<p>I think you can narrow your search space. If you're on linux, and you run the command </p>

<pre><code>strings wallet.dat | grep purpose | less
</code></pre>

<p>you should get a list of all of the addresses in the wallet, even if the wallet is encrypted. You can check that against a list of address prefixes for each altcoin.</p>

<p>If you run</p>

<pre><code>strings wallet.dat | grep tx | less
</code></pre>

<p>you should get a line for every transaction that wallet has sent or received. (This only catches transactions that were present the last time the wallet was open. If someone sent you a billion cryptobucks ten minutes after you logged out, this will not catch that.)</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-26T06:42:36.400Z
Thank you for looking into my question. When I run `strings wallet.dat | grep purpose` I get no output at all. The same for `strings wallet.dat | grep tx`.
wallet-hoarder
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-26T17:50:58.923Z
@wallet-hoarder Can you try `name` or `ckey` or `key` ? Does `strings wallet.dat` print anything at all?
Nick ODell
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-27T05:01:22.990Z
`strings wallet.dat` returns many many strings, `| grep names` returns something like `name"IdOs4Users...` (changed because I do not know whether it is important). For some wallets it has a bunch of such names. `ckey` returns nothing. `key` returns many lines, majority look like `key!`
wallet-hoarder
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-27T05:07:11.300Z
@wallet-hoarder That's a good sign. Part after name is an address. Also, if key shows up, but not ckey, then the wallet is not encrypted.
Nick ODell
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-27T05:22:42.400Z
It is highly likely that the wallets are not encrypted because they were in a truecrypt container. Thanks to you I found that the first character in the name can tell me the currency. In one of the wallets the first character is Q. I found this database for [altcoin](https://github.com/ethernomad/coins/blob/master/coins.yaml) prefixes. The integer value of Q is 81, and it tells me that it is PotCoin (I am very sure I have never mined this). Q also suggest quarkcoin which I remember mining. Do you know how to find the currency from this character?
wallet-hoarder
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-27T17:23:35.293Z
@wallet-hoarder My best idea is to try both and see if one of them works.
Nick ODell
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-26T05:32:49.743Z
2017-07-26T05:43:45.693Z
2017-07-26T05:43:45.693Z
Nick ODell
<p>Just open each file and look for name"</p>

<p>the address will be after that.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-26T16:49:00.307Z
Hi weff, welcome to Bitcoin.Stackexchange.com. You seem to have an idea how to help the asker. Could you please further explain how knowing the address would help the asker to determine which altcoin the wallet belongs to?
Murch
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-27T05:03:34.790Z
And what should I do with this address?
wallet-hoarder
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-26T15:38:30.737Z
2017-07-26T15:38:30.737Z
weff
<p>Open in a hex editor search for name, might say team doge or some other thing that will be simple and if you are not on linux getting python and a few plugins working just to figure out what coin is the wallet.dat is a pain. Although if you need to extract a key or try to fix it you will want python and some other tools.</p>
<p>There is a hex editor plugin for notepad++ if you are trying to find one.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-04-14T02:25:29.257Z
2021-04-14T02:25:29.257Z
user3182829
<p>A few years ago I mined a couple of alt-coins. Now I have approximately 5 wallets which are named in non-suggestive way: <code>wallet_01.dat</code>, <code>wallet_02.dat</code>, ..., <code>wallet_05.dat</code>. Each of them has reasonable amount of coins, also I have no idea how much exactly and what coin correspond to each wallet. Now I would like to restore some order by checking what do I have and how much.</p>

<p>Is there a way for me to figure this out? I do not remember exactly what these alt-coins are but have approximate ideas (probably can try to remember and select 30 potential candidates).</p>

<p>With this, I clearly can try each of the alt-coin client, wait for sync (may be do not even need this) and try to open each of the wallet. This will be very slow and because I am not 100% sure I will be lucky with my 30 crypto-coin guesses might take even longer.</p>

