Extended private masterkey is missing

[superbotolo]

I have a bunch of old wallet.dat files on my computer who are most likely empty. Just to be safe, I am trying to find a way to check their balance without having to re-sync the entire blockchain all the time.

I have been successful in using the command dumpwallet, get the extended private masterkey and import it into Electrum. This was a non-encrypted wallet.

I have two more wallets that are encrypted and I know the password. I have used the command walletpassphrase "PASSWORD" 60 to unlock them for one minute and I immediately run the command dumpwallet. I was able to obtain the dump, but it does not contain any extended private masterkey. It's just a list of BTC addresses. Why is that so and how can I get the extended private masterkey for these wallet files?

[apogio]

I have two more wallets that are encrypted and I know the password. I have used the command walletpassphrase "PASSWORD" 60 to unlock them for one minute and I immediately run the command dumpwallet. I was able to obtain the dump, but it does not contain any extended private masterkey. It's just a list of BTC addresses. Why is that so and how can I get the extended private masterkey for these wallet files?

How old are the wallets? Could it be that they are legacy wallets?

Legacy wallets are just collections of random key pairs and don't follow a descriptor-based derivation. So there is no master private key for these.

[superbotolo]

Legacy wallets are just collections of random key pairs and don't follow a descriptor-based derivation. So there is no master private key for these.

They might definitely be legacy wallets. I think I created them back in 2013 or close to that. So that means that there is no easy way to import them into Electrum? My only option is to sync the entire blockchain (which is taking forever)?

[LoyceV]

So that means that there is no easy way to import them into Electrum?

Create a new wallet, choose "Import Bitcoin addresses or private keys", and import the addresses. You'll create a watch-only wallet that shows your balance.

Note and disclaimer: if you happen to have mined or received "to pubkey", it will NOT show up this way!

[ABCbits]

OP, be careful with PM (Personal Message) that claim they can help you since usually it's scam attempt.

Legacy wallets are just collections of random key pairs and don't follow a descriptor-based derivation. So there is no master private key for these.

They might definitely be legacy wallets. I think I created them back in 2013 or close to that.

Looking at https://bitcoincore.org/en/2016/08/23/release-0.13.0/, HD wallet support exist since 2016.

So that means that there is no easy way to import them into Electrum?

Create a new wallet, choose "Import Bitcoin addresses or private keys", and import the addresses. You'll create a watch-only wallet that shows your balance.

Note and disclaimer: if you happen to have mined or received "to pubkey", it will NOT show up this way!

Also note that if there are too many TX with those address, Electrum may take some time to get all data, feels laggy misbehave.