Running bitcoin core 26.0 on debian 12. I want to put an ancient priv-key into a newly created wallet.dat file. First, I’ll do a test run:
$ bitcoin-cli createwallet test
$ bitcoin-cli loadwallet /home/user/.bitcoin/wallets/test/
This wallet.dat exists only for testing purposes and will be deleted shortly. Before it’s deleted though, and strictly for testing only, I want to put the priv-key revealed on https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Private_key:
priv-key= 5Kb8kLf9zgWQnogidDA76MzPL6TsZZY36hWXMssSzNydYXYB9KF
corresponding address= 1CC3X2gu58d6wXUWMffpuzN9JAfTUWu4Kj
… into this test-only wallet.dat file. This particular priv-key is of course here only as a place-holder; nobody in their right mind would want this priv-key anywhere near a live wallet.dat file.
$ bitcoin-cli getdescriptorinfo 'combo(5Kb8kLf9zgWQnogidDA76MzPL6TsZZY36hWXMssSzNydYXYB9KF)'
{
"descriptor": "combo(04588d202afcc1ee4ab5254c7847ec25b9a135bbda0f2bc69ee1a714749fd77dc9f88ff2a00d7e752d44cbe16e1ebcf0890b76ec7c78886109dee76ccfc8445424)#nf3atn7u",
"checksum": "qlt7uqzu",
"isrange": false,
"issolvable": true,
"hasprivatekeys": true
}
$ bitcoin-cli importdescriptors '[{"desc":"combo(5Kb8kLf9zgWQnogidDA76MzPL6TsZZY36hWXMssSzNydYXYB9KF)#qlt7uqzu","timestamp":"now"}]'
[
{
"success": true
}
]
… so that priv-key should be in the wallet.dat now, so I do a quick test:
$ bitcoin-cli getaddressinfo 1CC3X2gu58d6wXUWMffpuzN9JAfTUWu4Kj
{
"address": "1CC3X2gu58d6wXUWMffpuzN9JAfTUWu4Kj",
"scriptPubKey": "76a9147ac00f979ff0df2fdcb65761dc8f9ef8b37142db88ac",
"ismine": true,
"solvable": true,
"desc": "pkh([7ac00f97]04588d202afcc1ee4ab5254c7847ec25b9a135bbda0f2bc69ee1a714749fd77dc9f88ff2a00d7e752d44cbe16e1ebcf0890b76ec7c78886109dee76ccfc8445424)#yyv2g3h5",
"parent_desc": "combo(04588d202afcc1ee4ab5254c7847ec25b9a135bbda0f2bc69ee1a714749fd77dc9f88ff2a00d7e752d44cbe16e1ebcf0890b76ec7c78886109dee76ccfc8445424)#nf3atn7u",
"iswatchonly": false,
"isscript": false,
"iswitness": false,
"pubkey": "04588d202afcc1ee4ab5254c7847ec25b9a135bbda0f2bc69ee1a714749fd77dc9f88ff2a00d7e752d44cbe16e1ebcf0890b76ec7c78886109dee76ccfc8445424",
"iscompressed": false,
"ischange": false,
"timestamp": 1231006505,
"hdkeypath": "m",
"hdseedid": "0000000000000000000000000000000000000000",
"hdmasterfingerprint": "7ac00f97",
"labels": [
""
]
}
… so that looks good. Next thing is to rescan the blockchain, wait a few hours, and the btc controlled by that priv-key (likely an amount equal to zero in this case, obviously!) should be available to be spent by the bitcoin core client after the rescan is done.
Did I miss anything out? If I use this method to put a priv-key that controls a non-zero btc value into a live wallet.dat file, will I be able to use that wallet.dat file in bitcoin core 26.0 to spend the btc?
