Topic: Recovery Non Spendable BTC (Read 847 times)

Update. I was able to recover my bits with the help of Dave at https://walletrecoveryservices.com/. It cost me 20% but I recovered the forks BCH BSV and BTG which I didn't know about,  so that took out some of the sting.
In the end I did have the correct password/keys but it just didn't work with the old outdated Android wallet.
Much thanks to those who tried to help me out.

Here's something else.  In my Android bitcoin wallet (which is also the device where the (bitcoin-wallet-keys-date) have been stored and moved to one or two new phones over time I get this message with the keys. "password encrypted, external storage manually backed up on May 15". Does not say what year so can only assume this is a recent date. This android wallet is not password protected and the hard drive only has a phone entry password. So really stumped by this.
Edit: I have found that the reason these files have a date on them is because I opened them in Notepad and/or ++ so they are modified. But they are not encrypted so I don't know why Schildbach is saying they are encrypted. Can't try without a password because the restore button is greyed out.
Edit: I keep learning a little more.  In looks like the file(s) are indeed encrypted but I don't have a password.

Still no luck. To restore the Schildbach wallet is really simple.. Safety > Restore > pick a file and password. I have the b/u files (2). Back in 2014 I pretty much only used one password for everything but it doesn't work. Just thought I'd let you know. Still trying though. Bitcoin keeps going UP.

I checked my old backups from that wallet, but the files are more like 90 kB, so I doubt a file with 350 characters will be such a backup.

MultiBit is NOT Schildbach... and Schildbach is NOT MultiBit.

It seems like this whole time you've been attempting to use the wrong wallet to recover your bitcoins. I would think it is more likely you were actually using the "Bitcoin Wallet for Android" as opposed to MultiBit. If that is the case then it is quite possible, if you have an Android device, to simply install that wallet and then load up the backup file (assuming you have the correct password).

Even if you don't have an Android device, there are Android emulators like "Bluestacks" that you could try.

Note that the wallet is old enough (and the "keys" part in the name might confirm it) that this is unlikely to be an HD wallet... but a keystore. In which case, the decrypt_bitcoinj_seed probably won't work, as there won't be a "seed mnemonic" to recover from the file.

Just one other thing.. those 2 Multibit Schildbach backups I did in 2014 with the name of "bitcoin-wallet-keys-2014-02-03" 240 bytes. They are plain text files that contain about 350 characters. They must have expected owners to be able to use these files for recovery but there is not much reference to them on the web except other persons wondering the same thing. 

That's correct... if you are getting a "different" (and empty) address from the imported private key... then the private key you have is (obviously) NOT the private key matching the address (with BTC) that you have.

So, it would indeed appear that the backup you have is for a different wallet.

As for getting into the tablet, You might want to head over to: XDA Developers and see if you can find the section relating to your make/model of device. Otherwise, perhaps a local data recovery service might be able to assist? The downside being that these services are generally quite expensive.

When I create a new wallet and import the key..  it generates a new address and of course there is nothing in it.

When I create a new wallet and import my good address (watching-only).. it won't let me import the key, only sweep and then there are no inputs.

I starting to wonder..  when I backed up my wallet back in 2014 onto a thumb drive where the key is, I'm now thinking it was an empty wallet - not knowing what I was doing.

I think my only recourse is to gain entry into the original device - Asus Android Tablet which is locked.

I really want to thank you for your steadfast support on this issue. I wish I had some btcs to send you.  Maybe later.

Still wondering about that key..  it just didn't come out of nowhere

If it is a "watching-only" wallet... then you imported the "address"... and NOT the private key.

You need to use:
File -> New\Restore -> (enter a wallet name) -> Import Bitcoin addresses or private keys"

Then in the box, put the 50-51 characters private key that you have... it should start with a "K" or an "L"... and look similar to these examples:

"The 175 char key you keep talking about is likely not a "key" but (encrypted) text in a .key file right?" Yes that's right.

Electrum looks like it's ready to send except that it's a (watching-only) wallet. I don't have the option to import the key.. just "sweep" and that results in a no input message.  The lock icon on the bottom right is in the "locked" status.

The 175 char key you keep talking about is likely not a "key" but (encrypted) text in a .key file right?

If all 6 transactions are black... They're all incoming transactions where you "received" coins. If you have a positive balance then the private key you imported should be able to be used to spend them.

So, you should be able to send that 350 mBTC (0.350 BTC) to wherever you like.

Have you actually tried a send transaction?

HCP -  In Electrum the six entries in the Amount column are Black in colour. The balance in the lower left corner is 350. mBTC
Yes, in the Output boxes I do have several change addresses. At this point I have 2 keys. The original with about 50-51 characters. The exported one with about 175 char.

