I have recently bought a new laptop and I have downloaded the Bitcoin wallet but cannot seem to figure out how to import the wallet data file to the new empty wallet on my new laptop.
I have tried moving the file into the data roaming file part of the Bitcoinqt and rescanning but still it says 0.00 btc. (I definitely have more than that!!)
Yes I admit I am no expert but I like to think I am not this stupid!! What am I doing wrong?
Thanks in advance.
Russell
How old is the wallet.dat file you're trying to move to the new computer?
Here's an example (anyone else, please correct me if I'm wrong):
You have 1 bitcoin on your old computer, you save the wallet.dat file. You pay someone .1, so you have .9 btc left. When you move the old wallet.dat file to a new computer, you may notice you don't have any bitcoins anymore.
The reason is this (if I'm correctly understanding what I've read), when you send money, you send all of it. In the example: .1 btc to someone else, and .9 btc back to yourself (to a change address). Your wallet looks like you have the money on your old computer (because it sees your change addresses).
But you need to backup that wallet again and move the newly backed up wallet.dat to the new computer.