The all-in-one guide for when you forgot a crypto wallet password
You forgot your crypto wallet password.
This is where you start.
Forgot your wallet password? Many locked wallets can be reopened — but only when you still have the right files and enough memory clues. This guide explains the math and the exact tools, so you can try recovery yourself, offline, on your own machine.
Step one — which password problem is it?
What did you actually lose?
Forgot a wallet password? Start here. A few quick questions — the quiz also catches the things people mix up with a password: a seed phrase, an extra passphrase, or a device PIN. It stops as soon as the verdict is clear — a first verdict, never a guarantee — and points you to the right guide.
What are you trying to open or restore?
Do you still have the wallet file itself?
What do you remember about the password?
How was the password created?
A first indication, not a guarantee. Real feasibility depends on the exact wallet type, its encryption, and what you can recall.
The guides
One problem, a clear path to the answer
First understand exactly what you lost — then follow the do-it-yourself walkthroughs that fit your wallet. Everything here is free, runs offline on your own machine, and is written in plain English.
Understand your problem
What to do first
The diagnosis flow in reading form — see where each branch leads, then jump to the right guide.
Read the flow →What did you lose?
Password, seed phrase, PIN or passphrase — they are four different problems with four different answers. Know which one you face before you do anything else.
Start here →Exchange & custodial wallets
Forgot your exchange password? That’s a reset, not a recovery case — KYC, email and 2FA paths.
Just reset it →The first 24 hours
Your action plan in order — what to protect, what to note down, and what never to do.
Start the action plan →Where old passwords hide
Password managers, browsers, notes apps, old emails, device backups. Most “forgotten” passwords are found, not cracked.
Search the trails →The ultimate search checklist
68 places a forgotten password or seed can hide — paper, notes, devices, backups, old accounts — tick by tick.
Work the checklist →How your memory made it
Human passwords follow habits: dates, names, substitutions, keyboard patterns. Rebuild yours the way your brain built it.
Rebuild the pattern →Is wallet password recovery possible?
Wallet formats, encryption, GPU speeds — and the line between “hard but doable” and “mathematically impossible”.
Read the feasibility →Protect your wallet files
Five moves that decide whether your case stays recoverable — before you touch anything, install anything, or pay anyone.
Secure the evidence →Then do it yourself
Recover a wallet password yourself
The complete DIY route in ten steps: protect the file, find it, rebuild the password from memory, pick the tool, run it — every step linked to its deep-dive.
Start the full route →Choose the right tool
btcrecover, hashcat and John the Ripper — which one fits your wallet, your clues and your hardware, and how to run them safely offline.
Pick your tool →How wallet encryption works
Key derivation, iteration counts, GPU speeds — the cryptography that decides whether your password can ever be cracked.
Understand the math →Convert a wallet to a hash line
The extraction step for hashcat: bitcoin2john, electrum2john and friends — wallet to one-line hash, with the exact commands and modes.
Extract the hash →btcrecover step by step
The full walkthrough — install, token list, run, result. Reads wallet.dat, Electrum, MultiBit and most Bitcoin-era wallets directly.
Start btcrecover →hashcat step by step
Modes, masks, wordlists and GPU speed — the walkthrough for wallet.dat, keystores, Electrum, MetaMask and the other hashcat formats.
Start hashcat →John the Ripper step by step
The specialist walkthrough — Monero .keys, keystores and the other formats only JtR reads, with wordlists and rules.
Start John the Ripper →Build a password hint list
Turn everything you remember — names, years, habits, typos — into the candidate list that decides recovery, with a practice demo and a downloadable offline builder.
Build your list →Troubleshooting
“No hashes loaded”, token length exceptions, wallets that won’t load, GPU not used — the common errors, causes and fixes in one index.
Fix your error →Command cheat sheet
Every wallet format, one command — extract, mode, run, in a single quick-reference table you can keep open while you work.
Open the cheat sheet →Quick answers & special cases
Recovery without the wallet file
No file, no seed, no backup? The answer — and the real exceptions that still work, from the seed phrase to custodial resets and brain wallets.
Read the exceptions →Frequently asked questions
Can it be recovered? How long does cracking take? Straight answers to the questions everyone asks.
Open the FAQ →By file format
What does your wallet format mean for your password?
Your wallet format decides the encryption, the cracking speed, and therefore your password’s odds. Not sure which file you have? Identify it first — then jump to the technical deep-dive for that format.
Which wallet passwords can be recovered?
The master list — every major wallet with a verdict: reset, crackable offline, or impossible. Filter and search to find yours.
See your verdict →Which wallet file do you have?
Start here if you’re not sure what you’re looking at: identify the file by name, extension or app — the identifier points you to the right guide.
Identify the format →wallet.dat
The Bitcoin-family wallet file — used by Bitcoin Core, Litecoin Core, Dogecoin Core, BCH and more. Iterated SHA-512 key stretching, ~25k–267k machine-tuned rounds, hashcat mode 11300.
Read the wallet.dat guide →Electrum wallet file
Encrypted keystores with a PBKDF2-based KDF from 2.8+ — older files use a weaker double-SHA-256 scheme — and one big advantage: the seed phrase can bypass the password entirely.
Read the Electrum guide →Ethereum keystore JSON
UTC--* files using scrypt or PBKDF2 before AES-128-CTR. Among the slower common formats — your clues matter more than ever.
