To test if my wallet.dat encryption password is correct, MUST I spend coins?

Question

When a Bitcoin Core wallet is encrypted, you (apparently) have to enter the decryption passphrase only when trying to spend coins. You still get to "use" the wallet as in seeing all the transactions and labels.

I'm worried that my saved passphrase (partially on the computer/paper and in my head) is not correct. But to test this, I would have to spend coins... or do I?

I suspect that you'll say: "Use the change passphrase feature!"

But that would just put me again in the same situation. Of course, I had to repeat the passphrase (two times in total) to enter it in the first place, and this would be done again. So I'd again be paranoid that my keyboard has a faulty key or something like that.

Is there some way to "test unlock" a wallet without actually spending any money?

Answer 1

As you are using the Bitcoin Core wallet you can look at the right bottom if your wallet is locked or unlocked in the padlock icon.

Go to Window > Console and type: walletpassphrase "your passphrase" 60

After you type this command and you get an Error "The wallet passphrase entered was incorrect" that means your passphrase is wrong so you can try it again by typing the command again.

If you can enter the correct passphrase you will get "null" as a response and you will see the padlock icon as unlocked.