I have a wallet.dat file that was created in 2013. I keep multiple backups of it in cold storage. Occasionally I’ll load up the latest version of Litecoin Core, sync the blockchain, and import my wallet to move some LTC around. The last time I did so was May 2021; I’ve never had any issues before.
A few weeks ago I downloaded the latest version of Litecoin Core (v0.21.4) and started syncing the blockchain here and there - it took awhile since it’s been years since I last did this. When it finally finished, I copied over my old wallet.dat file and attempted to open it. Litecoin Core simply crashes immediately after opening it, every time.
The steps I took:
Wait for blockchain to completely sync.
Click “create a new wallet” in Litecoin Core, closed the wallet, closed Litecoin Core.
Found the location of the newly-created wallet.dat file (now stored in the root folder of the blockchain data under a “wallets” subfolder, which is different from previous versions IIRC).
Replaced the newly-created wallet.dat file with my own wallet.dat file.
Started Litecoin Core again.
Clicked “File->Open Wallet” and selected the wallet that I created in step 2.
Litecoin Core then crashes silently without any error message, every time. I’ve also tried creating a new directory under the “wallets” sub-folder and putting my wallet.dat file there, but the same thing happens. I’ve also tried using copies of my wallet.dat file from multiple backup sources, which didn’t help.
Update: tried re-installing v0.21.4 on a different computer, and completely re-downloading the blockchain. After finishing, tried again with the same result. Log indicates the same thing - Litecoin Core can successfully read the wallet.dat file, but it immediately crashes after loading it.
Just deleted everything and grabbed v0.17.1, since I’m 90% certain that’s the version I was using the last time I moved LTC. Currently re-downloading the blockchain again…
In order to easily represent the sets of scripts currently supported by existing Litecoin Core wallets, a convenience function combo is provided, which takes as input a public key, and describes a set of P2PK, P2PKH, P2WPKH, and P2SH-P2WPH scripts for that key. In case the key is uncompressed, the set only includes P2PK and P2PKH scripts.
@rbbrdckybk After reading your posts, it seems like there is a bug in the support for old wallets in v0.21.4. Even if the wallet file is somehow corrupt, Litecoin Core shouldn’t crash. It will be interesting to see if it works with v0.17.1. Please let us know how it goes.
EDIT:
Looks like there is an “issue” already open about this bug:
Hello! I want to ask you a question. How can i install this version on windows? I find only source code. Or source code is possible to use only at linux?
@zilbert2020 I apparently don’t have permission to include links in my posts, but yes you can download the v0.17.1 Windows binaries. On Litecoin Core’s github page, go to releases, then scroll down to “Litecoin Core v0.17.1” and click on it, then scroll down to " Download Binaries". Sorry, would post a direct link if I could!
I just posted about a different problem accessing old wallet.dat file, but my issue is that I can use the old wallet but cannot find the ltc associated with it.
I don’t have much to contribute here other than to say that whenever my Litecoin Core crashed regularly it was because I hadn’t uninstalled older or already installed versions before installing the new one. Also I installed the win64 v21.4 and used an old (2014-ish) wallet and it doesn’t crash for me.