Topic: Had to reboot my computer and my wallet has the wrong key (Read 753 times)

If you copied the bitcoin folder to your flash drive, it should contain a file called, "wallet.dat"... this is the only file you need

Copy the wallet.dat file to where the bitcoin program is looking for it (it's not looking at your flash drive)

The default location for windows is in C:\Users\[Login_Name]\AppData\Roaming\Bitcoin\wallet.dat  (some folders may be "hidden")

Do you have your wallet.dat file on the flashdrive? If you didn't get a chance to save the file, then you can try using a RECOVERY TOOL. Start off with this one, EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard. If it doesn't work, keep searching.
If you have your wallet.dat (+ PASSWORD/PHRASE) then you can move on and import it. (For this, I'm going to assume that you are using Bitcoin-qt. If you aren't, please post here and let me know what you are using)

%APPDATA%\Bitcoin

In that folder, there should be a wallet.dat file. If you don't want to keep the newly generated address, just delete that. Once you delete it, place your old wallet.dat file to replace it.
When you placed the other wallet.dat file in place, you should run Bitcoin-Qt with the -rescan option. Here's how to do that in Windows:

Go to C:\Program Files (x86)\Bitcoin using Windows Explorer.
In that folder, hold shift and right-click and select Open
In the command prompt, type bitcoin-qt.exe -rescan and hit enter
Now Bitcoin-Qt should start and rescan the blockchain to calculate the balances of the addresses in your wallet.dat file.

All the best.

Which folder?  How do you know it is the one that contained all your bitcoin info?  Maybe you moved the wrong folder?  We can't tell you if you moved the right folder or not, because you haven't told us which folder you moved. What files were in the folder that you moved?  Was there a file named "wallet.dat"?

Did you ever use the "Backup Wallet" function in the wallet software?  If so, then where did you save that backup file (it probably has access to your bitcoins)?


No. You didn't.

"Rebooted" means that you shut the computer down and then turned it back on.

If it is "back to factory settings" then you "Reset" or "Reinstalled" it.


That isn't going to help you.  Having the address only allows you to see how many bitcoins are received at that address.  It does not allow you to get those bitcoins into your wallet or to spend them at all.


This happens when you don't properly recover the backup of your old wallet.


If you have a good backup of the old wallet.dat file?  Yes.

If you don't have a good backup of the old wallet.day file, and you don't have the private keys for the addresses stored anywhere? No.  In that case the bitcoins are permanently lost.


You're going to need to find a good copy of the original wallet.dat file.  Otherwise it isn't going to be possible for anybody to help you.  Perhaps there is software that can scan the erased harddrive in your computer and recover the deleted wallet.dat?

Since you moved the folder, the original data in the original folder is gone, so bitcoin core created a new wallet and that is the one you are seeing. If you cannot find you wallet.dat file and don't have a backup of it, then you are out of luck and you have lost your bitcoin. There is nothing that can be done about it except to look harder.

I apologize for being so vague. I moved the folder containing all my bitcoin info to a flash drive and then rebooted my computer back to factory settings. I still have the original address in another place. And yes the wallet created a new address. Is there any way to add original address/move my bitcoins located at my old address to the new address. My OS is windows 7. My back up was supposed to be on that same flash drive, but I can't seem to locate it.

I'm not sure why rebooting your computer would cause you to lose any of the contents on it since rebooting is just restarting it.  Or do you mean reinstall the OS?  If so, which OS?

Perhaps you had the wallet in a custom location and so it isn't finding your old one and created a new one? Likewise, did you verify that you backed up the correct wallet? 

Where did you reinstall the wallet.dat file?

One thing to be sure of also, if you really are "moving" the files, you should really be copying them and you should ensure that bitcoin core isn't running when you do so.  Do you have a complete backup of the computer too just in case you didn't backup the right wallet?

I had to reboot my computer and although I moved everything to a flash drive and backed it up when I moved it back to my computer the wallet had a new key. How can I put in the correct key? Currently it states I have no bitcoins.