4

I am very shocked. After a crash on my computer, I lost my Seed Words file to access my MetaMask account. However, I found a Keystore file (UTC or json file), but when I import it into MetaMask I can not find my Ethereum. I'll get another ETH adress and there is no ETH in my wallet.. How is this possible? And how do I get back into my old account without Seed Words, but with UTC keystore file? If this succeeds, it will make me very happy!

Kind regards,

Koen

| improve this question | |
2

There is no way to retrieve your accounts without mnemonic/seed words. Your account is all lost. Now you will have to create a fresh MetaMask account. Mnemonic words are used to retrieve your account, public key, and private key. This is a unidirectional process. You can't do the vice-versa.

| improve this answer | |
  • This is not completely true: depending upon if you can recover the wallet "vault" file directly. If you remember the wallet lock password, you can recover it with the raw vault data. – robertdavid Feb 6 '19 at 14:12
2

There is unfortunately nothing you can do to recover your wallet at this point,
The seed phrase is the only way to restore your account.

https://metamask.helpscoutdocs.com/article/58-metamask-basics

The Seed Words for accounts is the primary way to back up multiple accounts, Keystores are for individual accounts.

https://kb.myetherwallet.com/private-keys-passwords/difference-beween-private-key-and-keystore-file.html

| improve this answer | |
  • The Seed Words for accounts is the primary way to back up multiple accounts, keystores are for individual accounts, kb.myetherwallet.com/private-keys-passwords/… – Ishwar Chandra Tiwari Jul 31 '18 at 11:11
  • Aaaai.. That sucks. And MetaMask can't do anything? So the ETH is gone? – Koen Jul 31 '18 at 11:16
  • 1
    If you had your seed words stored in a text file on your hard disk (which is generally a bad idea, but it sounds like you might have), then it's conceivable that you could use specialist recovery tools to find it. Otherwise, your seed is your account. – James_pic Jul 31 '18 at 11:37
  • If you have seed words you can restore multiple accounts and with the keystore or privatekey you can restore individual account, If anything happens to your data (MetaMask installation, hard-disk, whole machine), then your account cannot be restored without a backup of the Seed Phrase. – Ishwar Chandra Tiwari Jul 31 '18 at 11:52

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.