"wallet.dat file corrupt, salvage failed" Problems . . . [SOLVED]

[Mystery Guest]

Dear DASH 'ers -

My first post here after my first ever crypto purchase yesterday: Problems! ( problems, problems...!!! ) . . .

Using the DASH Core Wallet - Mac OS X 10.10.3 - Wallet Encrypted -

Purchased the DASH from a broker via Bittylicious Exchange. I used a receiving address from my DASH Core Wallet - BUT ( and perhaps this was my fault / mistake ) I did not use / summon the pop-up window which provides a Receiving Address *AND* a Private Key ( long alphanumeric string ) to unlock / access the DASH once it is received.

DASH arrived safely. I made a Back-Up file where my DASH Core Wallet is installed. I *ALSO* made 2 backup wallet.dat files with different names on a USB drive.

[ Here is a 2nd thing I am not sure about re DASH: On this Mac, the .dat files for wallet backups automatically want to use VLC to open them - as though the .dat file extension indicates this is some kind of media file to be PLAYED like an .ogg or .mp3 or a video - Is this normal...? I suspect not . . . ]

I disconnected from the internet and tried to open some of the wallet.dat backups I had made. I was unable to make the files open, and when I specified DASH as the program to use to open these wallet.dat files, it told me that these backup files were corrupt and could not be opened, each time and with each backup I had made. ( Uh - Oh . . . )

I shut down the DASH Core wallet; re-opened it and a pop-up message appears each time I try to open the DASH Core wallet program: "wallet.dat file corrupt, salvage failed" - When I click "OK", the DASH Core wallet just shuts down.

It looks like every backup I made after RECEIVING the DASH was "corrupt" - The wallet.dat files from before that ( 2 backups ) were, of course - empty - zero DASH in the wallet.

Since I cannot open the DASH Core wallet now at all, what are my options for recovering the DASH?

Is it possible there was a "Man-in-the-middle" attack such that the backups were made to be corrupt and the DASH somehow spirited away to another receiving address . . . ?

Should I delete the DASH Core wallet software, download and install a NEW DASH Core wallet and then -

What is the process for recovering a former wallet? I see here on the forum that DASH does *not* natively support recovering former DASH Core wallets from a seed phrase or encryption phrase . . . ( THAT seems like a *REAL* lack of a thoughtful, careful approach that might save DASH 'ers from losing their dou$£h . . . )

Any help will be gratefully appreciated - and HAPPY NEW YEAR to All here ( and everywhere else! )

- Mystery Guest

 

[UdjinM6]

Hello and welcome!

...
I was unable to make the files open, and when I specified DASH as the program to use to open these wallet.dat files
...

That's not how you should do it. To use another wallet.dat you should go to the so called datadir folder ("~/Library/Application\ Support/DashCore/" on macos), rename wallet.dat to smth else and then put your wallet.dat you want to use in this folder. Make sure Dash Core is closed, copy one of your wallet.dat files that you saved on USB earlier and paste it in this folder, then open Dash Core again. This should do it.

 

[Mystery Guest]

Hello and welcome!



That's not how you should do it. To use another wallet.dat you should go to the so called datadir folder ("~/Library/Application\ Support/DashCore/" on macos), rename wallet.dat to smth else and then put your wallet.dat you want to use in this folder. Make sure Dash Core is closed, copy one of your wallet.dat files that you saved on USB earlier and paste it in this folder, then open Dash Core again. This should do it.

Thanks, UdjinM6 - I was *hoping* you ( or another equally knowledgeable DASH-walla ) might respond.

