Topic: Testing old wallet.dats (Read 1715 times)

It is IMPORTANT to make a copy of the .dats, sometimes when 'testing', they can become corrupted, so make a copy and play with that one, then if it screws up you still have a good copy...

Search for a date you want to copy it from and then just select everything after that point.
If you have a basic text editor that you canopen it in and a wired mouce this is easier as you can scroll down using the roller on the mouse.

How do i clear previous debug info to make it clearer.?

Thanks. i will return post how i do.

I don't think it's possible to use pywallet with litecoin.
The wallet.dats willbe different. The checksums on the private keys and the addresses will be a bit different and will be unfamilar to pywallet.

EDIT: I found this guide: https://archive.litecointalk.org/index.php?topic=1305.0 - take a look and see if it'll work for you or not.

if you're not on linux it should run pretty much the same but just replce the datadir with the place the wallet.dat is.

Any help is welcome...

:S

If you dump the public keys you could check them on the blockchain to see if there are any recent transactions. If you wait until core is synced with the network you can see it in your wallet. So until your wallet receives information about recent blocks it does not know about recent transactions.

If you sync with one wallet you will not have to download the blockchain again when you place the new wallet in the folder. It will however take a while as it goes through the chain. The longer the wallet has been offline the longer I think it will take. Maybe hours?

If they're not showing up in "File -> Receiving Addresses", then try and use the 'dumpwallet' command from the console. It'll dump ALL the addresses in the wallet (used or otherwise) to a text file, regardless of the current sync status.


wallet.txt will be created where the wallet.dat file is.

So going back to the question I asked. Does bitcoin core have to sync before you can see any possible BTC containing used addresses in file- receive addresses,  or do you need to use a command line if it isn't synced.

Thanks, I think you have sussed it, but I don't know why the setting changed as it was working as it should a few days ago. I will carry on testing my wallets later after work thanks again.

You might want to check that Explorer is set to show file extensions properly. It is possible that your "wallet.dat" is actually wallet.dat.dat and that the newly created "wallet" is actually wallet.dat and Windows is "helpfully" hiding the ".dat" extension

You can check this setting on Windows 10 fairly easily:
https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/62842-hide-show-file-name-extensions-windows-10-a.html

