Topic: Trying to restore my wallet from 2009 or earlier (Read 1201 times)

If you bother check Bitcoin Technical Support, there are few cases where such case happened. But there are many reason why wallet could be recovered or not, such as how intact is the wallet and how much the owner remember the password.


They follow BIP standard and their software is open source, so it's less likely you'll lose access to your Ballet wallet. But you could always write down hint of your password, save their documentation and download their software if you worry that much.

P.S. If you have more concern about Ballet wallet or preserving your wallet, please create new thread instead.

Okay i wrote an email for both two persons which u tagged, not sure if they care about and answer, so ill wait.

I download 1.5.6, there is only source code. I couldnt get it to work. (The Setup.py) Any advice for linux debian 10

Those links aren't supposed to be download links.
Those are links to Electrum's repository (just for reference) and to ThomasV and SomberNight which have their contact info.

Link opens but win-download button cant find the file, it says no longer on server

It's better if you created your own thread and explained your issues there. That way there wont be conflicting information shared with two users for two different problems.

You saved your recovery phrase digitally, without making multiple physical backups of it on paper, and now your hard drive has broken down. From your own example, you can see some of the dangers of doing that. Since there are no other backups of your seed expect the file on your hard drive, your only chance for a recovery is to find someone who can retrieve that data or try to recover it yourself. The exchange, or person you bought it from doesn't matter in this case. You mentioned that Ecurrency4u site. If the coins were moved from that platform to an address generated from private keys and a seed you no longer have, that site can't do anything to help you because they aren't the ones that have access to it.

HI Please i have the similar issues with this too, I created the account on windows 10 and then got my phrase and saved in into my laptop. few days later my laptop started having issues (it was not turning on)and i took it to the repairer, when i came to get it he told me that the issue was my hard disk and i had to get a new one which i did. then i took that opportunity to install kali linux cause windows was getting boring well here i am now trying to find if there is even a way to get my account back cause i have lost the phrase to it and more importantly i bought roughly 12 dollars btc inside first was 2 dollars and the next one was 10 dollars. i used this website Ecurrency4u.com to buy it. i dont know if this would be of help to you to help trace my account but i would love it if i could get my account back

The links in my reply?
It's working at my end, I guess your ISP is blocking GitHub or some other reasons why you can't access it.

Link doesnt work 

Ah, so it's basically something similar to v0.30 and v0.34's compatibility-breaking update to the key derivation.
But unfortunately, I don't know if there's another update like that.

You can try to ask the developers themselves from electrum's Github repository.
Specially ecdsa (ThomasV) and SomberNight. (they have email address in their GitHub profile)

“Seeds were working on it, doesnt work on 4.1.5“
It means it opens the wallet, there is no checksum, but no history no balance, totally different wallet i think.
Thank you for ur efforts. Really.
I ll try the link u gave above in the evening

You mean can be downloaded from electrum.ecdsa.org?
IDK but this is the oldest archived page of the site's download page: web.archive.org/web/20121109025628/http://electrum.ecdsa.org/download.html

I dont give up😂 one more question whats the first v1 version of electrum that broadcast on ecdsa.electrum.org
Cause i remember the update popup in app and download the new updated vers on ecdsa its changed the name as starts with v1.x.x
Seeds were working on it, doesnt work on 4.1.5. Also 1.8 is doesnt generate new receive adress there is no tab to click for new and doesnt show any adresses even in electrum.dat. Its full empty wallet with no adresses including test seeds and my seeds. Its recovery mode

When u click on new wallet;
And yes 1.8 versions seeds working on 4.1.5, there re exact  5 adresses same on 4.1.5 as in 1.8 version

Version 1.7 is available here (only from source): https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum/releases/tag/1.7
Version 1.8 and onwards' binaries are available in their archive download page: https://download.electrum.org/

Its ok, ill try my chance sir, where i can find first vers of including export private keys

Nothing in particular, specially the "copy the private keys" part.
After v3.3.3, there's been an option to prompt the user whenever there's a new version, but that's released in 2019.

Take note that seed phrase created with any other versions after v0.34 are still compatible with the latest version.
So importing it to those versions will do nothing but restore the same keys that would've been restored in the latest version.

Ok got it, i remember for new uptade alerts, where can i find the first vers which is able to export private keys with right click on the adress? 1.7? Or higher?

Ever since the update alert message was added to Electrum UI, it has been producing a pretty simple message informing the user that a new version is available and can be downloaded from the official website. It doesn't tell you to do anything else.

There was a small exploit in Electrum which affected old clients and only happened when user broadcasted a new transaction to a malicious server and that server returned a custom html showing the user a message redirecting them to their malicious website.

