I had this happen today. Tried to import an old private key and it's taking forever, several hours. If you do this in bitcoincore maybe do it before going to bed.
Topic: Why does bitcoin take so long to import a privkey??? (Read 1388 times)
Thanks for that, so i import address 1st and then importprivkey after, as above?
No - the "importaddress" is for "watch only" addresses (but if you don't provide the rescan parameter to them they'll behave in the same manner so I thought it was relevant to list both of these commands for others that might be following this).
For a private key you just use the "importprivkey" command (adding false after the label).
Will the core rescan automatically after you shutdown and then restart your software?
Because when you import a privatekey to bitcoin core wallet it rescan , if you want to stop rescan you can use below format, it will rescan wallet later next time you open it
replace bitcoinprivkey with your private key
and label with label that you want to add for imported address
Code:
importprivkey "bitcoinprivkey" "label" false
replace bitcoinprivkey with your private key
and label with label that you want to add for imported address
So as above, Again Many Thanks
Thanks for that, so i import address 1st and then importprivkey after, as above?
No - the "importaddress" is for "watch only" addresses (but if you don't provide the rescan parameter to them they'll behave in the same manner so I thought it was relevant to list both of these commands for others that might be following this).
For a private key you just use the "importprivkey" command (adding false after the label).
There is an option to stop it from doing a re-scan (after the private key and label) so for newly created addresses you should use that.
Code:
importaddress "address" ( "label" rescan )
importprivkey "bitcoinprivkey" ( "label" rescan )
importprivkey "bitcoinprivkey" ( "label" rescan )
Thanks for that, so i import address 1st and then importprivkey after, as above?
Because when you import a privatekey to bitcoin core wallet it rescan , if you want to stop rescan you can use below format, it will rescan wallet later next time you open it
replace bitcoinprivkey with your private key
and label with label that you want to add for imported address
Code:
importprivkey "bitcoinprivkey" "label" false
replace bitcoinprivkey with your private key
and label with label that you want to add for imported address
There is an option to stop it from doing a re-scan (after the private key and label) so for newly created addresses you should use that.
Code:
importaddress "address" ( "label" rescan )
importprivkey "bitcoinprivkey" ( "label" rescan )
importprivkey "bitcoinprivkey" ( "label" rescan )
Fair enough, 
thanks for the replies. It was a newly generated address also.
thanks for the replies. It was a newly generated address also. 
I am waiting about 30 mins for core to import a privkey, why is that ?
I use blockchain.info, and importing private keys are instant. Perhaps your wallet wasn't synced?
The wallet can be up to date and synced.
Like knightdk said, if you add an address that wasn't in the first place, the wallet has to check through the whole already downloaded blockchain to see if the address was used in any transactions.
I am waiting about 30 mins for core to import a privkey, why is that ?
I use blockchain.info, and importing private keys are instant. Perhaps your wallet wasn't synced?
What you can do is to import the key into the Blockchain.info web wallet and send all the funds to a new key. But then you will have to wait for the confirmations of course.
I am waiting about 30 mins for core to import a privkey, why is that ?
I use blockchain.info, and importing private keys are instant. Perhaps your wallet wasn't synced?
I am waiting about 30 mins for core to import a privkey, why is that ?
Because it needs to rescan the entire blockchain to check for all of the transactions that involve the address associated with that private key. The blockchain is huge and this process takes a while.
I am waiting about 30 mins for core to import a privkey, why is that ?
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