Read the keystore guide →BIP38 paper wallets
Password-encrypted private keys starting with “6P”. scrypt-based, one of the slowest formats to test — the string on the paper is the whole wallet.
Read the BIP38 guide →.aes.json export
The .aes.json export with the weak v0/v2/v3 PBKDF2-SHA1 formats — and the 12-word phrase that skips the password entirely.
Read the Blockchain.com guide →wallet.dat forks
The same wallet.dat family inside Litecoin Core, Dogecoin Core and Bitcoin Cash — but wallet type/version and Windows data-directory defaults differ per coin, so check each client’s actual setup.
Read the fork wallet guide →By wallet / app
Forgot a specific wallet’s password?
Remember the app but not the file? These wallets each have their own twist — the vault, the seed phrase, or the legacy file format. Every other wallet lives in the master list.
MetaMask
The seed restores its SRP-derived accounts — imported private-key/JSON or hardware accounts need their own recovery material — and the encrypted vault can be cracked offline (PBKDF2: 10k legacy, newer vaults store their own count) if the phrase is gone too.
Read the MetaMask guide →MultiBit
Legacy wallets with two very different fates: Classic’s .key backup (3×MD5) cracks at a million guesses per second — its .wallet and HD use scrypt.
Read the MultiBit guide →Coinomi
The scrypt vault and the 24-word seed phrase — the password is a lock, not the key.
Read the Coinomi guide →Exodus
The 12-word seed restores the wallet without the password — and the password-protected seed.seco file can be cracked offline (hashcat 28200) if the phrase is gone too.
Read the Exodus guide →Monero
The seed (25-word legacy, 16-word Polyseed, 13-word MyMonero) restores the wallet instantly; without it, the .keys file is cracked via monero2john + John the Ripper — the dedicated guide has the full route.
Read the Monero guide →imToken · Eth clones
A modified Ethereum keystore (identity.json) — its own recovery path with scrypt/PBKDF2 modes, not a MetaMask vault.
Read the Ethereum keystore guide →Brain wallet
No file at all — the passphrase is the key. SHA-256 and scrypt routes, the real tools (btcrecover, brainflayer) and the honest limits.
Read the brain wallet guide →Your wallet isn’t here?
Every major wallet in one searchable table — reset, crackable offline, or impossible. Filter to find yours.
Open the master list →Go deeper
Go beyond the basics
Prevention, the math behind your odds, and the situations around the core guides — the pages that answer “what if it happens again?” and “how likely is this really?”.
Seed phrase passphrase
The 25th/13th word — a password you add on top of your seed. Forget it and the derived addresses stay locked; unlike a lost seed, it can be recovered like a password.
The 25th word explained →How to never lose access
Seed backups on paper and metal, password managers, hardware wallets and the yearly restore test — prevention that actually works.
Set up real backups →How long to crack a password?
Realistic cracking times for every wallet format — search space vs GPU speed, with examples from 6 to 16 characters.
See the real numbers →Lost crypto statistics
Lost Bitcoin isn't the same as forgotten passwords — the real numbers, the famous 7,002 / 7,500 / 1,700 BTC cases, source-cited.
See the data →Benchmarks & methodology
Every speed number on this site, measured and dated: hardware, tool versions, ranges — and how to reproduce them.
See the measured speeds →Encryption timeline
How wallet password encryption changed over time — the version history that decides your odds, in one table.
See the timeline →Password strength calculator
Your recovery odds in plain numbers: entropy and time-to-crack for your wallet format, built on measured crack speeds.
Run the calculator →Glossary of terms
Seed phrase, BIP39, scrypt, entropy, hashcat, KDF — every term on this site explained in plain English, with links.
Open the glossary →How to find your wallet file
Exact default paths for wallet.dat, Electrum, Ethereum keystores and MetaMask on Windows, macOS and Linux — plus safe-copy rules.
Locate the file →Wallet password in an encrypted file
The wallet password locked inside a password-protected ZIP, Office file or PDF — those documents crack offline with the same tools.
Recover the document →Stay safe
Don’t get scammed while you recover
Recovery is a vulnerable moment — and scammers know it. Know the red flags, how they reach you, and where to check a service before you pay anyone.
Should you pay a recovery service?
The red flags, the math, and a 10-point checklist before you pay anyone anything.
Read the red flags →How scammers find you
Search ads, fake support, forums and fake tools — the channels they use, and the rule that blocks them.
See the channels →Reported recovery services
A curated, evidence-checked list — and how to report a service you have proof about.
Check the list →Offline recovery toolkit
The printable playbook, red-flag checklist, token examples and official tool links — one free download.
Get the toolkit →Reality check
What determines whether your wallet comes back?
Recovery is arithmetic. Three factors decide the outcome — and only one of them depends on luck.
1 · What you remember
The single biggest factor. Fragments, patterns, lengths, reused words — every clue shrinks the search space dramatically. “I remember nothing” is the hardest case, not the normal one.
2 · The wallet format
Old wallet files with weak encryption can be checked millions of times per second. Modern wallets deliberately slow that to a crawl. Format decides the speed — speed decides the odds.
3 · Randomness
A human-chosen password is guessable. A genuinely random password with 80+ bits of entropy — what a password manager generates — is not; no GPU farm changes that. That line is the whole point of this site.
Keep going — it’s all free
Not sure what you lost or what’s possible?
Take the quick diagnosis for a first verdict — it stops early when the answer is already clear — then work the search checklist. Everything here is informative, runs offline, and is free to use.