web3.eth.sendTransaction unknown account error

Question

I am running a node locally on the Rinkeby blockchain.

I have an account on the node at the address 0xcA4E218Eb3954f899FE5d8E0B9ddcf3E402E86e7. This account has 3 eth.

I have another account that I generated through web3.eth.createAccount at the address 0x680A47A1D2080Ce349160c0A12B0326259bB7B04. This account also has 3 eth.

When I try to run the below, I get the error: unknown account. Thoughts?

this.web3.eth.sendTransaction({
      from: '0x680A47A1D2080Ce349160c0A12B0326259bB7B04',
      to: '0xcA4E218Eb3954f899FE5d8E0B9ddcf3E402E86e7',
      value: '5000'
    }).then(function (receipt) {
      console.log(receipt)
    }).catch(console.log)

Answer 1

Which version of web3js are you using?

If you created the account locally then it doesn't exist on the node you're connected to. (Also, web3.eth.createAccount doesn't exist AFAIK - no result when I google it). v1.0 of web3js does have web3.eth.accounts.create though. https://web3js.readthedocs.io/en/1.0/web3-eth-accounts.html#create

Unknown account (from memory) is an error from the remote node, not from web3. If you used web3.eth.accounts.create it returns an object with a signTransaction method you should use when signing a transaction, then you can use sendTransaction or sendRawTransaction to send it.

Also, check the accounts on the node itself, or eth.accounts to see if it's there - I imagine it won't be.

(And be sure to save privkeys as you generate them!)