallet?   Or you want me to download electrum 2.6 from the electrum site.  Then input the 12 word phrase etc?  Since the popup i got is because i am opening electrum 2.6 from my usb file.  Again i have no idea if i made a copy of electrum correctly on my usb because i just dragged it.

Don't worry, it will work unless you got the wrong seed.  I wipe out my memory quite frequently and never got a problem restoring from seed.
If your downloaded the stand alone executable then moving it anywhere won't be a problem.  Same goes for the installer too but the installer will actually install electrum in a specified location.


Now you're going backward.  You can restore from anywhere, the wallet file will be generated in the same place no matter where you open the executable from.  There are no steps left once you enter the seed.

okay guys can someone here list the steps for me?  So use the 12 word phrase as oppose to the electrum in my usb?  Or did i backed it up into usb wrong?  All i did was drag electrum 2.6 from laptop to the usb.