<hr>

<p>So, is there a way to find a corresponding alt-coin for a wallet. Even maybe finding how much coins are in the wallet without downloading the client?</p>

<wallet><altcoin><wallet.dat><wallet-recovery>
Have a bunch of wallet.dat files. What alt-coins do they have (and may be how much)?
wallet-hoarder
# Have a bunch of wallet.dat files. What alt-coins do they have (and may be how much)?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-07-26)

A few years ago I mined a couple of alt-coins. Now I have approximately 5 wallets which are named in non-suggestive way: `wallet_01.dat`, `wallet_02.dat`, ..., `wallet_05.dat`. Each of them has reasonable amount of coins, also I have no idea how much exactly and what coin correspond to each wallet. Now I would like to restore some order by checking what do I have and how much.

Is there a way for me to figure this out? I do not remember exactly what these alt-coins are but have approximate ideas (probably can try to remember and select 30 potential candidates).

With this, I clearly can try each of the alt-coin client, wait for sync (may be do not even need this) and try to open each of the wallet. This will be very slow and because I am not 100% sure I will be lucky with my 30 crypto-coin guesses might take even longer.

---

So, is there a way to find a corresponding alt-coin for a wallet. Even maybe finding how much coins are in the wallet without downloading the client?

**Tags:** wallet, altcoin, wallet.dat, wallet-recovery


---

## 3 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2017-07-26. Score: 1 | Accepted answer

I think you can narrow your search space. If you're on linux, and you run the command

```
strings wallet.dat | grep purpose | less

```

you should get a list of all of the addresses in the wallet, even if the wallet is encrypted. You can check that against a list of address prefixes for each altcoin.

If you run

```
strings wallet.dat | grep tx | less

```

you should get a line for every transaction that wallet has sent or received. (This only catches transactions that were present the last time the wallet was open. If someone sent you a billion cryptobucks ten minutes after you logged out, this will not catch that.)

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Thank you for looking into my question. When I run `strings wallet.dat | grep purpose` I get no output at all. The same for `strings wallet.dat | grep tx`.  
> **username_1**: @username_0 Can you try `name` or `ckey` or `key` ? Does `strings wallet.dat` print anything at all?  
> **username_0**: `strings wallet.dat` returns many many strings, `| grep names` returns something like `name"IdOs4Users...` (changed because I do not know whether it is important). For some wallets it has a bunch of such names. `ckey` returns nothing. `key` returns many lines, majority look like `key!`  
> **username_1**: @username_0 That's a good sign. Part after name is an address. Also, if key shows up, but not ckey, then the wallet is not encrypted.  
> **username_0**: It is highly likely that the wallets are not encrypted because they were in a truecrypt container. Thanks to you I found that the first character in the name can tell me the currency. In one of the wallets the first character is Q. I found this database for [altcoin](https://github.com/ethernomad/coins/blob/master/coins.yaml) prefixes. The integer value of Q is 81, and it tells me that it is PotCoin (I am very sure I have never mined this). Q also suggest quarkcoin which I remember mining. Do you know how to find the currency from this character?  
> **username_1**: @username_0 My best idea is to try both and see if one of them works.  

---

### Answer by username_2 on 2017-07-26. Score: 2

Just open each file and look for name"

the address will be after that.

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: Hi username_2, welcome to Bitcoin.Stackexchange.com. You seem to have an idea how to help the asker. Could you please further explain how knowing the address would help the asker to determine which altcoin the wallet belongs to?  
> **username_0**: And what should I do with this address?  

---

### Answer by username_4 on 2021-04-14. Score: 0

Open in a hex editor search for name, might say team doge or some other thing that will be simple and if you are not on linux getting python and a few plugins working just to figure out what coin is the wallet.dat is a pain. Although if you need to extract a key or try to fix it you will want python and some other tools.

There is a hex editor plugin for notepad++ if you are trying to find one.


---