Is there a version of upgrade saying that inside the app, please update the electrum, copy the private keys? Do u remember a message like this?

Are you pertaining to the balance in the the latest version where the private keys are imported?
If so and the connection icon is green (lower-right), then I'm afraid that those imported keys are really empty.

AFAIK, there's no other seed compatibility-breaking update after v0.34 so those are the only two versions that you can try.

I can't reproduce this since I don't have those versions installed, try to ask @ETFbitcoin if he can reproduce it to see what's happening.

Here re the results that i recognized btw both 0.30-0.32 versions

Both versions shows the exact 9 seed words true as i wrote, last 3 seeds re missing and not showing up in seed icon, looks like i opened the wallet just with 9 words
I tried to write different seeds it opens the wallet more than different as i wrote. Like i write “swim” it generates “flower” n there is totally different wallet if there is a wrong word in ur seeds. So thats the proof of my seeds re true.

Both two version re creating max 5 different private keys, each two vers. even generates different prv keys n adresses, there is nothing similar, still balance zero

There re only 2 servers , must be at least 4 -5 which vers. I used. Ecsda, - ro.   de.50005, blockstream700 am also imagining.

Still no right click on adress tab in 032 for prv key



I wish old electrum does not sending any seeds to anyone which i write, is it safe everytime everytry i write down?

Here's the link for version 0.32: https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum/tree/506eb41d91d9973fcae79a7db9ea64465203f4e3
Version 0.33: https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum/tree/ac918d02e626ec0fe8cb3b456162725d2988bf8e
Either of the two has the same key derivation update that's incompatible after 0.31 and before 0.34.

I'd suggest to use 0.32, install it the same way you installed 0.30.

Yes i see, stuck again. The song of fergie glamorous is exactly in the nearly same dates in past it was in my seeds

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I am being too much i know, and also dont wanna bore you, would u send me the 0.32-0.33 version on any link anytime when u d ve a free time, i searched on github, couldnt find it
Thank you

[moderator's note: consecutive posts merged]

Go to your electrum-0.30's folder and open 'client' folder, the file that you're looking for is "mnemonic.py";
open it as a text file and you should see the word list, however, there's no word "glamour" among the list, just the same list in pooya's link.

No, the wallet gave the seeds I didn’t create any, i ve really no idea about brain wallet tools,
The seeds were on the screen like with big letter warnings please write down on a paper and
Actually  Tree
Play       Clue
Hope     Mountain
Fish       Swim
Plane     Guess
Soldier   Act

The seeds i throw off from my mind but the writing skills were like this
One line two words, i think its for the easy remembering
My original seeds also follow the order like this
1.   2.
3.   4.
.

Is it possible that you used a custom dictionary with your own set of words to create the wallet? I looked around and couldn't find any word lists that uses the word "glamorous" such as the list used in version 0.56.
There is also always the possibility of what you have being a brain wallet. Think if you ever used any of the brain wallet tools.

How do i open the mnemonic word list for 0.30 or where to find?
I had one more wallet n there was a word it’s “glamorous” thats not in v1 mnemonic word list. Am very sure about the word because i didnt know the meaning n i checked in the dictionary few times in that time n its came into my mind in these days
Something is wrong i can’t figure out

Okay, if you're certain on that, then 5 is good.
Now, open electrum.dat as a text file and you should find 5 uncompressed WIF private keys as plain text.
e.g. (from ETF's electrum.dat): 5JTvMqQhEeBQwcGBjPGsBod2XTsAQB7TWGgCMEpAdfsjVBcAze3 and 5K5rq6DKJ95VxjLnkf26uF2NBMdMh1fkrZupm5rCKNcqCNj9ivA
(The array of 51-character strings that start with "5")

Then in the latest version of Electrum, create a new wallet but during wallet creation, select the option "Import bitcoin addresses or private keys" instead.
Paste the private keys one line each (no need to prepend anything since those are uncompressed WIF).
Finish the wallet and see if it comes up with a balance (if it's the first time Electrum launched, you must wait for a few minutes).

If it's empty, try the same procedures again with the private keys from old Electrum version 0.32 or v0.33.

It must be "old" since he's able to restore it to 0.30 since that old Electrum do not support the new seed version.

No there was only one adress i used, never created one more, i didnt need it to and never send any btc to anyone. I only get paid in that adress, what i tell u if i say i get paid less than 7 seconds when the job is done after write down my btc adress in their payment option. Believe that?

