Coins / Wallets Disappeared on New App Install

[HockeyDevil07]

Continuing the discussion from “Suite Startup Crashing on EndeavourOS xfce4” (it won’t let me link to the other post?)

I was having these issues with the old software (see my previously linked topic above). This is probably totally unrelated to that, but I just wanted to share it in case it’s relevant.

I was not having any luck upgrading the software to fix the issues. I then ran into some other issues with unrelated new hardware, and due to all of these issues coinciding, I decided just to format my hard drive, and do a fresh install of a new operating system (Ubuntu 22.04.3) and go from there.

The Trezor suite installed, and works without error, but it only has one ‘Default Account’ for Bitcoin. I had wallets for Bitcoin, Etherium, Litecoin, and XRP. I cannot see any of the other three. I can figure out the XRP address, but not the Etherium or Litecoin one(s).

I did a backup of my old hard drive before I did a clean install of the new OS. I see that there is a folder ~/.config/@trezor/suite-desktop that seems to have local configuration files in it. I’m not sure if there’s any way to recover the old wallet details from there - but it’s there in case it helps.

My understanding of the hardware and software is honestly not that great, but from what I do understand, all of the keys and information should be on the hardware wallet so there really shouldn’t be any unrecoverable issues. Regardless, I am a bit concerned not seeing my other coins/wallets in there.

I am expecting to receive more coins soon, but I do not want to proceed until everything is restored and I can use the app properly again, being able to see all of my coins for a proper accounting. Can anyone help me fix this?

I was thinking of copying the folder ~/.config/@trezor/suite-desktop from my backup onto my home directory on the fresh install, but knowing these are different versions of the app, I don’t want to risk it. My searching in the forum hasn’t turned up any obvious paths to fix this either. Any help is appreciated.

[HockeyDevil07]

Okay! I figured part of it out. I just needed to re-activate the coins that I was using, and some of the wallets showed up. I do have a follow up question though, that will help me understand all of this better.

How can I tell what coins / wallets I have on the hardware? I added back the LTC, and it isn’t showing any balance. That may mean that I didn’t have LTC on the hardware wallet, but instead it was a different coin. How can I figure out what that was? Should I just activate more coins until I find it? Is there any drawbacks to doing that?

[matejcik]

@HockeyDevil07

How can I tell what coins / wallets I have on the hardware?

You can’t. Your Trezor doesn’t know that – it wouldn’t work when restoring from seed, for one thing, your seed phrase on a metal backup doesn’t know which coins you added.

For purposes of, e.g., inheritance, you should keep separate track of which coins you own, ideally also with addresses or xpubs so that it is easy to figure out whether the seed / passphrase is correct.

In rare cases, you might also need to manually add another account for the coin: if Suite doesn’t find funds in the first one, it will not scan the next one. Typically it should not be possible to start using the second account if the first one is unused, but it can sometimes happen.

@HockeyDevil07

Should I just activate more coins until I find it? Is there any drawbacks to doing that?

You can absolutely do that. The only drawback is loading time, Suite needs to scan the blockchain(s) for every coin you have enabled. After you figure out which coins are on there, you can disable the rest to get faster start-up times.

[HockeyDevil07]

@matejcik

You can’t. Your Trezor doesn’t know that – it wouldn’t work when restoring from seed, for one thing, your seed phrase on a metal backup doesn’t know which coins you added.

Very good point! Thank you for putting it that way, it helps me understand a bit more about what’s going on here.

@matejcik

For purposes of, e.g., inheritance, you should keep separate track of which coins you own, ideally also with addresses or xpubs so that it is easy to figure out whether the seed / passphrase is correct.

Okay - I hadn’t even heard of xPubs before, but just looked into that which helps explain some things but also opens up another load of questions.

Can you explain a bit more about how keeping track of addresses or xpubs make it easier to figure out whether a seed/phrase is correct? I’m not making any connections there.

@matejcik

You can absolutely do that. The only drawback is loading time, Suite needs to scan the blockchain(s) for every coin you have enabled. After you figure out which coins are on there, you can disable the rest to get faster start-up times.

Thank you for this suggestion! I did it and it helped exactly as you described.

@matejcik

In rare cases, you might also need to manually add another account for the coin: if Suite doesn’t find funds in the first one, it will not scan the next one. Typically it should not be possible to start using the second account if the first one is unused, but it can sometimes happen.

Really appreciate your responses here. I created a separate topic with questions of a different nature related to xpubs and your comment there.

[matejcik]

@HockeyDevil07

Can you explain a bit more about how keeping track of addresses or xpubs make it easier to figure out whether a seed/phrase is correct? I’m not making any connections there.

When someone tries to regain access to funds, and Suite shows empty, it’s really helpful to be able to point to a specific address on a blockchain explorer and say “this is what should be here”. Address is good, xpub is better, descriptor is best.

This allows you to rule out all other problems: account not loading, coins not enabled, and similar; and know for sure that either your seed or passphrase is wrong. If you’re using passphrase, it might also be a good idea to write down first address of first account of the standard wallet, letting you (again) ascertain that the main seed is ok and it’s the passphrase that is the problem.