Armory · Old wallets
Armory: old Bitcoin wallets and how they are opened today
Armory was used precisely because it was the strictest: wallets on an offline computer, printed paper backups, long passwords. That same discipline is what makes many Armory cases solvable today when the owner believes they are not.
Look for the printed sheet first
Armory encouraged printing a paper backup of the wallet. Many people printed it, filed it away and completely forgot it existed. Before considering anything else, check folders of important documents, filing cabinets, moving boxes and the home safe. I have seen cases solved there in an afternoon.
If you only have the file and a forgotten password
That is the classic recovery case. The outlook depends on two things: how much you remember and how long the password was. Armory users tended to be careful, and that cuts both ways: long passwords are bad news, but passwords built with a method — a personal rule, a phrase of theirs, a pattern — are good news, because a pattern can be reconstructed and randomness cannot.
If you remember the pattern but not the details, read I remember the pattern but not the numbers: that is exactly your situation.
A detail specific to Armory
Many people set Armory up with the wallet on an offline computer and a «watch-only» copy on the normal one. If that rings a bell, check which of the two you have: the watch-only copy lets you see the balance and prove the wallet is yours, but not move anything. You need the other one, from the offline machine, or the paper sheet.
- Look for the old computer, even if it won’t boot: the drive can be read separately.
- Look for USB sticks from that period, which is where files were usually moved between the two machines.
- If you are going to open an old computer, take your time and image the whole drive before touching anything.