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I installed Electrum to replace the broken and intolerable Multibit HD. I entered my 18 seed words, but it wouldn't allow me to click Next. I clicked Options > BIP 39 and it enabled Next. It created the wallet, but I don't see my balance or transactions. There doesn't appear to be any menu options to rescan the network.

Inside Multibit, it says this about my wallet:

Standard MultiBit wallet
Private keys are encrypted on this machine
BIP32 compliant. m/0h (Account 1 only)
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  • I found out no wallet seeds are compatible with any other wallet. Electrum generates completely different addresses using the same seed words.
    – Chloe
    Commented May 22, 2017 at 14:09
  • I found Multibit HD seeds are compatible if you use m/0' instead of the default path pattern. Also m/0h does not work because it is not recognized by Electrum.
    – Dirk Jäckel
    Commented Jan 9, 2019 at 15:22
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    Since I do not have enough reputation to answer: Here is what I did today: 1. Export seed phrase with github.com/Multibit-Legacy/read-multibit-wallet-file 2. Create new wallet in Electrum: Standard wallet -> I already have a seed -> paste seed -> Options -> BIP 39 -> legacy (p2pkh) -> change derivation path to: m/0' -> enter new password -> Done
    – Dirk Jäckel
    Commented Jan 9, 2019 at 15:29

4 Answers 4

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OK found a way! Only cost me $8 to switch wallets! WTF?

  • Go here and save the web page to disk: https://iancoleman.github.io/bip39/
  • Download, install, & start TOR browser. https://www.torproject.org/ We are using TOR because it is made for anonymity and privacy, and doesn't keep cookies, storage, cache, etc. We are going offline, but a Javascript page can store data in your browser so next time you visit, it can send your secret info back. If you are not worried and think you'll just use a private browser session, look up permanent cookies and see how creepy your browser is when it comes to protecting your data.
  • Open the web page you saved in TOR browser. Turn on Javascript.
  • Start Electrum, create a new wallet, and select Import Private Keys. Wait at the input box.
  • Unplug your network cable, and disable your WiFi network connections.
  • Input your Multibit seed words into the BIP39 tool. Select BIP32 tab, and MultibitHD for client.
  • Scroll down and view the addresses generated. Verify the addresses match the addresses in Multibit, starting from the earliest to latest.
  • Copy & paste all of the private keys from the private key column. Yes, you will have to freakin' copy & paste like 20-100 keys depending on how much you have been using Multibit! (Oh it get's worse!)
  • These are only the original keys. Whenever you send a payment, you get change to a 'change address'. Those are not listed! If you have sent any payments, you need the change address keys also. To get the change address keys, read the following.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/6btevz/how_do_i_import_my_12_breadwallet_seed_words_into/dhqvy31/?context=3

If you use the BIP39 tool that I linked, put your seed in and go to the BIP32 tab, in the "client" box change it to "custom derivation path" and start with m/0'/0 You should be able to manually go through addresses and get private keys by changing the path. (example: m/0'/0 --> m/0'/1 --> m/0'/2 and I think change addresses are probably m/1'/0 --> m/1'/1 --> m/1'/2 --> etc.)

  • However, the change addresses are m/0'/1 not as mentioned above.
  • Change the Client to Custom, and change the BIP32 derivation path to m/0'/1.
  • Verify the change addresses match. To find the change address, open the first transaction where you sent, view the transaction on BlockExplorer blockchain.info, and see which address the excess change went to. This is one of your change addresses. You can verify as many as you want but more than likely if the first matches the rest do.
  • Now repeat the copy & paste of the addresses private keys into Electrum.
  • Click Next on Electrum and enter a password. You must encrypt your wallet or else the private keys are in plain text on your disk!
  • Close TOR browser with the BIP39 tool.
  • Plug in your network cable and turn on your WiFi network adapter.
  • Electrum will synchronize and show your balance.
  • Go to File > New/Restore and create a new wallet, with new seed words.
  • Write down your seed words.
  • Send your bitcoins from the old wallet to the new wallet. The fees will be high due to many inputs!

From comment by Daron:

For fast copy-paste, use this in browser console: $("tbody.addresses > tr > .privkey > span").append("\n").text(). It'll generate a wall text of addresses in the console, which can be simply pasted in Electrum.

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    To the @Chloe method: I must generated 500 addresses, for fast copy-paste, use this in browser console: $("tbody.addresses > tr > .privkey > span").append("\n").text() It's generate wall text of addresses in console, which can be simply pasted in Electrum.
    – daron
    Commented May 21, 2017 at 22:43
  • Tor Browser is not designed to prevent Javascript from sending information you type in to websites. That's not part of its threat model.
    – Nick ODell
    Commented May 22, 2017 at 20:51
  • @NickODell I know. We aren't preventing Javascript from running. We disconnect the network and use TOR to prevent any information saved to disk for the next time it runs when we are connected to the network. Please read the whole answer.
    – Chloe
    Commented May 22, 2017 at 21:42
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    @Chloe My bad. I misread.
    – Nick ODell
    Commented May 22, 2017 at 21:43
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    Thank you this helped me find the change address with the missing bitcoin cash I was looking for!
    – HaveAGuess
    Commented Sep 28, 2017 at 23:34
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You can import a Multibit-HD (v0.4.1) wallet into Breadwallet (v38) just by using the 12 seed words and it works fine - Breadwallet shows the right balance and generates the same receive addresses.

This has been my preferred method of accessing Multibit-HD wallet from a smartphone.

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  • Breadwallet would not accept my 18 Multibit words. It says it required 12 words only. Also I already had a balance in Breadwallet.
    – Chloe
    Commented May 24, 2017 at 23:06
  • Okay, that's disappointing, but good to know. It accepted my 12 words.
    – Mark Ch
    Commented May 25, 2017 at 5:33
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    For anybody new starting out wanting to create a new wallet that can be used with multiple wallet software apps, a much better approach is to create a BIP-44 wallet using Mycelium (android) and restore it into Multibit-HD. That way it will be much more common format and can also be restored into other wallets like Electrum, etc
    – Mark Ch
    Commented Jun 16, 2017 at 5:28
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Electrum supports Bip39 seeds but in a limited capacity. I believe it does not support all derivation paths or number of words. What you should do is use a tool like https://bitkeys.org/BIP39Mnemonic/bip39-standalone.html and generate your addresses and keys, then import them into an electrum wallet and ideally, sweep them to the native HD addresses. Use caution to only use a web service dealing with private keys on a cold machine or your coins may be stolen. If you don't know what that means, just ask.

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    I tried using that web site to generate xprv BIP32 Extended Private Key. The addresses matched under the BIP32 tab using MultiBit option, but when I paste the key into Electrum to restore, it generates completely different addresses! I can go to Wallet > Master Public Key in Electrum, and the xpub key still matches the xpub key on the site, but they have different addresses entirely.
    – Chloe
    Commented May 18, 2017 at 5:42
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Follow the simple guide in this short video: https://youtu.be/E-KcY6KUVnY

I transferred my funds from MultibitHD to Electrum within minutes

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    Perhaps you could write the steps here? YouTube videos are sometimes deleted and censored.
    – Chloe
    Commented Feb 6, 2018 at 17:47

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