The electrum i was using,  on the Right down the corner must be 3 orbs, just orbs no more icons, first one is make the password for electrum.dat, second is for ur seeds n last orb for servers connections
I think thats the version am looking for, any clues?


0.30 generates just 5 adresses i dont know why it does not make more. otherwise i clicked a lot to new receive adress. there is only 5 private keys in electrum.dat

Because the unencrypted (no password) electrum.dat file will display 20 private keys if you generated 20 addresses in the receive tab.
There's no "export private key" option in v0.30 but you can exploit that to dump the wallet's private keys.

The point is to make sure that you will export enough private keys in case you've made as much transactions at that time.
Exporting a few prvKeys may not be enough in case if you previously used 20 addresses before, right?

This would probably yield far more clues and useful information that guessing at versions of Electrum (or what wallet it was that you were using).


The current setup with the padlock, the settings button, the "seed" icon and the "connection" orb has been around since at least 0.40, judging by the screenshot on an early version on the bitcoin wiki:


The orb simply changes colour depending on what the connection state is:
Green Orb = Connected and Synced
Blue Arrows = Connected and Syncing
Red Orb = Not connected
Blue Orb = Connected via Proxy (and synced)


There probably isn't any point.

If you can generate the first 5-10 addresses, and then import the addresses into the latest version (or just look them up on a block explorer) and there is no transaction history to be found on any of them, then it's almost guaranteed that the seed you have is for an empty wallet.

By default, the newer versions generate 20 receive addresses... and sometimes, users do "unexpected" things like select a random address from the list on the address tab rather than letting Electrum select the first "unused" address by selecting the "new address" button on the receive tab.

However, given that the early version only seems to generate a couple of addresses by default, then I doubt that you would have just randomly created 20-40 addresses and picked one of those.

Yes? How? i made it 10 for the test at the beginning If its about the gap limit, generated just 5. Its freezing already when u click on, server doesnt respond back

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Whats the point of generating more and more receive adresses? 20 or 40?

[moderator's note: consecutive posts merged]

Am really grateful for responses, believe me i try my best. I am sure u get it done in an hour if u were be me
I appreciate you

Old Seeds doesnt work in new 4.1.5 electrum. it opens totally different wallet
U can only generate 5 different adresses in 0.30, that 5 prv keys also show the balance zero in new electrum
i think All i can do is to recover the hdd which i worked on all these processes in it. It has the problem of head stuck. Am losting my hope by the way



Also u know what version of there is green orb on the right corner for connecting, there must be yellow orb next to it for seeds n one more orb. Total 3 orbs what version has that?

That's what I'm talking about in the previous replies, as stated in the release notes of v0.32+: /index.php?topic=5379817.msg58904925#msg58904925
The key derivation was changed twice since v0.31 (v0.31 and v0.34), thus, those old wallets' private keys can't be restored using the latest version.
He'll have to get the private keys from the restored wallet in v0.30 and import them to the latest (if still didn't worked, get the keys from v0.32~0.33).

But it seems OP is having trouble following the guides so I'd to stop responding to his already-answered questions (answered by the previous posts).

Try creating 10-20... and then import them all into the latest version of Electrum, if it doesn't find any transaction history, you could try creating more, but I would be about 99.9% certain that the wallet is empty and/or not from the wallet you believe you had in 2009 (given that Electrum didn't exist until 2011, but you seem to be very insistent that it did )

When you enter your seed in the latest version of Electrum, what is the "seed type" displayed as? I've tried with the test seed created by ETFbitcoin when he ran the 0.3.0 version... it shows as "Old":



What is interesting is that it didn't generate the same addresses:


vs.

Okay ill try that. How many receive adresses i need to create?
 
I found the electrum.dat yesterday finally:) yes it opens with text page

You won't see any transactions because its not online and won't be online.
The goal is to get the private keys that Electrum version 0.30 derived from your seed phrase, then import them to the latest version (v4.1.5) as an imported wallet by selecting "Import bitcoin addresses or private keys" during wallet creation; then paste the each private keys per line.

The steps on how to acquire the keys from v0.30 are already in the previous replies, try to back-read from page 2: /index.php?topic=5379817.msg58950935#msg58950935
And take note: the wallet should be unencrypted for the PrvKeys to be human-readable.

Yes its always freezing n saying please wait even in test. U need to quit n open again. Even u click on new receive adress button.

i didnt see any transactions in the history when its generated new wallet with my old seeds. Something is going wrong

I am working on gnome debian10  in virtualbox

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ill compare the test seeds private keys in the latest version of electrum if the seeds ll be different when restoring from private keys

i also compared the seeds code in latest vers. It works with same generated seeds when u restore with code

Perhaps, that "different wallet" is the restored wallet from your seed?
Does it freeze after typing the seed phrase or right after clicking 'restore'?

