Topic: Unconfirmed Stuck Transaction QT/Core / Network Synch Issue (Read 580 times)

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Electrum takes only a few seconds to sync (it only needs data on your own addresses).

Your wallet.dat holds all private keys. It's as easy as unlocking the wallet in Bitcoin Core's console using walletpassphrase, and using dumpprivkey to get the private key to your address(es).


The prune option is what you're looking for.

Yes: don't use a fake website! People have lost their funds that way.

You don't. It will send the addresses to the server and the downside being you're exposing your privacy to whichever server you're using. The process can be slightly complicated as well.
You can dump your private keys in its entirety. Install the latest Bitcoin Core and go to Help>Console and type in :
Replace D:/ with the directory you want. The output will be a file named wallet with all of the private keys in it, you can open it with a text editor. Since you're downloading Bitcoin Core anyways, just synchronize it fully and transfer your funds elsewhere.

If you are not familiar with Linux or running a dual boot, I really recommend you to not do so. It'll probably end up complicating things more than it needs to be. You can prune the blockchain as well, if size is of any concern.

There is next to no point. The unsigned binary is as safe if you can use certutil to check the SHA256 sum of the file, and if it matches with the signed PGP message (which you can verify), then it would be safe. Electrum's binaries are signed but it doesn't mean that it is safe, you still have to validate it using PGP. I'm hoping your helper knows what he is doing.

Remember to validate your installation: https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/guide-how-to-safely-download-and-verify-electrum-guide-5240594

(Bitcoin QT, technically)  I’m actually thinking now that this is the way to go for me.
I checked out https://electrum.org/#home .  They mention “Electrum is fast, because it uses servers that index the Bitcoin blockchain.”  So, am I correct that I would not need to resync?  I probably should have done this in the first place. 

Where do I find my private keys?  Are they somewhere in the “wallet.dat” file?

No I don’t want to blame him for the terminology.  His proposal was to set up a Linux component on my PC and install the Linux version of Core then copy over the blockchain and the rest of the wallet info and run it that way.  I have decided that this solution is too elaborate to be appealing.  Also, I don’t really have 500GB of free space to play with, so would need to address that.  Also not sure if I could have just copied the blockchain or would have had to resync?  I am not interested in doing that again.   
HCP wrote
In weighing my options I feel that installing and importing my keys to Electrum is less out there than the above. 
My helper recommended not installing an unsigned .exe which is not something I was thinking about originally but I definitely see his point.  I’m assuming the Electrum .exe is signed?

This is over my head but have sent this to the person helping me for comments.

We’re nearing the end of this if the whole Electrum thing goes smoothly.  Does anybody have any other Electrum info that I need to know? 

Thanks again, everyone. 

Be very careful here: are you sure you can trust this person? Your problem seems quite basic and doesn't look like something you need to pay someone for.
But since you're stuck at this for 3.5 months already, I get the desperation Your problem sounds like something that could have been resolved much quicker.

Considering your wallet was 4 years behind: wouldn't you be better off moving your funds to Electrum and getting rid of Bitcoin Core entirely?

If the reliable person literally called it "virtual Linux Core wallet", that's not very promising.

The simple solution is:

- Install the latest version of Bitcoin Core
- Let it fully sync
- Make a copy of your old wallet.dat and put it in the Bitcoin Core data directory
- Open the copy of the old wallet.dat in Bitcoin Core and let it rescan

After doing that, you should be able to see the full history of the wallet.dat and the current and correct wallet balance. You should then be able to send transactions as "normal".


Note that going with a "virtual Linux Core wallet" (I assume they mean using a Virtual Machine running Linux), will likely result in a longer time to sync the blockchain due to the overheads of running the VM and it not having full access to the processer/IO of the machine it is running on.

If your main OS is Windows, you'd be better off simply making some backup copies of your wallet.dat and installing the latest Windows version of Bitcoin Core and running it natively.

---

I'm not sure why you're so hung up on needing a "signed" Windows version of Bitcoin Core? All it does is stop Windows UAC from complaining that you are running unsigned code... and can be worked around. It is functionally identical to the "unsigned" version... and you can still verify the unsigned version released by the Bitcoin Core team by checking the SHA256 checksum of the unsigned .exe, comparing it to the one listed in the sha256sums.asc file and verifying the digital signature of that .asc file using the release keys.

Which you should be doing for "signed" versions of the .exe as well!

I’m actually paying someone reliable now to help me with this.  He is proposing we set up a virtual Linux Core wallet.  I am okay with this but I can’t just make a transaction by sending payment from one wallet to the next.  Payment could and has disappeared in the QT wallet and not been recovered, so it will probably be needed to import or copy my wallet info and blockchain to the new wallet. 
One other question before I do this, though.  Is a signed Windows version of Core forthcoming?  I am willing to wait a little while, but if not then I will go with the Linux.   