2017-09-05 20:15:12 InitParameterInteraction: parameter interaction: -whitelistforcerelay=1 -> setting -whitelistrelay=1
2017-09-05 20:15:12 Assuming ancestors of block 00000000000000000013176bf8d7dfeab4e1db31dc93bc311b436e82ab226b90 have valid signatures.
2017-09-05 20:15:12 GUI: "registerShutdownBlockReason: Successfully registered: Bitcoin Core didn't yet exit safely..."
2017-09-05 20:15:12 Default data directory C:\Users\Catherine\AppData\Roaming\Bitcoin
2017-09-05 20:15:12 Using data directory C:\Users\Catherine\AppData\Roaming\Bitcoin
2017-09-05 20:15:12 Using config file C:\Users\Catherine\AppData\Roaming\Bitcoin\bitcoin.conf
2017-09-05 20:15:12 Using at most 125 automatic connections (2048 file descriptors available)
2017-09-05 20:15:12 Using 32 MiB out of 32 requested for signature cache, able to store 1048576 elements
2017-09-05 20:15:12 Using 2 threads for script verification
2017-09-05 20:15:12 Using BerkeleyDB version Berkeley DB 4.8.30: (April  9, 2010)
2017-09-05 20:15:12 Using wallet wallet.dat
2017-09-05 20:15:12 scheduler thread start
2017-09-05 20:15:12 init message: Verifying wallet...
2017-09-05 20:15:12 CDBEnv::Open: LogDir=C:\Users\Catherine\AppData\Roaming\Bitcoin\database ErrorFile=C:\Users\Catherine\AppData\Roaming\Bitcoin\db.log
2017-09-05 20:15:12 Bound to [::]:8333
2017-09-05 20:15:12 Bound to 0.0.0.0:8333
2017-09-05 20:15:12 Cache configuration:
2017-09-05 20:15:12 * Using 2.0MiB for block index database
2017-09-05 20:15:12 * Using 8.0MiB for chain state database
2017-09-05 20:15:12 * Using 440.0MiB for in-memory UTXO set (plus up to 286.1MiB of unused mempool space)
2017-09-05 20:15:12 init message: Loading block index...
2017-09-05 20:15:12 Opening LevelDB in C:\Users\Catherine\AppData\Roaming\Bitcoin\blocks\index
2017-09-05 20:15:12 Opened LevelDB successfully
2017-09-05 20:15:12 Using obfuscation key for C:\Users\Catherine\AppData\Roaming\Bitcoin\blocks\index: 0000000000000000
2017-09-05 20:15:12 Opening LevelDB in C:\Users\Catherine\AppData\Roaming\Bitcoin\chainstate
2017-09-05 20:15:12 Opened LevelDB successfully
2017-09-05 20:15:12 Using obfuscation key for C:\Users\Catherine\AppData\Roaming\Bitcoin\chainstate: e66e61a19a252851
2017-09-05 20:15:17 LoadBlockIndexDB: last block file = 74
2017-09-05 20:15:17 LoadBlockIndexDB: last block file info: CBlockFileInfo(blocks=442, size=53684160, heights=250642...251226, time=2013-08-07...2013-08-10)
2017-09-05 20:15:17 Checking all blk files are present...
2017-09-05 20:15:17 LoadBlockIndexDB: transaction index disabled
2017-09-05 20:15:17 LoadBlockIndexDB: hashBestChain=00000000000000333c9b4eab9048c71798bcf7e759bf93076e95d7979881acaa height=251226 date=2013-08-10 02:13:28 progress=0.086549
2017-09-05 20:15:17 init message: Rewinding blocks...
2017-09-05 20:15:18 init message: Verifying blocks...
2017-09-05 20:15:18 Verifying last 6 blocks at level 3
2017-09-05 20:15:18 [0%]...[16%]...[33%]...[50%]...[66%]...[83%]...[99%]...[DONE].
2017-09-05 20:15:18 No coin database inconsistencies in last 7 blocks (2913 transactions)
2017-09-05 20:15:18  block index            6057ms
2017-09-05 20:15:18 init message: Loading wallet...
2017-09-05 20:15:18 nFileVersion = 140200
2017-09-05 20:15:18 Keys: 0 plaintext, 0 encrypted, 0 w/ metadata, 0 total
2017-09-05 20:15:18 Performing wallet upgrade to 60000
2017-09-05 20:15:18 keypool added key 1, size=1
2017-09-05 20:15:18 keypool added key 2, size=2
2017-09-05 20:15:18 keypool added key 3, size=3
2017-09-05 20:15:18 keypool added key 4, size=4
2017-09-05 20:15:18 keypool added key 5, size=5
2017-09-05 20:15:18 keypool added key 6, size=6
2017-09-05 20:15:18 keypool added key 7, size=7
2017-09-05 20:15:18 keypool added key 8, size=8
2017-09-05 20:15:18 keypool added key 9, size=9
2017-09-05 20:15:18 keypool added key 10, size=10
2017-09-05 20:15:18 keypool added key 11, size=11
2017-09-05 20:15:18 keypool added key 12, size=12
2017-09-05 20:15:18 keypool added key 13, size=13
2017-09-05 20:15:18 keypool added key 14, size=14
2017-09-05 20:15:18 keypool added key 15, size=15
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 16, size=16
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 17, size=17
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 18, size=18
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 19, size=19
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 20, size=20
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 21, size=21
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 22, size=22
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 23, size=23
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 24, size=24
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 25, size=25
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 26, size=26
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 27, size=27
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 28, size=28
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 29, size=29
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 30, size=30
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 31, size=31
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 32, size=32
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 33, size=33
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 34, size=34
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 35, size=35
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 36, size=36
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 37, size=37
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 38, size=38
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 39, size=39
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 40, size=40
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 41, size=41
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 42, size=42
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 43, size=43
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 44, size=44
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 45, size=45
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 46, size=46
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 47, size=47
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 48, size=48
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 49, size=49
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 50, size=50
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 51, size=51
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 52, size=52
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 53, size=53
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 54, size=54
