<p>Bitcoin-qt only asks for your password when you do an operation that requires it, such as sending coins.</p>

<p>Currently, wallet.dat must be called that and reside in the Bitcoin data directory. It might be possible to use symlinks to work around that.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-01-13T10:55:13.463Z
And the only way to reach the developers to ask for a feature-request is through [IRC](http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/q/6109/2567)?
superuser
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-01-13T12:56:51.103Z
No, they are available via email, the forum, mailing lists, github (the official place for bug reports I think), IRC etc. But you're definitely not the first to ask for a feature to specify wallet location and filename.
Meni Rosenfeld
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-01-13T13:31:03.627Z
Do you mean [this one](https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=6.0) is official? It does not state it clearly but if yes, good to know.
superuser
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-01-13T14:24:48.523Z
If I understand correctly, the bitcoin address(es) -hence, the balance- stored on the wallet are public data, anyone gets the wallet file can see it, only he can' spend the money without the password? So the easy solution is just to store your wallet.dat file in an encrypted file as it is not fully encrypted in itself - like your password manager's database.
superuser
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-01-13T17:04:19.410Z
Using a symlink would defeat the purpose of having a different name, as would having the alternate name stored in a config file with a known name. It might make sense only if you change it at compile time, but doing such a thing wouldn't boost your security by any significant amount.
o0'.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-01-14T04:53:50.150Z
_It might make sense only if you change it at compile time_ Sorry, didn't understand. But my understanding is this: just store the wallet.dat file under another name on a USB (like **file.dll**) - of course, backed it up to many places - and only rename it back to wallet.dat when you want to spend from it and have to move it back to the data directory.
superuser
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-01-13T10:49:32.880Z
2013-01-13T10:49:32.880Z
Meni Rosenfeld
<p>It doesn't have to be called "wallet.dat", right? That would be too obvious. Can you call it anything, with any extension?</p>

<p>Bitcoin-Qt is just not so trivial to me to use since the trivial way would be to have an option <em>File</em> -> <em>Open wallet</em> (at starting the program), then enter password if encrypted. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TrueCrypt" rel="nofollow">TrueCrypt</a> for example is trivial in this way, you select any volume, type in a password, mount, and dismount images.</p>

<p>I don't understand that either that you encrypt your <em>wallet.dat</em> file, close the client, open the client and it doesn't ask for your password?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-05-28T07:03:07.557Z
You can do it with the -datadir option, but I can't think of a way to hide that you're using a wallet in a non-standard location.
Nick ODell
<wallet><bitcoin-core><passphrase><coldstorage>
Bitcoin-Qt client: Easy way to using a wallet.dat not in its default location/when it asks for my password at all?
superuser
# Bitcoin-Qt client: Easy way to using a wallet.dat not in its default location/when it asks for my password at all?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2013-01-13)

It doesn't have to be called "wallet.dat", right? That would be too obvious. Can you call it anything, with any extension?

Bitcoin-Qt is just not so trivial to me to use since the trivial way would be to have an option *File* -> *Open wallet* (at starting the program), then enter password if encrypted. [TrueCrypt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TrueCrypt) for example is trivial in this way, you select any volume, type in a password, mount, and dismount images.

I don't understand that either that you encrypt your *wallet.dat* file, close the client, open the client and it doesn't ask for your password?

**Tags:** wallet, bitcoin-core, passphrase, coldstorage

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: You can do it with the -datadir option, but I can't think of a way to hide that you're using a wallet in a non-standard location.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2013-01-13. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

Bitcoin-qt only asks for your password when you do an operation that requires it, such as sending coins.

Currently, wallet.dat must be called that and reside in the Bitcoin data directory. It might be possible to use symlinks to work around that.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: And the only way to reach the developers to ask for a feature-request is through [IRC](http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/q/6109/2567)?  
> **username_2**: No, they are available via email, the forum, mailing lists, github (the official place for bug reports I think), IRC etc. But you're definitely not the first to ask for a feature to specify wallet location and filename.  
> **username_0**: Do you mean [this one](https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=6.0) is official? It does not state it clearly but if yes, good to know.  
> **username_0**: If I understand correctly, the bitcoin address(es) -hence, the balance- stored on the wallet are public data, anyone gets the wallet file can see it, only he can' spend the money without the password? So the easy solution is just to store your wallet.dat file in an encrypted file as it is not fully encrypted in itself - like your password manager's database.  
> **username_3**: Using a symlink would defeat the purpose of having a different name, as would having the alternate name stored in a config file with a known name. It might make sense only if you change it at compile time, but doing such a thing wouldn't boost your security by any significant amount.  
> **username_0**: _It might make sense only if you change it at compile time_ Sorry, didn't understand. But my understanding is this: just store the wallet.dat file under another name on a USB (like **file.dll**) - of course, backed it up to many places - and only rename it back to wallet.dat when you want to spend from it and have to move it back to the data directory.  

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