Safely Transfer Bitcoin from a wallet.dat File to Anywhere, Using Air-Gapped Offline System, Bitcoin Core, and Electrum

2017-11-15T03:49:40Z

Droleary: Fixed a couple typos

This guide is intended for former users of [[Bitcoin Core]] who wish to very securely transfer Bitcoin from an archived wallet.dat file into a new secure storage target (e.g. hardware wallet) using a process that keeps all private keys off of any online computer.

'''WARNING'''

Before reading this page, users should note that directly manipulating ECDSA [[private keys]] is dangerous and can result in losing bitcoins<ref>[https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/29948/why-doc-says-importing-private-keys-is-so-dangerous Bitcoin StackExchange - Why doc says importing private keys is so dangerous?]</ref><ref>[https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/18619/why-so-many-warnings-about-importing-private-keys Bitcoin StackExchange - Why so many warnings about importing private keys?]</ref>.

== Goal ==
* Safely sweep Bitcoin from a wallet.dat file and send to a new address.
* Never allow wallet.dat or any private keys to touch online computer.
* Use GUI tools that minimize complication and potential for mistake.

== Why ==
* You are paranoid and don't trust the security of your online computer.
* You have a hardware wallet or other secure means of storing Bitcoin.
* You like doing things in a more complicated way than otherwise necessary by more trusting folk.
* You aren't comfortable manually building [[ Raw Transactions ]] from UTXOs and playing with big opaque hex strings.

== Read This First ==
Less paranoid people may find the following article simpler and easier, which also describes in more detail obtaining the relevant software and other basic topics:
* [[ Transferring coins from Bitcoin-Qt to Electrum ]]
Less paranoid people seeking to move Bitcoin from a wallet.dat to another address may also simply use Bitcoin Core itself directly, bypassing all complexity of offline transactions.

== Ingredients ==
The following ALL-CAPS terms are introduced here and used below consistently.
* NET-PC : An online computer with potential malware.
* OFFLINE-PC : A secure offline computer without network access.
* USB-STICK : A USB stick to transfer files over air gap.
* WALLET.DAT : A high value wallet.dat file stored offline.

== Software (always verify signatures!) ==
* [[ Electrum ]]: Installed on both NET-PC and OFFLINE-PC.
* [[Bitcoin Core]]: Installed on OFFLINE-PC only.

== Instructions ==
# OFFLINE-PC [Bitcoin Core] Dump addresses from wallet.dat using at least (NOTE: this part needs review - how best to simply and reliably list all addresses?):
## <code>listreceivedbyaddress 0 true</code>
## <code>listaddressgroupings</code>
# Copy addresses to NET-PC via USB-STICK.
# NET-PC [Electrum] Create "Watch Bitcoin Addresses" wallet using exported addresses. See which have balances.
# OFFLINE-PC [Bitcoin Core] Dump each private key from wallet.dat: <code>dumpprivkey "$ADDR"</code>.
# OFFLINE-PC [Electrum] Create "Standard Wallet" with "Use public or private keys" using (copy/paste) desired private keys.
# NET-PC [Electrum] Generate transactions and save them to USB-STICK.
# OFFLINE-PC [Electrum] Sign transactions and save them back to USB-STICK.
# NET-PC [Electrum] Broadcast transactions from USB-STICK.
# OFFLINE-PC: Wipe drive.

== Simplifications for sweeping a paper wallet ==
If you have a paper wallet (with private key and address written on it) instead of a wallet.dat file, you may simplify the instructions as follows:
* No need to install Bitcoin Core on OFFLINE-PC.
* Skip steps 1 and 2, and use address directly in step 3.
* Skip step 4, and use private key directly in step 5.

==References==
<references />

[[Category:Instructional]]

Bitcoin Wiki - User contributions [en]

Safely Transfer Bitcoin from a wallet.dat File to Anywhere, Using Air-Gapped Offline System, Bitcoin Core, and Electrum