Namecoin Forum

1. Exported all settings to a .CSV file but can't see any information on how to import them. I use three different laptops at separate locations and need to keep them synchronized.

2. Also, can't see from looking in the usual directories where the actual database is stored.

3. What data is exported when you do a File->Backup_Wallet?
4. How do you import that again?

I'm pretty sure the answers to your questions are the same as for Bitcoin. For future reference, it's preferred to look up Bitcoin-related things on Bitcoin forums, since it's difficult for us to provide support for everything in Bitcoin.

1. Not sure what you mean by "settings". What did you export? Bitcoin Core doesn't support syncing between multiple machines; we've been investigating other wallets that do support this (i.e. deterministic wallets). Attempting to manually copy wallets between machines and running them simultaneously is likely to lead to bad things happening.

2. From memory, it's in C:\Users\<your-user-name>\AppData\Roaming\Namecoin\

3. It's exporting your private keys, public keys, addresses, and transactions associated with those addresses. (At least, I think so; ask a Bitcoin expert on this.)

4. Pretty sure it's just a wallet.dat, right? Copy this into your profile folder (backup the existing one first) to import it; you might also need to launch with the -rescan command line argument.

Thanks, that helped. I don't have a Bitcoin wallet and have only been using Namecoin for about a week so it was all a bit mysterious. Here's some further data to supplement your answers, in case anyone else has similar questions in future:

1. Wasn't aware until just now, but the export is different depending on which button is selected. I missed the data in the balloon when I overscanned the Export button. The "Settings" I saved were the contents of my Addess Book. Note that I will be using only one laptop at a time, they don't need to be dynamically synched.

2. Found it. On XP it's C:\Documents and Settings\Default\Application Data\Namecoin - can't say what it is in other versions of Windows.

3. & 4. Thanks. Now that I know where wallet.dat lives I'll try copying the one I've already backed up to a second laptop and see what happens.

password protect your wallet and delete any unprotected wallet-backups...

make sure your computer is clean with a good AV or formattingb before that...

Good advice John. I'm using SpyHunter 4 to check for intruders.

If you copy the same wallet.dat file to a new computer and you still use the old one as well, then the wallets will desync, because Bitcoin Core wallets are not deterministic. It is almost definitely not what you want, and you are likely to lose coins as a result. If you always keep wallet.dat on a flash drive or something, so that you only have one copy of wallet.dat, you might be safe (though I cannot guarantee this). We've been actively pursuing deterministic wallets because we know this sucks. [1]

Antivirus is in practice near-useless against any vaguely competent attacker. The amount of money that can be gained by compromising cryptocurrency wallets is large enough that it is likely that competent attackers will go after you. If you're storing anything of significant value, you should consider using GNU/Linux (or perhaps Qubes).

[1] We spent considerable effort on Armory, only to have ATI go completely nuts and hold a bunch of code hostage over the past 6 months. At this time I think it is unlikely that we will bother with Armory unless we get some assurance that the project is stable. We currently have some students working on BitcoinJ; hopefully that goes somewhere.

I'll be keeping the Namecoin wallet.dat on a USB stick and updating each time I move locations. I live aboard one of two yachts depending on the season (they're in different states), and also have a house in another country and this way is easier - and lighter to carry - than moving a whole laptop. BTW I tried overwriting wallet.dat today and all the data did transfer to the second laptop, so thanks for the help on this.

As for cryptocurrencies with any serious monetary value, I've already invested in Ledger hardware wallets for those.

So yeah, point taken about AV protection. I already had my bank account cleaned out once by someone who inserted a keystroke recording virus. Nothing like being 900km from home at Christmas when the banks are closed for a week and suddenly finding the ATM doesn't work and you only have $10.00 cash in your pocket ...