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I am using Ethereum wallet (this thing: https://i.sstatic.net/xATN0.jpg)

I created a new account, transferred 0.01 ethereum into it.

Then I went to accounts -> backup -> accounts, which took me to Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Ethereum\keystore

I made a copy of the file in keystore, and then shut down the ethereum wallet, deleted the keystore folder, and restarted the ethereum wallet.

When I restarted the ethereum wallet, the app showed no accounts present. I went to Accounts -> Import Accounts and added the file I'd copied earlier. To my surprise, it started displaying my balance again without prompting for a password.

  1. Is this normal?
  2. Does this mean Etherum wallet is caching my password somewhere? Or caching the decrypted private key (as I understand, the private key is present in the key file encrypted using your password) somewhere so it does not need to re-decrypt it?
  3. If I want to make doubly sure I remember the password correctly, is there an 'easy' and safe way to test the password? i.e. is there some way to get Ethereum wallet to 'forget' so I can add my account, and it'll prompt me for my password?
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The UTC files has the private key encrypted, but the address is in plain text. To get the balances you only need the address so the password is not required to show the balance.

You can try opening the UTC file in the MyEtherWallet to check the password.

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  • I see, so if I understand correct, to see the balance and receive, the private key is not needed and hence the password is never asked for. However, if I were to try and send someone a bit of ether, the Etherum Wallet app I'm using should ask me for a password since that would require my private key. Is that correct? (I will give MyEtherWallet a go for double checking the password. Thanks!)
    – Saintmagician
    Commented Sep 3, 2017 at 23:28
  • Yes, to send ether you need to sign a transaction with your private key. The private key is encrypted with your password, and it needs to be unlocked to sign transactions.
    – Ismael ♦
    Commented Sep 4, 2017 at 15:17

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