Author

Topic: Did wallet.dat files change over time? (Read 1031 times)

legendary
Activity: 2506
Merit: 1010
March 17, 2013, 10:28:25 AM
#7
Could it be that the wallet.dat file change over time so that the current client is unable to read it?

The newer clients (v0.7 and higher) are less ignorant of bad data in the wallet.dat.     Are you getting a message unable to open wallet.dat?

You could try joric's pywallet and see if it can get more out of it than Bitcoin-Qt can.
legendary
Activity: 1358
Merit: 1002
March 16, 2013, 09:07:50 PM
#6
Go to the folder where your wallet.dat is and insert
Code:
rescan=1

in the bitcoin.conf file that is inside that same folder. If there is no file named bitcoin.conf, create one yourself

Start bitcoin-qt as you usually do and wait for it to do it's thing.

If you get your bitcoins back, you can donate some to me at: 1PKyq6aMKcCwn8cmb9Jc5SkNydLsQb5n7K

Don't forget to remove the rescan=1 line from the bitcoin.conf file when you finish.
hero member
Activity: 695
Merit: 502
PGP: 6EBEBCE1E0507C38
March 16, 2013, 08:45:46 PM
#5
take a look at the wallet in plain text.
hero member
Activity: 533
Merit: 500
^Bitcoin Library of Congress.
March 16, 2013, 08:42:55 PM
#4
Try running it with the "rescan" option.
hero member
Activity: 700
Merit: 500
March 16, 2013, 02:30:59 PM
#3
as far as i know the wallet.dat file hasnt changed at all it only changes if you add new addresses
are you copying it to the right place? C:\users\your username\appdata\roaming\bitcoin
also i think it only works if theres 1 wallet.dat file there

Thanks for the tip. I just checked and it's definitely at the right location.
Maybe I backed up an empty wallet without any transactions...
legendary
Activity: 1540
Merit: 1002
March 16, 2013, 01:01:35 PM
#2
as far as i know the wallet.dat file hasnt changed at all it only changes if you add new addresses
are you copying it to the right place? C:\users\your username\appdata\roaming\bitcoin
also i think it only works if theres 1 wallet.dat file there
hero member
Activity: 700
Merit: 500
March 16, 2013, 10:55:35 AM
#1
I have an old wallet.dat from 2011 and tried to open it with my current 0.8 bitcoin-qt client. I did not get any errors, but the wallet does not contain any transcation or addresses. I'm pretty sure there must be some in this wallet file.

Could it be that the wallet.dat file change over time so that the current client is unable to read it?
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