Also I have these other 2 options.
1 - I have a schildbach plain text backup from 2014. Does anyone know how to use this in Multibit classic or other wallet?
2 - I still have the device I used when I traded these btcs. It's an Asus Android Tablet. After it sitting around for 5 years I exhausted the pattern attempts to gain entry. My gmail/pass don't work, my device is no longer listed in my google device list, have tried calling Google but that's like trying to reach god himself. Of course wifi is disconnected and can't gain entry to turn it on.
All replies will be greatly appreciated.

That could be problematic... if you only have one key, then you won't have any keys for change addresses


In Electrum... with the 6 transactions that you see with the green checkmarks... are the values shown in the "amount" column displayed in Red colour? Red = outgoing coins.

What is the balance shown in the bottom left corner?


Yes, you should be able to see the "Outputs" box that will list all the outputs created by the transaction. If there is more than one address shown in "Outputs", then one of them will be the change address. Unfortunately, as I mentioned above, if you only have 1 key imported, then none of the "change" addresses (and their private keys) will be loaded into your wallet.

So you will not have access to any of the coins in any change addresses (if any) unless you can find the keys for those addresses.

HCP. "You used your "recovered" password to import key(s) from the old .key file? Is that correct?" Yes that is correct. The imported file had only 1 (one) key.
From the main address (starts with a 1) and under the History Tab in Electrum there are six imputs with green checkmarks in front of the date. When I click on one of these they reveal quite a lot of other information. Would the "change address be in there?
I noticed that the original key, that I exported in Multi, now has a long string of char's about 175. The new exported key has about 50 char starts with K.
I keep trying to learn more.

If you've spent coins from your address/wallet, then I dare say that your coins are actually in one or more "change" addresses. So, it wouldn't surprise me that your "receiving" address was indeed empty.


Just taking a step back... You used your "recovered" password to import key(s) from the old .key file? Is that correct? If so, MultiBit should have shown you how many keys it actually read from the imported file:


Did it just recover one? Or were there several? If there were several, then you'll likely need to import ALL of them into Electrum to track down your coins.

Use "import" not "sweep" to see the addresses derived from those private keys to verify if those were correct and if each has a balance in a blockexplorer.

The problem is you cannot derive different p2pkh or "1" addresses from a single private key, it will always result to its pair or different "format" like "3" or "bc1" -in simple terms.
If it didn't match, chances that it's the wrong key is high.

My address and and the six purchases associated with it are definitely there. It's just that I don't know how to mate the two. Address and key.

If it says "no input" when you try and sweep, then that address is likely empty.

Have you checked the balance for that address on a block explorer like blockchain.com?

It might be that you're sweeping the wrong private key.

Never trust your memory!  I had my password in a safe place and for further protection I left out 3 digits. Thought I would remember because it was similar to one I used frequently. But not so..  tried for many months until I found the password associated with another program. Eureka!

Now I'm trying to mate the key with the address in Electrum but not much luck. Yes HCP, the address starts with a 1 (one) and the key with a K says Base 58.
When I try to sweep says no input even with p2pkh as a prefix. My address is in there as receiving and watch-only. Think I need to open a new wallet from old Multibit files but not working out. If I use dot wallet - says can' read. Not sure where to go from here.

Thanks so much for your help so far.

AFAIK, Electrum by default will derive the P2PKH address from a private key if there's no added prefix.

But you will lose nothing if you add the prefix 
Congratulations by the way.

Thanks for the update... glad you managed to find the password.

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One thing to note, if you attempt to use Electrum (only download from https://www.electrum.org) to import your keys, you will likely need to add a prefix to the private key to get it to import as the correct address, due to Electrum supporting Legacy, Nested SegWit and Native SegWit addresses.

Given the age of the wallet, I'd hazard a guess that your addresses all start with a "1" (since the chances of it being a SegWit (or multiSig) wallet are relatively low, if not zero). If that is indeed the the case and your addresses do start with a "1", you need to use the "p2pkh:" prefix... so when you import to Electrum you would import as: p2pkh:YOUR_PRIVATE_KEY_HERE

for instance:
p2pkh:KxZcY47uGp9a...          -> 1DckmggQM...

I have found a copy of my password I now need to export it out of Multibit and into a supported wallet. Will report when done. Thank you for the replies.

If the new wallet that was created when you just installed multibit has a password setup (by default, they don't), you need to enter it so the keys can be imported...

However, if the password you are trying to use to unlock the .key file is not working (you get: "Private keys unlock failed" message)... then it doesn't matter if the new wallet has a password or not... As your password for the keyfile is incorrect and the .key file cannot be decrypted.

Unless you can unlock that .key file, you can't access your private keys from it.

You can always try using "file -> open wallet" and see if the application will read one of the other backup files that you have (ie. Not the .key file)... One of them *might* be a copy of your old wallet file.

It's asking me for a wallet password in addition to the key password. I only have one password and can't unlock the key file. Do I need two passwords? I notice your foo wallet in your instructions doesn't have a password.

If that is the case... Download an old copy of multibit classic from here: https://multibit.org/release-info/classic/v0.5.19.html

Install that and after running it... See if you can open the ".key" file using the instructions I posted above.

