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Restoring a hardware wallet

Currently MultiBit supports the KeepKey and Trezor hardware wallets.

There are several ways to restore a KeepKey / Trezor depending on the nature of the problem. Please select from the sections below.

Wallet not loading

MultiBit makes continuous encrypted backups in case of disk failure or other data loss. If, after unlocking your wallet, the report screen is showing that it could not be opened then you may have a disk problem.

The recovery procedure is as follows:

  1. Attempt to unlock and observe a failed wallet load
  2. Click the Restore button
  3. Select a backup from the list presented
  4. Wait for the Restore wallet report screen to finish
  5. Unlock the wallet and observe a successful load
  6. If not successful repeat from step 2 working back through the backups
  7. If all backups are exhausted, perform the "lost or stolen" procedure

Lost or stolen KeepKey / Trezor

To restore your hardware wallet and recover your bitcoin without the device you must have your wallet words.

With your wallet words, you can recover your bitcoin. You must keep your wallet words safe, because anyone who knows your wallet words can steal your bitcoin.

MultiBit supports restoring a KeepKey / Trezor hardware wallet as a "soft" wallet using its wallet words. This means that all the keys that were held on the KeepKey / Trezor are duplicated on the desktop machine running MultiBit. This is a reduction in security from a "hard" wallet where the private keys never touch the desktop machine. We strongly recommend that you buy a replacement KeepKey as soon as possible.

The recovery procedure is as follows:

  1. Start MultiBit and click Restore on the password screen
  2. Select "I want to restore a wallet" when prompted
  3. Select "KeepKey / Trezor device" from the drop down list
  4. Enter your KeepKey / Trezor wallet words exactly as you wrote them down (order is important)
  5. Observe a "Verified" message when you have completed the list
  6. Click Next
  7. If you have a cloud backup select it now, otherwise leave it blank and click Next
  8. Enter the date stamp or leave it blank if you don't have one (this makes restore much faster)
  9. Enter and confirm a password to secure your wallet (this is not a BIP44 passphrase)
  10. Click Next
  11. Wait for the restore wallet report screen to finish (this can take a long time for older wallets)
  12. Unlock the wallet with your password and observe a successful load
  13. Use "Tools | Empty wallet" to move your bitcoins to safety (see explanation below)

At this stage you have recovered your bitcoins. However, your KeepKey / Trezor remains lost or stolen and so someone else may be able to gain access to your bitcoins if they manage to break the security of your device. Consequently you will need to move your bitcoins to safety as soon as possible. The "Empty wallet" tool is designed for this purpose.

If you have already obtained a replacement KeepKey / Trezor device then you can use this to create a suitable receiving address to provide to the Empty Wallet tool. If not then you should create a separate MultiBit "soft" wallet immediately and use that to create a suitable receiving address.

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