Are you comparing the addresses of "test seed" restored to the latest version of Electrum with the addresses in 0.30?
Because those are expected to be different due to the difference in key derivation between those versions.

Other than that, I can't add anything because I can not reproduce the errors since I don't have a system that can run v0.30.

Restore option always says please wait, no response, bored of waiting n u click cancel then i open again it starts with different wallet. it doesnt ask new or recover this time. U need to delete electrum.dat everytime

in test seeds one time i waited like this n canceled after opened electrum checked the seeds if they re the same, yes same but receive adress there was none, then created but when u create new receive adress program also doesnt respond n freeze
U force quit then open again u see there is new adress in receive tab. None of receive adresses re smilar to tests adress before restored, all different its generating

I can't comprehend this, are you somehow clicking "create" instead of "restore" when you're trying to restore the seed phrase?
Create is for generating a new Electrum wallet thus, you'll be given a new seed.
Restore is for re-creating an Electrum wallet from an existing seed phrase.

The error seems to be related to connection issues since there are no available servers for that version anymore.
Was that after restoring your seed phrase and not the test seed?

If it's the correct seed phrase: Since it still started after the error, that should be enough.
To generate addresses, go to 'Receive' tab then click "New address" below.
Create multiple addresses (about 20~40) so the electrum.dat (when opened as text) will show those 20~40 addresses' private keys.

Whats the problem

https://imgyukle.com/i/opqDcP


It stays like this, doesnt decode? After i close it n then opened again there re new seeds, 9 different words before that there were 8 words with different wallet

It doesnt even recover the test seeds. It does if u wait long but no receive adress at all

I Also looked for electrum.dat
There is no installation it runs on python, so all i found the folder, file called electrum is that which I downloaded codes folder,files from github

Ill check detailed again when im at home

The file that you should open as text is "electrum.dat" file, but should be the one created after restoring your seed phrase.
The old version doesn't support multiple wallet files so, you should delete/rename the test wallet first before you can create/restore a new wallet.
electrum.dat should be located in electrum's data directory: https://electrum.readthedocs.io/en/latest/faq.html#where-is-the-electrum-datadir-located.

BTW, 'wallet.dat' is for Bitcoin Core client.

Okay I noticed. Still no wallet.dat file, searched a lot. When u try to open the electrum it starts with the test over and over again which I created at the beginning

The "no encryption" wallet has the addresses' individual private key right next to them;
Those are in "Uncompressed WIF" so those are the 51-characters-string that start with '5' after the address list.

It can display more even if the wallet isn't online based on ETF's response in this reply, then read the next reply:

And thats not the private keys. Thats the code for seeds
U cant past inside the master keys option in new version when u try to restore it with masterkey
https://ibb.co/YfCxyyc

https://ibb.co/PDf4ZVc

But these keys generates exact seed when u try to restore it with seed option

Am stuck again which is the private key

Hi again
well,  i did this far i couldnt find the wallet.dat file. There is no multiple wallets so i need to delete the test one and also look inside for private keys, but where it creates the wallet.dat?

Am sure it is. Just dont know what version n who modified. Now it’s definitely not one of thomasV editions i think. Servers was electrum 50005, the start up electrum with java
Im recovering all the hdds i ve ever had since now. Nothing yet, just one to go, cant find the place where i put inside home that i hide it carefully last year

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Yes i ll need some help, searching around friends who d still use linux n compatible to writing codes. i feel so blind when i stuck in some bunch of wrong codes n when i don’t know what to do;)

Thank you everyone

Okay, so that can be the potential solution for the various threads authors who claims that they have a "very old" electrum seed.

@Bennoko, if you think that it's really that old and the seed is empty when restored in the latest version, it's worth the try.
Install Electrum 0.3 by following ETFbitcoin's guide, restore the seed phrase, create a bunch of addresses in the receive tab, then open the electrum.dat file using a text editor.

Sorry, I mean, in the electrum.dat file.
If more addresses are requested in the receive tab, will the unencrypted electrum.dat file display as much private keys as in the receive tab?

It may be version 1.7 which has export private key function but that's not as old as you described (released on 2013).
And if it's from that version, the seed should be able to restore the same keys in the latest version.

Could it be not Electrum?

Well, am shocked now, no option to export private keys? Then thats not the version of am looking for. Mine was able to import n export.

Thanks, looks similar to 1.x but lacking the master keys and other data; I guess the newer wallet tools wont even recognize it.

No, all i could found is option to show seed.