How to Install and Use BTCRecover

How to Install and Use BTCrecover: A Complete Setup Tutorial

 

BTCrecover is an open-source wallet password recovery tool designed to help users retrieve lost passphrases from Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency wallets. It supports dictionary and rule-based attacks and is compatible with many wallet formats. This guide will walk you through installing and using BTCrecover on different operating systems.

 

Requirements

 

Before you begin, ensure you have the following prerequisites:

• Python 3.6 or later
• pip (Python package installer)
• git (for cloning the repository)
• Basic command-line knowledge

 

Step 1: Cloning BTCrecover

 

Open your terminal or command prompt and run the following command to clone the BTCrecover repository:

git clone https://github.com/gurnec/btcrecover.git

Once cloned, navigate to the BTCrecover directory:

cd btcrecover

 

Step 2: Install Required Python Packages

 

Install all the necessary dependencies by running:

pip3 install -r requirements.txt

This will install packages like ecdsa and pbkdf2 that BTCrecover needs to run correctly.

 

Step 3: Prepare Your Wallet File

 

You’ll need your wallet file to start the recovery. BTCrecover supports several wallet types including:

• Bitcoin Core (.dat files)
• Electrum wallet
• Multibit wallet
• Blockchain.info JSON backup

Place the wallet file inside the btcrecover directory or specify the path to it during execution.

 

Step 4: Create a Password List

 

BTCrecover uses dictionaries to test possible passwords. You can either use a public wordlist like rockyou.txt or create your own.

Example of a simple password list:

MyPass123
Bitcoin2020!
WalletKey!

Save the file as passlist.txt.

 

Step 5: Running BTCrecover

 

To start recovering your wallet password, use the following command:

python3 btcrecover.py --wallet wallet.dat --passwordlist passlist.txt

Replace wallet.dat with the name or path to your wallet file and passlist.txt with your password list.

 

Optional: Add Custom Recovery Script

 

For advanced recovery scenarios, you can use or create a custom wallet script by specifying it with the --wallet-type flag:

python3 btcrecover.py --wallet wallet.json --passwordlist passlist.txt --wallet-type electrum2

BTCrecover includes several built-in scripts for wallets like Electrum, Blockchain.info, Multibit, etc.

 

Step 6: Using Search Parameters and Rules

 

BTCrecover supports rule files to modify the passwords in your list dynamically. These rules simulate user behavior like appending numbers or capitalizing words.

Example rule file (rules.txt):

c   # Capitalize the first letter
$1  # Append 1 at the end

Use the rule file with the --typos option:

python3 btcrecover.py --wallet wallet.dat --passwordlist passlist.txt --typos rules.txt

 

Step 7: GPU Acceleration (Optional)

 

BTCrecover can be combined with external tools like Hashcat for faster GPU-based brute-force attacks. Export the hash using BTCrecover, then crack it with Hashcat.

python3 btcrecover.py --wallet wallet.dat --dumpwallet

This will generate a hash you can feed into Hashcat using appropriate mode settings.

 

Step 8: Monitoring and Output

 

BTCrecover will show output in your terminal, indicating whether a tested password was successful or not. If it finds the correct passphrase, it will display it in the terminal.

To log output to a file:

python3 btcrecover.py --wallet wallet.dat --passwordlist passlist.txt > output.log