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 55, size=55
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 56, size=56
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 57, size=57
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 58, size=58
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 59, size=59
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 60, size=60
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 61, size=61
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 62, size=62
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 63, size=63
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 64, size=64
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 65, size=65
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 66, size=66
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 67, size=67
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 68, size=68
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 69, size=69
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 70, size=70
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 71, size=71
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 72, size=72
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 73, size=73
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 74, size=74
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 75, size=75
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 76, size=76
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 77, size=77
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 78, size=78
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 79, size=79
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 80, size=80
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 81, size=81
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 82, size=82
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 83, size=83
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 84, size=84
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 85, size=85
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 86, size=86
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 87, size=87
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 88, size=88
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 89, size=89
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 90, size=90
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 91, size=91
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 92, size=92
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 93, size=93
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 94, size=94
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 95, size=95
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 96, size=96
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 97, size=97
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 98, size=98
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 99, size=99
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 100, size=100
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool added key 101, size=101
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool reserve 1
2017-09-05 20:15:19 keypool keep 1
2017-09-05 20:15:19  wallet                 1094ms
2017-09-05 20:15:19 setKeyPool.size() = 100
2017-09-05 20:15:19 mapWallet.size() = 0
2017-09-05 20:15:19 mapAddressBook.size() = 1
2017-09-05 20:15:19 mapBlockIndex.size() = 483731
2017-09-05 20:15:19 nBestHeight = 251226
2017-09-05 20:15:19 Imported mempool transactions from disk: 0 successes, 0 failed, 0 expired
2017-09-05 20:15:19 torcontrol thread start
2017-09-05 20:15:19 AddLocal([2001:0:4137:9e76:2c38:3cff:b0b4:7d84]:8333,1)
2017-09-05 20:15:19 Discover: LAPTOP-5HPM4BH8 - 2001:0:4137:9e76:2c38:3cff:b0b4:7d84
2017-09-05 20:15:19 init message: Loading addresses...
2017-09-05 20:15:20 Loaded 49493 addresses from peers.dat  218ms
2017-09-05 20:15:20 init message: Loading banlist...
2017-09-05 20:15:20 init message: Starting network threads...
2017-09-05 20:15:20 init message: Done loading
2017-09-05 20:15:20 dnsseed thread start
2017-09-05 20:15:20 addcon thread start
2017-09-05 20:15:20 opencon thread start
2017-09-05 20:15:20 msghand thread start
2017-09-05 20:15:20 net thread start
2017-09-05 20:15:20 GUI: Platform customization: "windows"
2017-09-05 20:15:20 GUI: PaymentServer::LoadRootCAs: Loaded  45  root certificates
2017-09-05 20:15:20 receive version message: /Satoshi:0.14.2/: version 70015, blocks=483712, us=79.75.130.123:58424, peer=0
2017-09-05 20:15:21 UpdateTip: new best=000000000000003a40f8990a9d23dfa2d7790561554fc4a3886dc6c289e78800 height=251227 version=0x00000002 log2_work=71.126813 tx=21831183 date='2013-08-10 02:17:01' progress=0.086549 cache=0.1MiB(502tx)
2017-09-05 20:15:22 UpdateTip: new best=000000000000005979e0da35617c5096a9569e0e62086b987679d235049e3c2c height=251228 version=0x00000002 log2_work=71.126903 tx=21831320 date='2013-08-10 02:19:20' progress=0.086550 cache=0.3MiB(1037tx)
2017-09-05 20:15:22 UpdateTip: new best=0000000000000007e76447b1da660ad4de99ea52bd7a96c8a8f1ef3f7e4ec2d2 height=251229 version=0x00000002 log2_work=71.126993 tx=21831641 date='2013-08-10 02:26:03' progress=0.086551 cache=0.4MiB(1558tx)
2017-09-05 20:15:22 UpdateTip: new best=0000000000000036499d649a670fd966f0039cf31606fd353ee019f7ae49bb5d height=251230 version=0x00000002 log2_work=71.127082 tx=21832169 date='2013-08-10 02:39:58' progress=0.086553 cache=0.7MiB(2563tx)
2017-09-05 20:15:26 UpdateTip: new best=000000000000000ba5c84c08d38112edbd721051ce8c4875c75ec04fee94d1a9 height=251231 version=0x00000002 log2_work=71.127172 tx=21832833 date='2013-08-10 03:05:00' progress=0.086556 cache=1.0MiB(3689tx)
2017-09-05 20:15:26 receive version message: /Satoshi:0.14.2/: version 70015, blocks=483712, us=79.75.130.123:58428, peer=1
2017-09-05 20:15:27 receive version message: /Satoshi:0.14.2/: version 70015, blocks=483712, us=79.75.130.123:58429, peer=2
2017-09-05 20:15:28 receive version message: /Satoshi:0.14.2/: version 70015, blocks=483712, us=79.75.130.123:58431, peer=3
2017-09-05 20:15:28 receive version message: /Satoshi:0.14.0/: version 70015, blocks=483712, us=79.75.130.123:58432, peer=4
2017-09-05 20:15:29 tor: Thread interrupt
2017-09-05 20:15:29 dnsseed thread exit
2017-09-05 20:15:29 torcontrol thread exit
2017-09-05 20:15:29 addcon thread exit
2017-09-05 20:15:29 scheduler thread interrupt
2017-09-05 20:15:29 Shutdown: In progress...
2017-09-05 20:15:29 net thread exit
2017-09-05 20:15:29 msghand thread exit
2017-09-05 20:15:34 opencon thread exit
2017-09-05 20:15:34 Dumped mempool: 0s to copy, 0s to dump
2017-09-05 20:15:34 Shutdown: done