My QT btw is a very old V 0.8.6.0-g03a7d67-beta designed apparently to just be experimental. 

The Core team had the certificate they used to sign the Windows Binaries revoked because of an issue with the Certificate Authority: https://github.com/bitcoin-core/gui/issues/252#issuecomment-802591628

So, the choices are:

1. Let users try and run the "signed" installer and get scary Windows warnings unless you run it as an admin
or
2. Tell users to run the "unsigned" installer.

Note that this issue is only affecting "Windows Code Signing"... versions on other OSes are unaffected... and you can still check the SHA256 hashes and verify them with GPG signed checksum file: https://bitcoincore.org/bin/bitcoin-core-0.21.1/SHA256SUMS.asc (which you should be doing regardless of whether or not the Windows code signing is being used)

An associate of mine pointed out that the Core installation file is unsigned.  (bitcoin-0.21.1-win64-setup-unsigned)  Apparently this is very easy to do.  I’m wondering if there is a reason for this?   

You can just download the non-codesigned installer. Download bitcoin-0.21.0-win64-setup-unsigned.exe from https://bitcoincore.org/bin/bitcoin-core-0.21.0/. You just need to click through a few warnings to install it. A new SHA256SUMS.asc file was uploaded to the same folder which covers the non-codesigned installer too.

The warnings to click through are shown in the third section of this post: https://github.com/bitcoin-core/gui/issues/252#issuecomment-807400048

Note that it's nothing to do with Antivirus or anything like that... unfortunately, the Bitcoin Core devs ran into an issue where their code signing key was accidentally revoked... so the cert that the Windows installer is signed with is "Expired" and so Windows now blocks it by mistake

I am having the same issue with the 0.21 installer... the solution is:

1. Press Win+X
2. Select "WIndows Powershell (Admin)"


3. Navigate to the folder where the 0.21 installer .exe is located using the "cd" command. For instance, I downloaded it to C:\Downloads, so I use:


I can check the name of the file using the dir command and it displays a list of the files/folders


4. Run the 0.21 installer .exe by entering the name of the installer and pressing enter:


TIP: if you start typing the first few letters of the filename and press TAB, it will autocomplete the name

The installer should then start up:




Refer: https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/m7rc5b/how_to_fix_bitcoin_cores_installation_error_this/gsy99q8/

Unfortunately... "Run As Administrator" doesn't work in this situation... but running from an elevated cmd/powershell window does??!?

I made two backups of my wallet.  
Then I downloaded "bitcoin-0.21.0-win64-setup" from https://bitcoin.org/en/download
I have never had this happen before, but my PC will not let me run it.
I get the error message "An administrator has blocked you from running this app.  For more information contact the administrator."
I am the only one who uses this PC and am the administrator.  I tried running it as administrator but get the same message.  
I found a Windows security setting called Developer Mode to install apps from any source that I enabled then restarted but get the same message.  
Any ideas how to get around this?
I am running Windows 10 Home 64-bit.    

The most important consideration when making the backtup is to make sure that either:

a. You shutdown Bitcoin Core before attempting to make a backup copy of the wallet.dat file
or
b. You use the "Backup wallet" option within Bitcoin Core to make a backup copy of the wallet.dat file


If you make a copy while Bitcoin Core is busy writing data to the file, your backup copy might be corrupt and/or missing data... which could be catastrophic if you ever need to recover using the backup!

By shutting down Bitcoin Core (or using the wallet backup option within the app), you can be sure that the wallet.dat file will not be in use when you make the backup copy.

There's nothing fancy to it, just go to your file manager and locate the wallet.dat file and copy it to some other folder. Exactly where does not matter, but you must remember where you placed it, so somewhere like your Documents folder or perhaps on a USB stick as LoyceV mentioned is suitable.

No. Give or take a few MB.

Okay, I see.  Is it typically a large file size?

A (safe) backup is a backup on a device that's no longer connected to the same computer (for instance a few different USB-sticks).

Okay I am going to do all of this on Friday.
I will make two backups of my wallet.
Is there anything I need to know about when backing up a wallet?
And does it mater where I save it?   I’m thinking I should just use wherever the default location is. 
I will let everyone know how all of this works out.   

Given you're using an "older" version of Bitcoin QT/Core... it's possible that you would need to do the old "abandontransaction" + rescan method to get the funds to show... otherwise, the unconfirmed transaction is likely to just remain in your wallet forever, even though it has effectively disappeared from the rest of the network.


Correct.


