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I requested bitcoin through Bitcoin wallet before fully syncing. Bitcoin wallet would not sync on the original laptop that I had installed it on, so I removed the program and reinstalled it on another computer. Now, I can't use the old address to receive my transaction. I can see it on blockchain, but I have no idea how to receive it as Bitcoin core will not allow to type in the old address. Please help!
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Whenever you create a new wallet, a number of private keys are generated for you. These private keys are used to authenticate yourself as the owner of bitcoins sent to the keys' corresponding addresses. Therefore, you must keep these private keys safe. For Bitcoin Core, these private keys are in a file called wallet.dat in the Bitcoin directory. If you've deleted this file there will be no way to recover your coins, as private keys cannot be regenerated.
However, I think that the wallet file may remain even when Bitcoin gets uninstalled, so if you didn't delete the whole directory, but just uninstalled it, you might want to check if you can still find the wallet.dat.
Thanks! So i reinstalled Bitcoin Core before looking for the .dat file, but i did find a wallet.dat file from the day I uninstalled core. Can I transfer and use this file on another PC? – James – 2017-05-07T23:37:44.257
Thanks! So i reinstalled Bitcoin Core before looking for the .dat file, but i did find a wallet.dat file from the day I uninstalled core. Can I transfer and use this file on another PC? – James – 2017-05-07T23:37:45.973
Make sure Core is not running, create a backup of the new wallet.dat if it is of relevance, then copy the recovered wallet.dat into the new Bitcoin Core's directory. Then start the program. when syncing has finished you should be able to see your transaction. – Murch – 2017-05-08T01:09:50.997