[Ethereum] Is it possible to regenerate the private key file

keystorepasswordprivate-key

I have created an account in testnet which I know the address and the password of, but I did not backup the private key file. Can I somehow create the key file again using the password? Or is my account locked inside forever?

Thanks,

Best Answer

You cannot recreate the private key file. The password is used to decrypt the key file, and then an address is generated from the private key in a non-reversible way. The private key is really the most important piece and should be backed up.

Related Solutions

[Ethereum] How to generate a keystore (UTC) file from the raw private key

geth-compatible keystore file can be created in Node using ethereumjs-wallet library:

> var Wallet = require('ethereumjs-wallet');
> var key = Buffer.from('efca4cdd31923b50f4214af5d2ae10e7ac45a5019e9431cc195482d707485378', 'hex');
> var wallet = Wallet.fromPrivateKey(key);
> wallet.toV3String('password');
'{"version":3,"id":"467233bf-45ec-423b-9548-bdc4a42aa099","address":"b14ab53e38da1c172f877dbc6d65e4a1b0474c3c","crypto":{"ciphertext":"17886b7ff355219dd20900543b9592fcd4dc6fe7d8f776f1a4d1c63993112181","cipherparams":{"iv":"434e4e71d2013a2d84e86a6e89efbb0b"},"cipher":"aes-128-ctr","kdf":"scrypt","kdfparams":{"dklen":32,"salt":"7a785ab75fa906734788d85ff43a2c8e704af41881dd50a2d52abe08092f07ec","n":262144,"r":8,"p":1},"mac":"98d9a76960dcef22a5fd28a6bf47e5c68a71b30bcf353eccbf5a6555abec78a1"}}'

You can also specify additional options to control kdf, cipher and other wallet params. See here.

[Ethereum] Generate keystore file from raw private key (using geth)

When you import a key in geth it automatically creates a json wallet.

You can list existing wallets with geth account list.

A list should be like this:

Account #3: {59cc3d2701a69e2f006a47e412092d1274f81d58} keystore:///home/ubuntu/.ethereum/keystore/UTC--2018-01-28T05-19-52.363512148Z--59cc3d2701a69e2f006a47e412092d1274f81d58

The file pointed by the keystore is your json wallet you can copy and rename to some other place.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[Ethereum] How to generate a keystore (UTC) file from the raw private key

[Ethereum] Generate keystore file from raw private key (using geth)

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