<p>If you saved a copy of your wallet, I don't think you have lost your bitcoins. The bitcoin core client makes 100 addresses ahead of time (you don't have just 1 address!), and they are all stored in the wallet.dat file.</p>

<p>Just wait until you client has finished downloading the blockchain, or follow the steps <a href="https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/a/39268/18196">here</a> to get them out without waiting!</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-27T18:59:44.600Z
I tried following the steps from that but i dont know what to do now i have my private key? Can you help with that??
Rememberthefallen
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-27T19:00:10.540Z
I never saved my wallet after i finished the bitcoin transaction.
Rememberthefallen
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-27T19:18:20.540Z
@Rememberthefallen Can you open the debug console? If so, do `validateaddress {{your address}}`. It will return some stuff, look for the field called `ismine`. Do you see it?
morsecoder
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-27T19:20:22.047Z
@Rememberthefallen You don't need the private key explicitly in those steps that I linked to. And it's okay that you didn't save if after the transaction, if you saved it before you will still be able to get access to your funds.
morsecoder
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-28T20:05:50.750Z
@Rememberthefallen, glad to hear you got most of your coins back! Make sure you upvote and select my answer since it helped you. (Also, you may want to edit your comment to not specify that you use Nucleus on a public website like this...)
morsecoder
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-29T07:46:50.800Z
I will up vote as soon as im on my pc! Thank you so much mate!
Rememberthefallen
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-27T18:53:57.833Z
2015-08-27T18:53:57.833Z
2017-04-13T12:47:33.743Z
morsecoder
<p>I'm really new to bitcoins so being naive I've jumped in downloading a wallet (bitcoin core), got my address and set off buying 1 bitcoin.</p>

<p>Now I bought the bitcoin and it all went fine, I went to my wallet to find nothing there, I got a little concerned thinking it sent them elsewhere but after a check on blockchain it said they were sent to my address. After some googling I realised I hadn't let bitcoin core download the full blockchain data and read that all I had to was wait for my blockchain to download and my bitcoins would appear in my wallet. So I went to sleep. I checked my laptop in the morning to see it was sailing through the block chain and only had 1 year to go. </p>

<p>I've came in from work and my Portable HDD is making all sorts of noises but still being read and written to. My bitcoin core has frozen though, not long after the time I checked it this morning, I closed it and tried to reopen but it has asked me to create a path to download the blockchain? I've also gotten a new bitcoin address! I'm seriously flapping now!</p>

<p>So exited it and tried to open the wallet.dat file I saved the previous night but it never saved after I bought the bitcoin! This has been opened and my bitcoin address is now the same but now bitcoin core says indexing blockchain or something. </p>

<p>The main question is: Have I lost my bitcoins or do I just need to wait on the indexing and they will appear? The blockchain says they are still registered to that wallet.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-27T18:50:06.817Z
Related: http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/q/6056/18196
morsecoder
<bitcoin-core><lost-bitcoins><lost-wallet>
Have I lost my Bitcoins?
Rememberthefallen
# Have I lost my Bitcoins?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-08-27)

I'm really new to bitcoins so being naive I've jumped in downloading a wallet (bitcoin core), got my address and set off buying 1 bitcoin.

Now I bought the bitcoin and it all went fine, I went to my wallet to find nothing there, I got a little concerned thinking it sent them elsewhere but after a check on blockchain it said they were sent to my address. After some googling I realised I hadn't let bitcoin core download the full blockchain data and read that all I had to was wait for my blockchain to download and my bitcoins would appear in my wallet. So I went to sleep. I checked my laptop in the morning to see it was sailing through the block chain and only had 1 year to go.

I've came in from work and my Portable HDD is making all sorts of noises but still being read and written to. My bitcoin core has frozen though, not long after the time I checked it this morning, I closed it and tried to reopen but it has asked me to create a path to download the blockchain? I've also gotten a new bitcoin address! I'm seriously flapping now!

So exited it and tried to open the wallet.dat file I saved the previous night but it never saved after I bought the bitcoin! This has been opened and my bitcoin address is now the same but now bitcoin core says indexing blockchain or something.

The main question is: Have I lost my bitcoins or do I just need to wait on the indexing and they will appear? The blockchain says they are still registered to that wallet.

**Tags:** bitcoin-core, lost-bitcoins, lost-wallet

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Related: http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/q/6056/18196  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2015-08-27. Score: 2

If you saved a copy of your wallet, I don't think you have lost your bitcoins. The bitcoin core client makes 100 addresses ahead of time (you don't have just 1 address!), and they are all stored in the wallet.dat file.

Just wait until you client has finished downloading the blockchain, or follow the steps [here](https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/a/39268/18196) to get them out without waiting!

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: I tried following the steps from that but i dont know what to do now i have my private key? Can you help with that??  
> **username_0**: I never saved my wallet after i finished the bitcoin transaction.  
> **username_1**: @username_0 Can you open the debug console? If so, do `validateaddress {{your address}}`. It will return some stuff, look for the field called `ismine`. Do you see it?  
> **username_1**: @username_0 You don't need the private key explicitly in those steps that I linked to. And it's okay that you didn't save if after the transaction, if you saved it before you will still be able to get access to your funds.  
> **username_1**: @username_0, glad to hear you got most of your coins back! Make sure you upvote and select my answer since it helped you. (Also, you may want to edit your comment to not specify that you use Nucleus on a public website like this...)  
> **username_0**: I will up vote as soon as im on my pc! Thank you so much mate!  

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