Topic: Electrum password problem after importing bip38 wallet (Read 248 times)

this thread has nothing to do with seed phrases and the password does serve a useful function here. cross wallet compatibility of seeds is also not guaranteed. your answer is wrong on many counts.

Setting the password was only meant for verify transaction for the wallet that's imported on it and it's does not store on your seed or phrase. You can actually import the same seed/phrase on other wallets like Mycelium and your balance will load up.

like nc50lc said just do the import again and this time don't set a password. you can begin via file > new/restore.

Where did you download this link from?

I think that may be really helpful advice you've given.. I'll try that. Unfortunately, there's a lot going on in replies here and as a non tech person I'm going to have to go absorb it all and make sense of it. So if I may reply later once osmosis has occurred

Just do exactly what you did when creating the "new Electrum wallet" with both uncompressed and compressed private keys,
excluding the step when you've added a password.

I will also ask for your password before sending txs, signing txs and messages.

You need to import the (uncompressed) private key belonging to the "uncompressed adress", not the adress itself. If you only import the adress, your wallet will become a watch-only wallet, and you will be unable to spend the funds.

I think we're just misunderstanding each other in terms of terminology here.

Reading your second post, i think i misunderstood you in your first post where you talked about a "BIP39 paper wallet", as if you were to perhaps have some sort of bip39 seed, (why mention it otherwise.. was kind of my train of thought.)

So, disregard that, and create a new Electrum wallet -> Import -> and then import the uncompressed private key (should be starting with a  5..) (since you mentioned that is where your funds are stored- on the uncompressed adress?), -> Don't set a password (for now.) -> your funds should show up. --> You should be able to spend them (without electrum asking for a password.)

Thanks for your reply

First, I have a BIP38 paper wallet with a BTC address and BIP38 encrypted private key. I used bitaddress.org and the BIP38 passphrase to decrypt the paper wallet and got a public key, and a set of private keys (Private Key WIF starting with"5..."; Private Key WIF Compressed starting with "L...", Private Key Hexadecimal starting with "6..."

(You mention Bip39 wallets but I know nothing about Bip39 wallets and as far as I know the Bip38 paper wallet I'd working with is not a Bip39 one, but maybe I'm wrong? I think maybe my use of the phrase "Bip38 address" was wrong, but as a noob really please be kind re errors)

(You also ask near the end of your post if this problem was a continuation of a previous post I'd made importing another paper wallet into Electrum -- answer is no I sorted that paper wallet, this is another paper wallet where I have a password issue. But, I must say, the problem i posted about previously persists in that my understanding is that the private key of a Bip38 wallet should by all accounts start with "6.." but Electrum does not accept that as the "NEXT" button remains greyed out if a private key starting with "6..." is entered.  

This post is about me wanting to import a Bip38 paper wallet into Electrum and then send the balance in that address to an exchange.

I successfully imported (not swept) that BIP38 paper wallet BTC address into a new Electrum wallet, and then tried to send the BTC from that address in the new Electrum wallet to an exchange.

So I created a new Electrum wallet and imported the Bip38 Paper wallet address into it (using the "Import Bitcoin addresses or private keys" option, was asked to enter the relevant Btc address or private key" and ended up with the previous posts problem that the one starting with "6..." didn't give me the "NEXT" option and ended up entering the private key starting with "5..."  - which was btw the advise of the previous post I made here). I did not set a password when going this.

The new Electrum wallet had two Btc addresses from the Bip38 paper wallet - the compressed address and the uncompressed address. The later uncompressed Btc address reflected a Btc balance that the Bip38 paper wallet contained. The compressed Btc address reflected a Btc balance of zero.

I then set a password for that new Electrum wallet and tried to send Btc from the uncompressed address to a Btc exchange address. But I was asked for my password and was told "Invalid password" by Electrum.

Any further ideas? I've got Btc stuck in the new Electrum wallet behind a password that I'm pretty much 100% sure I get right. I've repeating the process as per above (I created yet another new Electrum wallet this time entering the Private key starting with "L..." that now has the compressed Bip38 paper wallet address with zero balance.

And I'm wondering what to do next.

QUESTION: I was thinking I should sweep the Bip38 uncompressed address into another new Electrum wallet but you say that will not give me access to the funds. Can you advise how to sweep a paper wallet so that funds ARE accessible?

ANOTHER Question: You suggest I re-import the "private key/BIP39 seed" into another new Electrum wallet  - I'm happy to try that but may I ask, would I enter the Bip38 seed into Electrum? I would nto have imagined so as if I decrypt the private key why would Electum need me to enter the seed of that other wallet?

When you import a wallet (bip38 paper wallet's address): your coins will not leave from your addresses (No transaction.) You can manage coins from the new wallet (Electrum,) you can send coins using an electrum or your old private key paper wallet address.
So it seems that you forgot the password from the new version there are two options:

Remember wallet seed: 12 words when you create that account.
Re-repeat what you did: currencies remain in (bip38 wallet.)

Okay- Certain things you might need to clarify (or perhaps someone else needs to clarify them for me ):

You have a "BIP39" paper wallet- (What does BIP39 have to do with anything here? You mean you have a seed, or a private key?)
You sucessfully imported the paper wallet- meaning you got the corresponding private key with the adress that holds your balance? (BIP39 passphrases..?)

I'm not sure what BIP38 has to do with it? You can't import BIP38 private keys into electrum? You mean it simply corresponded with a BIP38 key you have wrote down somewhere/decrypted? I guess that would make sense.

That's weird- doesn't electrum only ask for a password when opening the wallet?

A decrypted BIP38 private key is just like any “regular” private key-  so probably not. It sounds to me like you're having a problem with the electrum software itself - namely the part where you forgot your password (?).
(Sweeping an adress won't give you access to the funds on it. FYI. I also don't think there's such a thing as a BIP38 adress.)

Why don't you just reimport the private key/BIP39 seed (?) into a new electrum wallet, and don't set a password on the wallet?

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Is this question a continuation of https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.49739885

If so, please provide more information about what exactly is going wrong, and what you have. (Seed, private key, encrypted private key, "encrypted" seed), otherwise, this is just a guessing game. (for me at least.  )

Pretty please-

I downloaded the latest version Electrum 3.3.8 Standalone for Windows 10, opened it, backed up the existing wallet, created a new wallet using the "Import/sweep" option (4th option on the list), skipped setting a password, and imported a bip39 paper wallet, which resulted in that bip38 paper wallet's address and btc balance reflecting in the new Electrum wallet I had created. That same btc balance reflects at that address on blockchain.com block explorer

At that stage I created and saved a password for that wallet

I then tried to send from that imported address but, when I was asked for a password and entered the newly created one, I was told "Invalid password".

Please advise where to from here? A solution is quite urgently needed and would be so appreciated.

Does Electrum have password issues relating to bip38 wallet imports? Would it be possible to just sweep that bip38 address into a bip-38 compatible wallet, even into another new wallet on Electrum? Would I encounter the same password issue?

Thanks