Backup & Restore

Backup

After your wallet is encrypted, it should immediately be backed up. The file called wallet.dat contains all the critical information for accessing your wallet, and that is the file which should be backed up (copied) to multiple physically different locations. For example, it is recommended to keep copies of this file on multiple USB drives and store them in different locations. Also, unless your wallet is an HD Wallet and you are certain no non-HD PrivateKey/Address pairs have been imported into your wallet, the latest version of wallet.dat should be backed up whenever funds are added to a new address in your wallet. Your wallet.dat file is typically stored in the wallets subdirectory of your data directory:

Data Directory

  • Windows 
    C:\Users\[YourUsername]\AppData\Roaming\Blocknet\
    Or paste %appdata%\Blocknet\ into the File Explorer path field.
  • MacOS 
    ~/Library/Application Support/Blocknet/
    Open Finder and in the Go menu select Go to Folder... and enter the above path.
  • Linux 
    ~/.blocknet/

CLI Wallet Backup Options (also works for GUI/Qt wallet)

  1. Option 1 - Close/Quit Blocknet wallet, then backup wallet.dat

    1. To ensure wallet.dat is not being modified as you are copying it, Close/Quit Blocknet wallet. If you are running a CLI wallet on a Linux OS, quit your wallet by issuing the CLI command, ./blocknet-cli stop in the directory where blocknet-cli is located. Note, if your CLI wallet was set up on a Linux system according to the VPS Staking guide, you can stop your CLI wallet from any directory with: 
      blocknet-cli stop

    2. Wait till your Wallet stops completely. If running the GUI/Qt wallet, this means waiting till the "Blocknet is shutting down..." message disappears. If running a CLI wallet on Linux, you can monitor the Linux process called blocknetd by repeatedly pasting/issuing the following command: 

      ps x -o args | grep -v "grep" | grep "blocknetd"
      Before the blocknetd Linux process has stopped completely, that command will return something like this: 
      /home/[user]/blocknet-4.3.3/bin/blocknetd -daemon
      Continue issuing that ps x -o args command until it returns nothing. Then you know the blocknetd process has stopped completely and it's safe to backup/copy your wallet.dat file.

    3. Within the data directory there is usually a subdirectory called wallets which is the default place for wallet.dat. If you find a wallet.dat file in the wallets subdirectory, that is the file which should be backed up.

    4. If the wallets subdirectory does not exist, then the wallet.dat in the data directory itself is the file which should be backed up.
    5. Back up your wallet.dat simply by copying it to different computer(s) and/or USB drives.
    6. Restart your Blocknet wallet. If you are running a CLI wallet on a Linux OS, restart your wallet by issuing the CLI command, ./blocknetd -daemon in the directory where blocknetd is located. Note, if your CLI wallet was set up on a Linux system according to the VPS Staking guide, you can restart your CLI wallet from any directory with: 
      blocknet-daemon

  2. Option 2 - Issue backupwallet <backupfile.dat> command from Debug Console or Command Line Interface

    1. This option does not require that you Close/Quit the Blocknet wallet.
    2. Be sure to specify the full path of your backupfile.dat and make sure it's in a directory where you have write permission.
      • Example: (Mac): backupwallet /Users/(username)/Desktop/mywallet.dat
      • Example (Windows): backupwallet c:\Users\(username)\Desktop\mywallet.dat

GUI/Qt Backup Option

If you are using the GUI/Qt wallet, one way to be certain to back up the correct wallet.dat file is to select the File->Backup Wallet... option in the GUI interface:

File Backup

This gives you the option to write a backup of your current wallet.dat to any location and give it any name.

Dumpfile Backup Option

If you want to be extra sure you'll be able to restore your wallet, in addition to backing up your wallet.dat, you can also back up your wallet in a dumpfile format. This format can be especially useful for those who are using an HD Wallet because it backs up the wallet's HD seed(s) in a human-readable format.

Tip: Is my wallet an HD Wallet? How do I find HD seed(s) in the dumpfile? How do I migrate to HD?

In the lower right corner of the Qt/GUI wallet are some symbols that look something like this: HD Wallet Indicator

If you see HD there (not crossed out or greyed out), then your wallet is an HD Wallet. Note: All wallets created with Blocknet v4.0 or greater are HD wallets. To find your wallet's HD seed(s), search the dumpfile for hdseed=1. See the answer posted here for full details on the format of dumpfile.