If that all works, you should be able to then export the private keys... Create the output with no password and you'll then have a plaintext file with your private keys that you can then import into the wallet of your choice.

Yes yes.. I was able to open the file in notepad++ and the plain text starts with U2FsdGVkX. Encouraging. What do I do with it now?  Thanks thanks.

It certainly wasn't a wallet created or released by the developers of the desktop MultiBit wallet... as I mentioned earlier, it was ONLY released for Windows, Linux and MacOSX desktops.

It's possible you were using the "Bitcoin Wallet for Android"... It was also based on BitcoinJ and used a backup file name format of: "bitcoin-wallet-backup-YYYY-MM-DD", which seems awfully close to what you have.

If you don't have another Android device to try installing that on to test... there are scripts available to decrypt and extract the contents of those wallet file backups.


Are you able to open either of these files with a plain text editor like Notepad (or better, Notepad++ etc)?

Do they look something like this:
Specifically... are the first characters "U2FsdGVkX"?

NOTE: DO NOT POST THE FULL CONTENTS OF EITHER FILE HERE! I don't want you accidentally pasting plaintext private keys etc!

Thanks gents for the comments.. I'm still working on it. The multibit wallet that  I downloaded (v0.5.19) is not accepting my bitcoin password. Anu1908.. yes my bits are still at my address. The Android tablet did have a Multibit wallet..  thinking around 2014-15.
If I could just talk to google maybe I could recover my device password but my device is no longer visible in google accounts recovery. If I remember correctly I was able to trade bitcoin with that tablet just by scanning the the other party's QR code without entering any password.
Thanks again

Hmmmm that fake "multibit" app is indeed a bit concerning... It certainly has no relationship to the "real" multibit, aside from the stolen name and icon

If the OP did indeed use that fake app, then that is going to make recovery very difficult... as looking at "multibit.bitcoinwallet.com" would indicate that this is a custodial wallet (ie. users simply have an "account" and no access to the private keys...

Further more, it would seem that "multibit.bitcoinwallet.com" is actually a user account named "multibit" operating from the bitcoinwallet.com domain...

Which would indicate that the "multibit.bitcoinwallet.com" app... is simply encouraging users to deposit coins into someone elses wallet on bitcoinwallet.com!


Hopefully the OP was just mistaken... and had been using another Android wallet... or the backup files they have come from the "real" multibit desktop app.

does your bitcoin still on that address? as it seems you're using a 'fake' multibit wallet as others have mentioned. if there are still some bitcoins over there, maybe tried to install the same app to check whether you can import the backup or not (though i'm not sure it's really a good thing to do). i think the files are not readable to multibit too.

another options is to forget about it (if it's not that much), because it's possible that you won't be able to recover it again.

It seems he used a fake multibit wallet I found a site where you can see a multibit for android but it looks like a web base bitcoin wallet that converted into an android app and then they rename it to multibit android.

Look at this link https://appsgeyser.io/1095845/MultiBit%20Bitcoin%20Wallet

Are you certain it was MultiBit? As far as I am aware... MultiBit was never available on mobile devices... it was Windows, Linux and MacOSX only.


Not sure what the "bitcoin-wallet-keys-date-bytes" is... but MultiBit generally created "backup" files like:
multibit-20190410143351.key
multibit-20190410143351.wallet
multibit-20190410143351.wallet.cipher

MultiBit HD created files like:
mbhd.wallet.aes


Your best bet might be to actually just install an old version of MultiBit (available here: https://multibit.org/release-info/classic/v0.5.19.html) and try to at least open the .key file that you have using that wallet... it may not be able to sync and/or send transactions, but if you could at least open the file, you might be able to then export the keys and then import them into the wallet of your choice.

In MultiBit classic, you use the "tools -> import private keys" menu option, and then the "import from ..." button:


That will allow you to open the .key file... enter the password and click the unlock button... if the password is correct, it should populate the "Number of Keys" an "Replay Date" fields:


Once you have the keys imported... you can use the "tools -> export private keys" option to create a plaintext export file (don't set an export file password, otherwise you won't actually be able to read the generated .export file as it will be encrypted and you'll be back at square one! )



NOTE: I've been trying to simply decrypt the .key file on the commandline using OpenSSL following the information posted by the MultiBit devs... but that doesn't appear to be working However, when I try to load the .key file into multiBit and use exactly the same password as with OpenSSL, it works perfectly and will import the .key file??!?

That's why I recommend to try reading it directly into MultiBit

Greetings Ladies, Gents

I purchased some bitcoin a few years ago using Multibit on a Android Tab. I no longer have access to that tablet. This is what I have.
A Bitcoin address verifiable on Blockchain Explorer.
A backup file that looks like this: bitcoin-wallet-keys-date-bytes but seems to have a null ext.
Also have a file called: date6othernumbers.key.

My question is, since Multibit is no longer supported, what wallet would give me the best chance of recovery.

Pretty much a newbie at this so any/all help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks