- Start up Bitcoin Core if it isn't currently running
- Click on the "File" menu option
- The File menu will pop up
- Click on the "Backup Wallet" option in the File Menu
- Type a name that you will remember for your backup file in the "Save As" text box
- Choose a secure location to save the file (perhaps on a USB flash drive?)
- Click the [Save] button to save the backup of your wallet
- Store this backup somewhere safe. You can use this if you accidentally do anything that messes up your wallet
- Click on the "Help" menu option
- The help menu will pop up
- Click on the "Debug Window" option in the Help Menu
- The Debug Window will pop up
- Click on the "Console" option in the Debug Window
- You will have a small text box where you can enter console commands, and a large text box where you will see the results of the commands that you enter
- If you protected your wallet with a password, enter the following command in the small text box (you can skip this step if your wallet is not password protected)
Code:
walletpassphrase YourPasswordHere 600
(This will unlock your wallet for 600 seconds, so you can get your private key. If it takes you more than 10 minutes to get your private key, then you'll need to run this command again. Hopefully it is clear that you aren't actually going to type the word "YourPasswordHere", but instead rather you'll replace that with your actual password)- Don't forget to press the [Enter] key or [Return] key after typing the command
- In the small text box, enter the following command
Code:
dumpprivkey 1LWJ1Pxkx8vSJSLCLFYChbrRW7WGnnxuTJ
- Don't forget to press the [Enter] key or [Return] key after typing the command
- The command will show up in the large text box, and right below it will be a long string of 52 or 53 letters and numbers starting with K or L
- This is your private key. Do not share it with ANYONE. Do not store it where anyone else can see or copy it
- Store this private key somewhere safe and secure where you can get at it later when you need it.
- Shut down Bitcoin Core
I'm not an expert on Electrum or how to sweep the bitcoins from the private key into Electrum. Hopefully someone else with more Electrum knowledge will stop by to give you information about that, but if not you could ask in the Electrum subforum:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=98.0