You can just go ahead and delete the log file if you want to restart putting the old wallet.dat in the place of the new wallet again.
Otherwise, scroll down to the bottom and you'll see a line that says something like "shutdown done", copy that line and hit ctrl+f (opening it in notepad already), paste that text in there and hit "up" and enter. Then select all text after the last time it shut down properly.

My bitcoin folder in Linux (.bitcoin) has only the file named "wallet.dat" and no file named "wallet." Could it be a backup with the file extension removed by renaming?
What you are describing is weird behavior. It should recognize your wallet and load it at startup.
Could the wallet you are installing also be empty? Maybe it just looks like it created a new wallet but actually is accurately reading an empty old one?

You seem to be doing everything right.

How do i clear previous debug info to make it clearer.?

Hmmm, that seems unusual.
Can you post the debug.log file? Copy and paste it here. It'll be in the same folder as your wallet.dat file.

Hi, i can get to the right place by %APPDATA% and find user/roaming/Bitcoin easily, that isn't the problem. What i don't understand is why the wallet file is named wallet and not wallet.dat in a new download of core. If i delete it and replace with my wallet.dat then it just runs core as normal without using the file i have inserted. After i shut down core and have another look at folders, i find my wallet.dat plus a file just named wallet again?.

Get the folder path you think is the right folder and run cmd (if it is Windows) and then type path+bitcoin-qt -datadir=appDataFolder

Replacing " path" with where bitcoin-qt is and appDataFolder with the "...appData\bitcoin".

---

Alternative method:
Boot bitcoin-qt and click help>debug and the datadir should be listed there, copy the wallet.dat file in there.

Definitely the correct folder. Should the wallet in Bitcoin core be named wallet or wallet.dat,  as in this  fresh download of core it is just called wallet?.

hi guys, I´m Having the same problem. But on litecoin-qt old encrypted and formated wallet.dat (i recovered with Easeus)
Got my old Wallet.dat (72kb)

i installed Litecoin core, i run the updated chainblock. Pasted my old wallet in the AppData/user/roaming/litecoin
And it´s said "wallet corrupted Savaged failed.

I have all lost data recovered (src. daemon, qt blockchain) everything in my Pc.

I read some about Pywallet, but i dont know how to do it.


Please help. Thanks

Hmmm. It should. Are you sure it is the correct folder? It will be the one that core created the wallet.dat folder in. You will have to excuse my ignorance of windows, if that is what you are using. But I sort of recall that windows hides the folder with the wallet but displays another "bitcoin" folder.
Also make sure that the name is "wallet.dat". Anything else will be ignored. If it's corrupted I would expect an error, but maybe not?
Did that help?

Thanks for the reply. Why is it not attempting to use the wallet.dat file that i have inserted, at the very least it could say wallet corrupted.

It can get confusing. Each time the core software runs it checks for a wallet.dat file. If one is not present it will make a new wallet and run that one. I rename all the wallets I work with then change the name back to wallet.dat when I put it in the bitcoin folder. Otherwise I risk overwriting a full wallet with an empty one.

if you use Winxx you should be able to find your hidden bitcoin folder by running in the run box. If you are using Linux (which you should) you can find the .bitcoin folder by showing hidden files in your home folder.

Hope this helps.

Remember to backup your wallet.dat's before diving deeper, many a wallet file I have killed due to testing, recovery and otherwise. They can be fickle things. #PrivKeysForLife

Why does core create a new wallet file every time i insert a new wallet.dat and i end up with one named wallet and the one i inserted named wallet.dat.?

So they won't show via file-addresses straightaway?, before sync?. Thanks.

No, you only need to sync it to see the transactions. If you load it up and use "dumpwallet" you should be able to get all the addresses and keys straight away.

"salvagewallet" is a last ditch attempt to extract keys from a wallet... it is not recommended unless you have exhausted all other options of wallet recovery... as it can mess up a perfectly fine wallet.

Does it need to sync past 2013 to have the addresses?.

I think you should run it with the updatewallet command first.
Once you've done that, just look at the addresses and put them into a block explorer, such as: blockchain.info/address/yourAddress
And see if there's any balance in the addresses.

Running it in standard conditions is just running it normally.

I have 5 old wallet files from the middle of 2013 for bitcoin core. What is the best procedure for trying them out in the latest bitcoin core?.
Should I run salvagewallet straight away or not?, and do I have to let it sync before I can tell whether there are Btc in the wallet via addresses?. Also what is the original command if I want to run it in standard command after removing the salvagewallet command (i forgot what the original was!).  Thanks again for any help.