.. meta:: :description: How to safely back up and restore the Dash Core wallet :keywords: dash, core, wallet, backup, restore, wallet.dat .. _dashcore-backup: ========================= Wallet backup and restore ========================= Backup ====== This documentation describes how to safely back up your wallet file for safe storage in case your computer or laptop is damaged or lost. Dash Core stores all data necessary to control your Dash addresses in a single file called *wallet.dat*. This wallet is in the Berkeley DB format and stores the pairs of private/public cryptographic keys used to manage your balances on the Dash blockchain. For HD wallets, the mnemonic, passphrase, and seed are also stored in *wallet.dat*. Dash Core makes most of these operations transparent and even generates automatic backups of your wallet file in case it is corrupted, but the user is responsible for ensuring that these backups are stored in a safe place. **If you lose access to your wallet file, you will permanently lose access to your Dash.** It is important to consider that if you have not encrypted your wallet using the **Settings > Encrypt Wallet** menu item, anyone with access to the backed up wallet.dat file will immediately have full access to your Dash. If you do choose to encrypt your wallet, do not store the password in the same place as the wallet.dat file, particularly if you are saving the backup to the cloud. Backup from Dash Core --------------------- Firstly, never copy your wallet.dat file while Dash Core is open. Always use the **File > Backup Wallet** menu if the wallet is open. When you select this menu item, a dialog box will appear to specify where the file should be saved. Enter a name for the file, select a location and click **Save**. The example below shows saving the file to a USB stick. Keep this file in a physically separate location to your computer. .. image:: img/backup-wallet.png :width: 250px :align: left .. figure:: img/backup-save.png :width: 400px Backing up the Dash Core wallet from the File menu Backup by copying wallet.dat ---------------------------- **If Dash Core is not running**, you can also backup your wallet by simply copying the *wallet.dat* file to another location. This file is located in the *DashCore* data folder. You were given the option to specify the location of this folder during installation, but by default the folder is in the following locations on different operating systems: - **Windows** :: C:\Users\YourUserName\Appdata\Roaming\DashCore You can access this folder directly by **Windows Key + R** and typing ``%APPDATA%\DashCore`` - **Linux** :: /home/YourUserName/.dashcore You can access this folder directly by typing ``cd ~/.dashcore`` at the terminal or ``~/.dashcore`` in the path bar using the **Go > Enter Location...** menu item in Files - **macOS** :: /Users/YourUserName/Library/Application Support/DashCore You can access this folder by typing ``cd ~/Library/Application Support/DashCore`` at the terminal or ``~/Library/Application Support/DashCore`` in dialog at the **Go > Go To Folder** menu item in Finder Ensure Dash Core is not running, then simply copy the *wallet.dat* file from this folder to another folder in the normal way for your operating system. The example below shows copying the file to a USB stick using simple drag and drop while holding down **Ctrl** on a Windows system. On most operating systems, you can also right click on the file and select **Copy**, then select **Paste** in the target folder. Keep this file in a physically separate location to your computer. Be careful to copy (not move) the file! .. figure:: img/backup-copy.png :width: 500px Backing up wallet.dat by copying to another folder Automatic backups ----------------- Every time you open Dash Core, it will automatically create a backup copy of *wallet.dat* in the *dashcore/backups* folder. Up to 10 backups can be kept here by default, and the oldest backup will be deleted as each additional new backup is created. You can modify the number of backups kept here using the ``-createwalletbackups=n`` parameter at the command line or in *dash.conf*. Setting this value to 0 completely disables backups. You can view the automatic backups folder by browsing to *DashCore* folder at the location specified above for *wallet.dat* and opening the backups folder, or by selecting **File > Show Automatic Backups** from the menu in Dash Core. Since these files are not active when Dash Core is running, you can safely copy them at any time. They are also a handy backup if the original files in the DashCore folder become corrupted due to improper shutdown of the Dash Core app. HD wallet information --------------------- Dash Core includes an implementation of BIP39/BIP44 compatible hierarchical deterministic (HD) key generation. HD wallets are created by default since Dash Core v20.1; however, it is still possible to import private keys into the wallet. Since imported keys are not associated with the HD-derived keys, **it is still critical to back up wallet.dat for HD wallets.** If the HD wallet mnemonic from Dash Core is imported into another HD-compatible wallet, the new wallet will have access to any funds associated with the HD-derived keys. Restore ======= To restore a backup, install Dash Core on the target system (or stop it, if already installed) and rename the existing *wallet.dat* file in the *DashCore* folder. .. figure:: img/restore-rename.png :width: 350px Renaming the old wallet.dat file to wallet.old in the DashCore folder Then copy the backup wallet file to the *DashCore* folder and ensure it is named *wallet.dat*. Now, when you start Dash Core again, it will load the new wallet. Do not replace *wallet.dat* while Dash Core is running, since this will result in data corruption! .. image:: img/restore-copy.png :width: 500px .. figure:: img/restore-rename-dat.png :width: 370px Copying the backup file into the DashCore folder and renaming it to wallet.dat Backup storage considerations ============================= Any backup depends to some extent on the existence of software capable of reading the data at some future point in time. As such, it is good practice to store a copy of the software used to create the backup together with the backup file itself. In this case, this would be a copy of the version of Dash Core you used to create the backup. The *wallet.dat* file itself should be encrypted using a password set from the **Settings > Encrypt Wallet** menu item. However, this only prevents someone with access to the file from creating transactions, not from opening the file. You could additionally store the file in another encrypted container, such as a USB stick using `BitLocker `_ in Windows, `LUKS `_ in Linux or `FileVault `_ on macOS. It is also possible to create `disk images `_ or `zip files `_ with password encryption - the choice is yours. For further reading on encrypted containers, see `here `_. Where you store this file is then up to you. It could be in your home, in a safe deposit box at a bank, a waterproof or fireproof container, or on cloud storage such as Google Drive, Dropbox or iCloud. Consider where you will store any passwords needed to restore access to the wallet (in your head, on paper, in a password manager, etc.) and who may need access to the password in the future. Finally it is important to understand that *wallet.dat* itself is a relatively dangerous way to store large amounts of funds - it is simply a database file storing private keys. While the convenience of storing a wallet file directly is fine for smaller holdings, it is more secure to to store large amounts of Dash on a single predefined address in a way that you are guaranteed access through any software supporting the protocol, rather than a specific implementation of that protocol. If you are interested in this, read more about paper wallets, where the private key can be printed directly or also encrypted using BIP38 for safe storage. Verifying backups ================= There is no fixed procedure to verify your backup, but you should test restoring it at least once to make sure it works. If you have a simple copy of the file, try to restore it to your current *DashCore* folder and start Dash Core to make sure it opens without any errors. If you decided to store the file in an encrypted zip file, make sure you can unzip it and that it opens correctly in Dash Core. In short, make sure that you (or the person you are trusting to eventually go through this process for you) can actually reverse your backup process to get access to your Dash, instead of relying on the fact that this process should theoretically be reversible.