<blockquote>
  <p>A pruned node will always catch up, whats the hassle?</p>
</blockquote>

<p>The issue stems from having Bitcoin Core opened but the wallet in question is not loaded in Bitcoin Core (because you closed it). Bitcoin Core will continue to be synced and receive new blocks and transactions. However, it will discard old blocks once it has stored the configured amount of block data.</p>

<p>Suppose, for example, your pruned node is synced to block 570000 and is configured to keep 1000 blocks of data. When you do <code>Close Wallet</code> at block 570000, your wallet is synced to block 570000. But Bitcoin Core is still running and receiving new blocks and transactions. 1000 blocks later, at block 571000, block 570000 is discarded. One block later, block 570001 is discarded.</p>

<p>Now if you try to load your wallet again, it is going to try to catch up to the latest block, so it looks for block 570001 to begin rescanning. However your node has already discarded the block, and thus the rescan is unable to continue. In order to get block 570001 to scan it, you will need to redownload the entire blockchain. This is what the warning is for.</p>

<p>During the entire time your wallet was closed, Bitcoin Core was still running. However your wallet was not loaded into it, so it does not know to scan for transactions that belong to that wallet, and even if it did, it wouldn't know where to put the transactions it finds. So it is always catching up, but without the wallet in question loaded, it isn't finding the transactions that you care about.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-06-14T19:46:17.533Z
so as long as i keep the same wallet open nothing is missed and all ok?
droid192
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-06-14T20:21:14.840Z
Yes. With pruning enabled, you shouldn't really be dynamically loading and unloading wallets.
Ava Chow
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-06-14T14:11:34.373Z
2019-06-14T14:11:34.373Z
Ava Chow
<p>If you have a wallet that isn’t opened for the period of pruning, it won’t be able to scan transactions. If you set the limit to 2GB, and 4GB of blocks pass without opening the wallet, it may miss incoming transactions as the required blocks will have been deleted. </p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-06-14T13:40:43.183Z
2019-06-14T13:40:43.183Z
Claris
<p>What are the implications and reasons behind this warning on gui popup, when closing the wallet:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>"bitcoin closing the wallet for too long can result in having to
  resync the entire chain if pruning is enabled"</p>
</blockquote>

<p>A pruned node will always catch up, whats the hassle?</p>

<bitcoin-core><wallet><pruning>
Background information on warning, when closing wallet in pruned mode
droid192
# Background information on warning, when closing wallet in pruned mode

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-06-14)

What are the implications and reasons behind this warning on gui popup, when closing the wallet:

> "bitcoin closing the wallet for too long can result in having to
> resync the entire chain if pruning is enabled"

A pruned node will always catch up, whats the hassle?

**Tags:** bitcoin-core, wallet, pruning


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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2019-06-14. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

> A pruned node will always catch up, whats the hassle?

The issue stems from having Bitcoin Core opened but the wallet in question is not loaded in Bitcoin Core (because you closed it). Bitcoin Core will continue to be synced and receive new blocks and transactions. However, it will discard old blocks once it has stored the configured amount of block data.

Suppose, for example, your pruned node is synced to block 570000 and is configured to keep 1000 blocks of data. When you do `Close Wallet` at block 570000, your wallet is synced to block 570000. But Bitcoin Core is still running and receiving new blocks and transactions. 1000 blocks later, at block 571000, block 570000 is discarded. One block later, block 570001 is discarded.

Now if you try to load your wallet again, it is going to try to catch up to the latest block, so it looks for block 570001 to begin rescanning. However your node has already discarded the block, and thus the rescan is unable to continue. In order to get block 570001 to scan it, you will need to redownload the entire blockchain. This is what the warning is for.

During the entire time your wallet was closed, Bitcoin Core was still running. However your wallet was not loaded into it, so it does not know to scan for transactions that belong to that wallet, and even if it did, it wouldn't know where to put the transactions it finds. So it is always catching up, but without the wallet in question loaded, it isn't finding the transactions that you care about.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: so as long as i keep the same wallet open nothing is missed and all ok?  
> **username_1**: Yes. With pruning enabled, you shouldn't really be dynamically loading and unloading wallets.  

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### Answer by username_2 on 2019-06-14. Score: 2

If you have a wallet that isn’t opened for the period of pruning, it won’t be able to scan transactions. If you set the limit to 2GB, and 4GB of blocks pass without opening the wallet, it may miss incoming transactions as the required blocks will have been deleted.


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