What to do about a "stuck" transaction?

I started the standard client with --rescan instead of -rescan after switching wallets and before synchronizing with the latest blockchain, and made an going transaction.

This transaction got "stuck", never validating, even after the client caught up with the chain, after multiple restarts (last one with -rescan). I now have a too high balance shown in the client, and the tx never went out (I checked it in Blockchain.info).

After the blockchain was synchronized, I create another similar tx (same amount and target address), and that one went through ... but the bad tx is still shown in my client.

What should I do about it?

ripper234

Posted 2012-07-11T02:59:07.353

Reputation: 25 192

possible duplicate of What is the best way to recover from an accidental double-spend?

– Stephen Gornick – 2012-07-11T05:00:53.027

Answers

I believe your options are to:

Upgrade to Bitcoin-Qt/bitcoind v0.9 or greater, which takes care of this situation.
Live with it as-is (showing an 0/unconfirmed that will never confirm)
Transfer funds elsewhere and abandon your wallet
Export your keys and import them into another wallet, perhaps a new one
Perform wallet surgery (pywallet to remove the private key used in the double spend, rescan, then import it back in. Instructions).

Stephen Gornick

Posted 2012-07-11T02:59:07.353

Reputation: 26 118

Should I open a bug report? I don't have a lot of information I can post here, so I'm not sure what to write in the "How to reproduce" section. Is there an existing bug like this that you're aware of? – ripper234 – 2012-07-11T05:27:18.430

1This bug is well-known. There's no need to report it. – David Schwartz – 2012-07-11T07:03:03.137

Apparently if there are double spend transactions, pywallet can be used to remove ALL transactions, rescan, and that will fix it. Transactions that confirmed will reappear as the result of the rescan of the blockchain. – Stephen Gornick – 2012-09-09T19:01:24.287