Now: I'm a doughball. I have a teency amount of experience with BASH from a Linux version I've been using in various forms for several years, but it's honestly negligible. I do not know how to access the filesystem on the Mac, as per your instructions, so I could not access the "datadir" folder. I typed: ~/Library/Application\ Support/DashCore/ into the magnifying glass "Spotlight" symbol and got "No Such File or Directory..." ( - and the place where I had put the DASH Core wallet software was open and accessible ) - and when I typed it into a Terminal the output was, likewise:

~/Library/Application\ Support/DashCore/
-bash: /Users/mac/Library/Application Support/DashCore/: No such file or directory

When I went to Applications>Dash Core>Contents>MacOS>Dash-QT I *think* I clicked on the Dash-QT black w/ green "exec" text terminal screen icon, and this launched a FRESH install of the DASH Core wallet. I decided to allow this new install, and I let the Mac place the wallet & files where it wanted to do.

Should I attempt to copy across / replace one of the wallet.dat file(s) from the USB drive (which I *hope* is not corrupt) into this fresh install as per your instructions? Or am I better sticking with my original install and following your instructions with THAT . . . ?

BTW - I do not see an option to LOCK this new Dash Core wallet - Is the "Lock" function only enabled after one encrypts the wallet . . . ?

AND: The "Salvage wallet" option in "Wallet Repair" is grey 'd out in this fresh install.

Thanks for your help, UdjinM6 - I *have* studied, watched videos, written stuff down, etc. but apparently it is not ( yet ) enough, though I've been watching DASH and wanting to invest in it for a year or more. What Amanda B. Johnson has observed is correct: Obtaining, storing and using any crypto - even DASH - is very involved, there is a tremendous amount of necessary info / data / instructions that any newbie needs to keep in the forefront and back of her / his mind when dealing with them.

Do you have any idea why the backups I made after I'd purchased the DASH were corrupt? It never occurred to me that at the very first hurdle, the wallet software might malfunction ( if that is what actually occurred ) - The support guy at Bittylicious offered the possibility that - as Mac OSX assigns VLC to open .dat files, perhaps VLC tried to open the wallet.dat files, then to "fix" them so that they would "play" in VLC, and this might have been the reason for the wallet.dat files were corrupted . . .

If one is using DASH with a Mac, is it best practice to use "Get Info" on each and every piece of the DASH Core files and specify them to be opened with Dash Core instead of VLC. . . ?

Awaiting further guidance - with patience and a thankful heart - I am

Yours, mehermuchacho

 

[UdjinM6]

Ok, I see. The easiest way to access this data folder for a non-techy person would be just to open qt wallet and then select Tools -> Show Automatic Backups in the app menu. That's where you should see 10 previous wallet.dat files stored. Go one folder up and here is it - data folder and your current wallet.dat

 

[Mystery Guest]

NO FURTHER ALONG . . .

I have only just discovered that the proper title of the "wallet.dat" file includes a final 'period' or 'full stop' at the end of the file name - e.g. wallet.dat.

This 'dot' at the end of the file name automatically makes the wallet backup file want to open using DASH Core - not VLC . . . I have not seen any mention of this anywhere on the forum or in the responses to my original post. This is a bit of information that will be obvious to any DASH 'er, but that I have only just discovered - accidentally, as it were - for myself. It would have saved some time if this basic discrepancy had been pointed out to me . . .

As stated in my second post, "I clicked on the Dash-QT black w/ green "exec" text terminal screen icon, and this launched a FRESH install of the DASH Core wallet. I decided to allow this new install, and I let the Mac place the wallet & files where it wanted to do."

I went back, copied one of the wallet.dat ( without the second period / full stop ) files from my USB drive into my FIRST instance of DASH Core ( which was installed on a removable drive ) and went to open DASH Core once I had accomplished this - scrupulously remembering to rename the wallet[dot]dat[dot] file as discussed above.

BUT - As I feared - when I went to open DASH Core, my machine ignores the original installation, and opens this NEW installation ( which has a zero balance ) - I cannot see any option to recover wallet, or restore wallet.

ALSO - and most worrying - as I mentioned in my second post - "The "Salvage wallet" option in "Wallet Repair" is grey 'd out in this fresh install."

HOW DO I GO ABOUT RECOVERING MY DASH . . . ?

