<p>I have unclear ideas and I write because I would like some good soul to clear them up.</p>
<p>I'm looking for a way to be able to recover a wallet created with Bitcoin Core, having only a short sequence of characters, so that I can write it somewhere (therefore without necessarily having the wallet .dat file and relevant password).</p>
<p>Aware that Bitcoin Core doesn't support the famous random words (BIP-39, if I don't get it wrong), I tried with the HD seed.</p>
<p>So here's how I did it:</p>
<ol>
<li>I did <code>dumpwallet /path/Test.txt</code>.</li>
<li>I have pinned down the private key marked &quot;<code>hdseed=1</code>&quot;.</li>
<li>I closed the wallet and deleted it.</li>
<li>I created a new wallet: I tried both doing it &quot;normal&quot;, and blank.</li>
<li>I gave <code>sethdseed true &quot;private key that I had pinned&quot;</code>.</li>
</ol>
<p>It didn't give me any error messages any time, I also gave another <code>dumpwallet /path/walletname.txt</code> and compared the two texts to see if they were the same and it seems to me so, or at least the PMK is identical.</p>
<p>Convinced that it was the right way, however, I tried to repeat the same procedure with a wallet in which I have some BTCs, but when I restored the wallet it remains without any Bitcoins inside.</p>
<p>What am I missing?</p>
<p>If a wallet on Bitcoin Core cannot be restored in any way through text, but only through his .dat file, what is the use of dump the HD seed, the Private MasterKey, the wallet.txt, etc.?</p>
<p>I am aware of all the risks associated with paper cold wallets, all of this is for educational purposes only.</p>
<p>The aim would be to find a way to export through a short text an entire Bitcoin Core wallet, not just the private key of a public key.</p>
<p>Thank you in advance!</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-12-18T05:13:32.357Z
Did you perform a rescan after using `sethdseed`? Depending on when your wallet was made and whether it is encrypted, there may be more than one hdseed or private key that you would have to backup in order to restore the entire wallet.
Ava Chow
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-12-20T09:20:01.637Z
@AndrewChow I hadn't really thought about doing a `rescanblockchain`. Having some time this morning I tried to redo the whole procedure and wait for the rescan end and in fact everything works correctly. Thank you very much!!
Serial Inquirer
<bitcoin-core><bip32-hd-wallets><wallet-recovery><bitcoin-cli><paper-wallet>
How to write down an entire Bitcoin Core wallet through text
Serial Inquirer
# How to write down an entire Bitcoin Core wallet through text

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-12-18)

I have unclear ideas and I write because I would like some good soul to clear them up.

I'm looking for a way to be able to recover a wallet created with Bitcoin Core, having only a short sequence of characters, so that I can write it somewhere (therefore without necessarily having the wallet .dat file and relevant password).

Aware that Bitcoin Core doesn't support the famous random words (BIP-39, if I don't get it wrong), I tried with the HD seed.

So here's how I did it:

1. I did `dumpwallet /path/Test.txt`.
2. I have pinned down the private key marked "`hdseed=1`".
3. I closed the wallet and deleted it.
4. I created a new wallet: I tried both doing it "normal", and blank.
5. I gave `sethdseed true "private key that I had pinned"`.

It didn't give me any error messages any time, I also gave another `dumpwallet /path/walletname.txt` and compared the two texts to see if they were the same and it seems to me so, or at least the PMK is identical.

Convinced that it was the right way, however, I tried to repeat the same procedure with a wallet in which I have some BTCs, but when I restored the wallet it remains without any Bitcoins inside.

What am I missing?

If a wallet on Bitcoin Core cannot be restored in any way through text, but only through his .dat file, what is the use of dump the HD seed, the Private MasterKey, the wallet.txt, etc.?

I am aware of all the risks associated with paper cold wallets, all of this is for educational purposes only.

The aim would be to find a way to export through a short text an entire Bitcoin Core wallet, not just the private key of a public key.

Thank you in advance!

**Tags:** bitcoin-core, bip32-hd-wallets, wallet-recovery, bitcoin-cli, paper-wallet

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Did you perform a rescan after using `sethdseed`? Depending on when your wallet was made and whether it is encrypted, there may be more than one hdseed or private key that you would have to backup in order to restore the entire wallet.  
> **username_0**: @AndrewChow I hadn't really thought about doing a `rescanblockchain`. Having some time this morning I tried to redo the whole procedure and wait for the rescan end and in fact everything works correctly. Thank you very much!!  

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## 0 answers

