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Topic: just sent money to an electrum wallet that i made says watch-only how do i get? (Read 168 times)

legendary
Activity: 2534
Merit: 6080
Self-proclaimed Genius
as far as i know this wallet was made from btc address and never had a seed or private key.
Then, there's nothing else you can do.
The balance is in the wallet of whoever owns that address that you've copied from that "refund transaction".

You can always re-read my previous replies if you feel like you're missing something.
newbie
Activity: 7
Merit: 0
as far as i know this wallet was made from btc address and never had a seed or private key.
newbie
Activity: 7
Merit: 0
addresses tab there is only 1 address
the address starts with 19
legendary
Activity: 2534
Merit: 6080
Self-proclaimed Genius
Does the address starts with 'bc1'? or '1'?
If it's the former, you need to append p2wpkh: before the WIF private key, example: p2wpkh:L4rK1yDtCWekvXuE6oXD9jCYfFNV2cWRpVuPLBcCU2z8TrisoyY1
newbie
Activity: 7
Merit: 0
its not a multsig wallet.

i believe i made it by copying 1 or a list of address for refund back when trying to figure out how verify/sign a brodcast transaction... i never did figure it out (someone else ended up signing the transaction).  i then did not delete this extra wallet.  unknowingly i sent funds into this wallet from another app wallet i have.   i have the private key etc from this original wallet but nothing i have written down anywhere seems to correspond with *extra wallet.
legendary
Activity: 2534
Merit: 6080
Self-proclaimed Genius
would it be possible to set up a refund on the blockchain? or manually create a transaction that will allow me to use my "watch-only" btc?
No, it's impossible to do that.
It it were possible then the Bitcoin would defeat its purpose, BTW, no one controls the Blockchain.
Imagine people importing random addresses to Electrum, creating watch-only wallets then spending someone else's balance   Tongue

You can "manually create a transaction" but you can't sign it without the address' private key.
And manually creating a transaction is just the same as using the send tab.
newbie
Activity: 7
Merit: 0
would it be possible to set up a refund on the blockchain? or manually create a transaction that will allow me to use my "watch-only" btc?
legendary
Activity: 2534
Merit: 6080
Self-proclaimed Genius
-snip- and it says wallet was made by being imported.  
This supports my guess that the wallet consists of an address or it can also be a list of addresses.

So, it's the same as my previous reply above aside from the first sentence.
Just re-read it as there are no other solutions to your "issue".
Additionally, you can open address tab using "View->Show Addresses" and click "Addresses" tab, find which one has the balance and you must remember where that address came from.

i hardly remember creating this wallet. i made it several weeks back when i was attempting to recieve a refund via btc multisig transaction.  i believe i must have attempted to copy and pasted one of the provided wallets for the refund and ended up having this watch only- and did not know there was such a thing until i sent funds to it.
After reading my previous reply, you should know by now what to find: the address' private key.
If it's a refund address, then it must have been a wallet of yours, must be a non-custodial desktop/mobile wallet.
It can't be a custodial wallet or an exchange address because the balance should be spent by now and credited to that account but it isn't spent right?

Is the address MultiSig? (If it starts with '3', then there's a chance that it is MultiSig)
Yes? Then you need the cosigners' seed phrase and/or master public key depending on the number of cosigners and number of required signature.
newbie
Activity: 7
Merit: 0
i hardly remember creating this wallet. i made it several weeks back when i was attempting to recieve a refund via btc multisig transaction.  i believe i must have attempted to copy and pasted one of the provided wallets for the refund and ended up having this watch only- and did not know there was such a thing until i sent funds to it.   
at this point im willing to split whats in there with whoever can help me.  its .0315  : /
newbie
Activity: 7
Merit: 0
sorry for delay i have been searching for/attempting using seed phrases i have saved or written down. unfortunately none fit wallet that i have sent the funds to.  i checked the area where the master key might be and it says wallet was made by being imported. 
what if i was to transfer data from android to pc could this produce a situation that would provide me with a new or corressponding key phrase?

thank you.
slow reply was because honestly i was too bummed out to mess with it for a couple days. also spending lots of time on this phone screen is teh sux.
legendary
Activity: 2534
Merit: 6080
Self-proclaimed Genius
I was not given this address i created it.
Have you created it using a vanity address or paper wallet generator?

Anyways, it seems like you're working on a wallet with a single address because of that statement.
So the only way you're end up with a watch-only wallet is: you've imported the address to Electrum during wallet creation.

The solution to that is to import the "private key" instead of the address.
To import it, use the options: "Menu/...->Wallets->New->Enter a name->next->Import bitcoin addresses or private keys".
Private key must start with either 'L', 'K' or '5'; if you don't have the address' private key, then you should provide more info about the address' "creation process".
legendary
Activity: 1554
Merit: 2037
Here is a link to the electrum documentation that discusses the watch only wallet it's use case and how it gets created. So the images should look familiar to you for how you got here. https://electrum.readthedocs.io/en/latest/coldstorage.html?highlight=usb#create-a-watching-only-version-of-your-wallet

Upgrade00 has probably given you the easiest option. If you have your seed phrase from when you initially created the wallet, then you can just start over and create a new wallet and restore from seed. Just google "restore from seed" and you will find a ton of guides and pick which one works best for you. It's dead simple but can be a bit nerve racking your first time around.

legendary
Activity: 2114
Merit: 2248
Playgram - The Telegram Casino
When did you create this wallet and when was the transaction sent?
Also, when you created the wallet did you note down the seed phrase which was shown?
Have you attempted importing the wallet to a different device?

A watch only wallet is typically created after the main wallet using the master public key, this means you need to have your private key or seed phase before being able to create a watch only wallet. A wallet can not be solely watch only as the keys are usually derived from the seed (which you get when creating a wallet on electrum), you probably tried importing it on a different device and entered the public key rather than the seed phrase.
newbie
Activity: 7
Merit: 0
as topic says this is a wallet that i created. I was not given this address i created it. i do not know how or how i made it watch-only.  I xfered funds to this wallet from main wallet before sending out for safety(first time using this specific wallet.) i own both wallets used to send the funds. i am really looking for a walk-through on how i can fix.  i am using android electrum 4.0.7
thank you.
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