I do have the receiving address generated by my original wallet ( Thank Heavens! ) but I do not have the option of "Salvage wallet" so - - - What is my best option for recovering my public currency translated into DASH . . . ?

Should I delete ALL DASH INSTALLS - download a fresh instance of DASH Core and try to salvage my original wallet?

Is there some way I can use the receiving address that accepted the DASH to bring that transaction into my wallet . . . ?

I do require some help here. DASH should be much easier to use than this - Shouldn't it . . .?

All advice will of course be gratefully accepted.

Awaiting help & instructions, I am - as ever -

Yours sincerely,

Mystery Guest

 

[strophy]

Like @UdjinM6 said in his first post, this is NOT the way to do it. You don't open a Dash wallet by double clicking on it, so please do NOT try to do this. You wallet file is located in the ~/Library/Application Support/DashCore folder, so you need to find that folder and copy your wallet in there, then start Dash Core. It will find the wallet automatically.

https://dashpay.atlassian.net/wiki/...673/How+to+restore+an+old+or+backed+up+wallet

Feel free to PM me and we can set up a screenshare call so I can walk you through the process. Double clicking .dat files to open Dash Core (or VLC??) is definitely the wrong way to go about this.

 

[Mystery Guest]

Thanks for nodding in, Strophy -

As I said above - in my third entry to this thread - I did not double click the wallet.dat. file - I copied one of the saved-to-USB wallet.dat files - ensuring that I had added that all important final " ." at the end of the word "dat" - then I opened DASH Core, but - as stated above -

I went back, copied one of the wallet.dat ( without the second period / full stop ) files from my USB drive into my FIRST instance of DASH Core ( which was installed on a removable drive ) and went to open DASH Core once I had accomplished this - scrupulously remembering to rename the wallet[dot]dat[dot] file as discussed above.

BUT - As I feared - when I went to open DASH Core, my machine ignores the original installation, and opens this NEW installation ( which has a zero balance ) - I cannot see any option to recover wallet, or restore wallet.

So - The original instance of DASH Core - installed on an external drive ( for security, y'know ) will not open and the NEW instance of DASH Core - installed wherever this Mac Book wanted to put it - shows a balance of Zero DASH.

PLUS - as stated above:

ALSO - and most worrying - as I mentioned in my second post - "The "Salvage wallet" option in "Wallet Repair" is grey 'd out in this fresh install."

Thank you for the option of PM 'ing you - I'll do so, and I appreciate your time and attention.

- Mystery Guest

 

[Mystery Guest]

As per instructions above and on the atlassian DASH Wallet Restore info page -

I've just used SHIFT + COMMAND + G ( this is a Mac ) and copied " ~/Library/Application\ Support/DashCore/ " into the file search window and I get:

"The folder can't be found."

Uh . . . .

"What th - ?!!" ( as Superman exclaimed in his first adventure . . . )

I was able to click through from ~/Library to Application Support - and the version of DASH Core that is there is the 2nd version - the one on the Mac Book hard drive.

I am also able to see all the files in the original version of DASH Core on the removable drive.

I'll try to copy one of the USB-saved wallet.dat. files into the Backups folder of the second install ( as you and UdjinM6 have been counseling me ) and let you know what happens . . .

"Onward!"

 

[Mystery Guest]

S O L V E D ! ! !

ONE of the wallet backups on the USB drive was corrupt - When I tried to open DASH Core after copying in that backup wallet file, I got the now all too familiar "wallet.dat file corrupt, salvage failed" -

BUT - The second backup file is ALL RIGHT ( Whew!!! ) and DASH has opened fine and the balance is visible there.

THANKS TO STROPHY AND TO UdjinM6 for timely and patient help.

I have now Backed up the wallet.dat file again ( onto a USB stick ) and the wallet has also unlocked fine . . . Hope this thread is helpful to once and future DASH 'ers -

"DASH it all, anyway!"