As ranochigo and LoyceV have both mentioned... the upgrade process should be relatively easy... Bitcoin "Core" is essentially just the new name for what you know as Bitcoin QT... the .exe is still actually called "bitcoin-qt.exe"

So, the newer version will simply use the existing data directory with the blocks and wallet.dat etc. It should be as simple as downloading and installing the new version and starting it up and it should just work.


Again, just make sure to make a backup (or two) of your wallet.dat and you'll be fine.

Just to be sure: make another backup of your wallet.dat before upgrading.

Bitcoin-qt was rebranded as Bitcoin Core, if you had any doubts.
Core should still be pointing at that directory even with an upgrade, it's the default directory anyways. In the case that it doesn't get directed at the correct directory, you can just change it manually with a command. Bitcoin Core will always load the wallet.dat that is in the data directory.
 
You shouldn't have to resynchronize.

Hi everyone.
Sorry I stayed away for so long.  I needed a break.

In the meantime my QT blockchain did finish syncing.
I tried making a transaction on March 11 and it went through so I figured my problems were over. 
But then I made another transaction while fully synced on March 26 and it did not go through.
As of now those funds still did not come back into my wallet.     

The receiver sent me this: 


I’m guessing the advice on this forum will be the same – I should upgrade my wallet.
I have decided to go with Core but just have a couple of questions. 
I will firstly back up my QT wallet, but I am wondering – in Core somewhere will there be a simple option to load a wallet or is the process more elaborate?
Also, I’m doubting that I will need to recync since on my hard drive I have blockchain data (AppData\Roaming\Bitcoin) so I can point the Core data directory to that folder if it isn’t in the first place?  Is there anything else I need to know about this?     
 
Here are the details of my unsuccessful transaction that did not come back:


And of course I continue to be very appreciative for the excellent help that I have been getting from the community. 

This is just another option but for me, this is still safe.

What I think is to export the private keys from your Bitcoin core but this time make sure your PC is not connected to the internet. Then install Electrum just download them to the original website electrum.org make sure that you downloaded them from another PC then transfer the Electrum installer to your PC where your Bitcoin core installed.

Now, install Electrum and import the private keys that you export from the Bitcoin core.

Since it does not have balance and not connected to the internet I suggest you install Electrum again on another PC that is connected to the internet but this time import a public key and make a watch-only wallet.

Once you have a watch-only wallet you can make unsigned raw/hex transactions and transfer the raw/hex code through USB and import it to Electrum where you import the private keys. After that, you can sign the transaction, and after you signed it will show another generated raw/hex code copy them again and put them all into notepad and transfer it back to another PC and import it to Electrum watch-only wallet to broadcast the transaction.

You're looking at the wrong info... Can't remember what the old versions of Bitcoin QT/Core looked like... but in the newer ones there are two "about" screens:


Which gives:

and



If it's not obvious from the "About..." window... maybe check on the "Information" tab for the client version:

Core has quite a few performance optimization, especially in the recent releases. I would recommend you to upgrade Core immediately, older versions tends to have some bugs and are generally incompatible with some of the new changes implemented.

The sole inclusion of headers first synchronization would help with your download progress immensely as it can be parallelized. Back up your wallet.dat and download the latest Bitcoin Core.

So, it seems like the safest course of action is to back up my wallet, upgrade to Core, then increase database cache.  I will want to do the Core upgrade obviously in a safe manner.

QT does not have an option to increase database cache.  I will look at doing this when I have Core.     

My version of QT is 4.8.5

I’m using an i5 3.20GHz processor and have 12GB of RAM.  And just a regular HDD. 

50MB/S

In about three weeks I went from 223 weeks behind to the current 30.  I was leaving my PC on all day and at first I was synching about 15 weeks per day then progressively slower to the point that I am now synching about three weeks per day.  Also, I was closing all of my other programs for most of the synch in the belief this would speed it up.

Yes I’m pretty sure the transaction did not go through.  I’m not too worried and will do the transaction over when the time comes. 

Did you update to "Bitcoin Core" yet? Latest version is 0.21.0... I would recommend making a backup (or two) of your wallet.dat before updating. If you didn't update, what version are you actually running?


Do you know what processor and how much RAM your computer has? Also, do you know if it is using an SSD (Solid State Drive) or an HDD (Hard Disk drive) for storage?


The least risky method is, as previously stated, just letting Bitcoin Core finish syncing. Where exactly is it up to in the syncing process?


Also, your transaction appears to have dropped from the network, I cannot find txid: "020d601b2908df3af33a288f37965a6dceb3542173a11528b6906b1643c0d642" anywhere

You may need to rebroadcast this transaction if you still want it to go through. However, if it isn't needed urgently, I would recommend that you update to the latest Bitcoin Core and wait for it to fully sync before you attempt to make any transactions.

