Help! Can't Access My Bitcoin Wallet

I tried adding my private key into Electrum, but it shows a 0 balance. When I add Bitcoin addresses, my actual balance shows up, but it's read-only. How can I reach my bitcoins?

Are you sure you're doing it right?

You gotta check what type of address your bitcoin is on. If you didn’t prepend the private key, it could generate a different address, leading to that empty wallet. Check this guide for proper importing.

I mean, LoyceV has a point. But can you tell us if it’s a P2PKH, P2SH, or P2WPKH? How did you generate that key anyway?

Honestly, that question seems unnecessary. LoyceV pretty much covered it. If you just paste the private key without any prefix, it’ll probably default to the address starting with 1.

Yeah but uncompressed vs compressed might be your issue here. Plus, knowing how you made your wallet is key too.

I don’t really think that’s it. I have a private key starting with 5, and it’s not compressed. You can’t change it without using specific tools. Just follow what LoyceV suggested and you should see your bitcoins.

Oh, now I get it. I exported from a 2FA wallet, and I can't access my second authentication anymore. I've got the seed but when I create a new standard wallet with it, balance is still 0. Can't generate a new 2FA wallet either because of that 'standard' seed.

If you set up 2FA, accessing the wallet without that second factor shouldn’t happen. What's the point of it if you can skip it?

But can you explain more? You mentioned you can access the wallet, just not make transactions?

I can access it without 2FA but can't initiate any transactions. I exported the keys from Electrum but they're p2wsh not p2wkh.

You mean the normal Electrum 2FA?

Yeah, but restoring it as a normal wallet shows 0 balance. Following the specific 2FA restore guide gives an error about a 'standard'-seed. Anyone know if there’s been any change to 2FA seeds in Electrum?

Electrum 2FA is a multi-signature setup, and you can't create addresses using just one private key. Their versioning keeps 2FA and standard seeds separate, so a 2FA seed won’t become a standard one. Maybe you're using the wrong seed.

If you still have the seed, I’ve got a suggestion. I used a tool to recover my old 2FA wallet. It’s from trustedcoin and it helps access a 2FA wallet without 2FA. Just be careful and run it offline for security.

Electrum's updates are usually good about backwards compatibility. But it sounds like you lack access to the 2FA part and may not even have the wallet seed. How did you end up with this wallet in the first place?