If your wallet is not an HD wallet and you want to be using a new HD wallet, the way to acheive that is to create an HD wallet (by creating a new wallet with the latest version of the Blocknet wallet), then transfer all your BLOCK to your new HD wallet. Note: You can, for example, create your new HD wallet on a different computer or in a different data directory on your existing computer. That way you can continue to have access to your old non-HD wallet until funds have been transferred to the new HD wallet. Another option is to create a new HD wallet simply by renaming the non-HD wallet.dat to something else, then restarting Blocknet wallet (v4.0+). The full instructions for doing it this way are as follows:

  1. Locate your current, non-HD wallet.dat.
  2. Rename that wallet.dat to wallet.dat.non-hd.
  3. Restart Blocknet wallet (must be Blocknet wallet v4.0+).
  4. Back up the new HD wallet.dat which was created by restarting your wallet.
  5. Created a receive address within your new HD wallet (Address Book->Create New Address->My Address) and copy it into a temporary file.
  6. Close Blocknet wallet
  7. Rename the new HD wallet.dat to wallet.dat.hd.
  8. Rename wallet.dat.non-hd back to wallet.dat.
  9. Restart Blocknet wallet.
  10. Send all your BLOCK from your old non-HD wallet to the newly created receive address in your new HD wallet. Note, if you want to start out by sending a small test amount from your old non-HD wallet to your new HD wallet, you can certainly do so. It just means you'll have to repeat the procedures for switching back and forth between your old non-HD wallet and your new HD wallet.
  11. Close Blocknet wallet.
  12. Rename the wallet.dat to wallet.dat.non-hd.
  13. Rename wallet.dat.hd back to wallet.dat.
  14. Restart Blocknet.

To back up your wallet in a dumpfile format, issue the following command: 

dumpwallet <dumpfile>
This command can be issued from Tools->Debug Console, or from the CLI if using a Command Line Interface to the wallet.

The dumpwallet <dumpfile> command will dump all your wallet's Private Key/Address pairs in a human-readable format to the file you specify as your dumpfile. Note: Be sure to specify the full path of dumpfile and make sure it's in a directory where you have write permission.

  • Example: (Mac): dumpwallet /Users/(username)/Desktop/dumpfile.txt
  • Example (Windows): dumpwallet c:\Users\(username)\Desktop\dumpfile.txt
Caution: It is strongly recommended NOT to keep this dumpfile stored on a computer while the computer is connected to the Internet.

You can print the dumpfile, then delete it, then empty your Trash. You can also store it within a 256-bit encrypted folder on your computer and/or on USB drives. (Google for how to encrypt a folder on Windows/Mac.) However, due to the extremely sensitive information in this file, it should NOT be kept stored on a computer that can be connected to the Internet (unless it is within a 256-bit encrypted folder).

Restore

Restore from wallet.dat

To restore a previously backed up wallet.dat file, follow these steps:

  1. If you haven't already done so, Install Blocknet Wallet and sync it
  2. Close your Blocknet wallet application.
  3. Rename or move the wallet.dat file in your data directory, if there is one.
  4. If there is a wallets subdirectory/folder in the data directory and it contains a file called wallet.dat, rename that wallet.dat file to something like wallet.dat.empty.
  5. If a wallets subdirectory/folder doesn't already exist in the data directory, make a new wallets subdirectory/folder in the data directory.

  6. Copy your backup copy of wallet.dat into the wallets subdirectory of your data directory. Note, it's fine to name your wallet.dat to something else while it's being stored safely in other locations. However, it must be named, wallet.dat when placed in the wallets subdirectory if the Blocknet wallet app is going to find it.

    Note, instead of copying your backup wallet.dat into the wallets subdirectory, you could optionally copy it into the data directory itself. However, if you choose this option, be sure to remove the wallets subdirectory because the Blocknet application will not use a wallet.dat file in the data directory itself if a wallets subdirectory exists.

  7. Restart Blocknet wallet.

Restore from dumpfile

Firstly, if you haven't already done so, Install Blocknet Wallet and sync it

Next, there are three options:

  1. If you backed up your wallet using the dumpwallet <dumpfile> command, you can restore it simply by issuing the importwallet <dumpfile> command from either Tools->Debug Console or from the CLI if using the Command Line Interface. This is the recommended method of restoring from a dumpfile.
  2. Another option you have if you are restoring an HD Wallet and you are certain no non-HD PrivateKey/Address pairs were imported into the wallet you want to restore, is to extract the HD seed from the dumpfile, then use the sethdseed ( newkeypool "seed" ) command to effectively import all the PrivateKey/Address pairs of the HD wallet. Type, help sethdseed in the Debug Console or CLI for more details on the sethdseed command.
  3. It's also possible to use the importprivkey command to import individual PrivateKey/Address pairs, where the Private Key could come from the dumpfile, or from the output of a dumpprivkey command issued in some wallet. The use of these commands is not generally recommended, especially if you are using an HD wallet. However, in certain circumstances, these commands might be the only way to salvage funds.
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