It's a setting in Bitcoin Core, just go to Options and increase database cache. However, that's only useful if you have enough RAM, and considering how slow your sync is, you could be low on RAM already.
Changing only a setting is definitely the safest option.

Exporting your private keys and importing them into Electrum is much faster, but also more risky (especially if you don't really know what you're doing).

Hey there BitMaxz / community. 
Sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner.
My original plan was to just be patient and let the QT network synch, but this had gotten progressively slower to the point that now it is so slow it has become intolerable, and getting more so. 
Now I am thinking that I should take your advice and copy my private keys to Electrum or add a "dbcache"?
This is not something that I currently know how to do. 
I guess that somewhere in QT there is a private key, then I download and install Electrum and somewhere in there will be a place to copy my private key?   
Unless adding "dbcache" is less risky?  I am willing to wait awhile for the synch, I’m not in a huge rush to use my funds, just like I said the current speed has become incredibly slow.  If so, I am running a PC with Windows 10.  Is there anything else you need to know for this?   
Wondering what the community thinks about this?  Is one of these methods less risky than the other?  Any advice or tips that I can get to help me do this would be appreciated

Some additional from posts above if your Bitcoin-QT takes too long to sync you can improve the syncing process by adding "dbcache" in your configuration.

If you can share the system specs of your PC we can recommend a few configs to improve the syncing process but why would you like to use a full node?

You can use other wallets that don't need to download the whole blockchain if you don't want to wait for long syncing unless if you have good specs of PC and enough internet speed.
I suggest if you just want to use it as a wallet for daily use switch to other wallets like Electrum.

You can export private keys from the Bitcoin core and then sweep or import the private key to Electrum.

Your transaction I'd was not found  so you dont really have a problem. Your funds are probably safe.

You can import your private keys / seed into a better wallet and try again.

I suggest electrum, as mentioned above.

It won't take 223 weeks to sync if that is what you're worried about. It will likely take a few days to catch up, but it would be the best option if you can wait... that way, it'll help prevent a similar problem in the future.


The issue that I can see is that your transaction has not propagated on the network very well. I can't see any transaction with the ID: 020d601b2908df3af33a288f37965a6dceb3542173a11528b6906b1643c0d642 on any of the major block explorers (nor is it in the mempool of my personal bitcoin node).

Either it is invalid, or it's just not being relayed because the fee is too low... currently, the "mempoolminfee" is up over 4 sats/byte: https://statoshi.info/dashboard/db/memory-pool?panelId=3&fullscreen

Any transaction that attempts to pay less than this will likely be dropped from the mempool of most nodes running a "default" config.


No. A "miner" is specialised hardware dedicated to trying to mine Bitcoin blocks. Running a solo mining rig is not going to help you here...

Yes. Out of sync clients are not exactly great for sending transaction as there'll be a chance that you'll be creating invalid transactions (a transaction that selects UTXOs which are already spent), which is AFAICT is your case.

The address that you've provided doesn't seem to have 0.01BTC and it appears to only have 0.0026BTC, unless you're spending in conjunction with other change addresses. Until you synchronize your client, you cannot tell the actual balance.

The problem here isn't with your fees (though it could be). I suspect your client created an invalid transaction which spends coins that has already been spent.

You can try exporting the private keys of the relevant addresses and importing them in Electrum if you can't wait.

I would very much appreciate some help with a transaction. 

I made a btc transaction on QT that did not go through and is frozen.  This was to a company I have successfully used before, but it has been a few years. 
The receiver sent me a link that supposedly confirms that the payment was not made (https://blockstream.info/address/37ua6XDW8wyAMnM8rBgsKRTEECQayhmGC2).

Here are my transaction details:

Status: 0/unconfirmed
Date: 2021-01-08 11:44
To: 37ua6XDW8wyAMnM8rBgsKRTEECQayhmGC2
Debit: -0.01000946 BTC
To: Network Fee Donation 19yFRV1tSgJE2p3gQmeufntAsufatUvCs4
Debit: -0.0001 BTC
Transaction fee: -0.0001 BTC
Net amount: -0.01020946 BTC
Transaction ID: 020d601b2908df3af33a288f37965a6dceb3542173a11528b6906b1643c0d642

I'm using the older QT wallet which I am learning is upgradable to Core, I believe?  If I were to upgrade would this help my situation, and if I did the upgrade would I still be able to recover the unconfirmed transaction in the new wallet as well as my balance? 

Could the problem be that my QT network is unsynchronized?
The last time I used it it was out of synch as well, but the transaction still went through.

I'm 223 weeks behind so it looks like a QT synch would take forever.  Is there another way?

I’m also reading that a low transaction fee can cause this?     

What exactly is a miner, what would one cost, and is this a better way to go for me?   

Any help that I can get with this would be very much appreciated.