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Trezor recovery issues

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Wallet backup – general info

A wallet backup (formerly recovery seed) is a list of words in a specific order which store all the information needed to recover a cryptocurrency wallet.

Keeping your wallet backup private and secure is essential for protecting your cryptocurrency long-term.

Failed backup

Your Trezor device may lose power during the backup process due to a poor cable connection or other issues.

Your Trezor device will only show you your wallet backup once – it is not possible to display it again after you start the process.

This means that if the device disconnects during the backup, you won’t be able to view it again, leaving you with an incomplete backup.

You will need to erase your device and restart the setup process. This process takes only a few minutes and must be completed as the very first step before using your Trezor.

Without a valid wallet backup, you won’t be able to restore access to your wallet if your Trezor is lost or damaged.

Please follow the instructions below depending on your situation.

This case also applies to you if you have not used other Trezor services yet, such as GPG, SSH or Trezor Password Manager.

  • Go to Trezor Suite and connect your Trezor device.
  • Unlock your Trezor device with your PIN. Ignore this step if you have not set up the PIN protection yet.
  • Wipe your Trezor. Information on how to wipe your Trezor device can be found here:
  • Reconnect your Trezor device to initialize a new wallet with a new backed-up wallet backup.
  • If you wrote the original wallet backup down, throw it away and keep only the wallet backup generated after the wipe.

This case also applies to you if you have been using other Trezor services, such as GPG, SSH or Trezor Password Manager.

  • Go to Trezor Suite and connect your Trezor device.
  • Unlock your Trezor device with your PIN. Wait for Trezor Suite to load your accounts.
  • Send all your funds to a different wallet.
  • Repeat step three for all your cryptocurrencies. Remember that you might have stored some cryptocurrencies that are not natively supported in Trezor Suite using third-party wallets.
  • If you have been using the Trezor Password Manager, please save your passwords elsewhere. You will not be able to access this database again.
  • Make sure that all your funds have been moved elsewhere. You will not be able to access this wallet and any accounts in it again.
  • Wipe your Trezor. Information on how to wipe your Trezor device can be found here:
  • Reconnect your Trezor device to initialize a new wallet with a new wallet backup.
  • Now you can send your funds back to your newly generated wallet.

Check wallet backup

Checking your wallet backup (also called a dry-run recovery) ensures you wrote down all the words correctly during setup.

You should check your wallet backup before wiping or resetting your Trezor device and before every firmware update.

This step helps you confirm your wallet backup is correct, ensuring you can recover your wallet if something goes wrong during a firmware update.

Recovery process

You can recover your wallet, including all accounts, addresses, and private keys, using your wallet backup. This feature is useful if your wallet is wiped, or if you lose or damage your Trezor and need to recover your wallet on another device.

Invalid wallet backup

If the result of your recovery process says “Recovery failed,” “Invalid wallet backup,” “Invalid Recovery Share,” “The entered recovery shares are valid but do not match what is currently in the device,” or “The entered wallet backup is valid but does not match the one in the device,” there are two possibilities:

  • You are not entering the words in the correct order (applies to Trezor Model One). Follow the order shown on your Trezor’s display, which is different from the order in which they are written down.

If using the Safe 5, Safe 3, or Trezor Model T, the words must be entered in order, directly on the device.

  • You have misspelled a word. Wallet backups are always composed of words from a specific, public list. Go through the list and find all the words you wrote down. If one is missing from the list, it’s misspelled. Look for similar pairs like , , etc.

Find a list of the most commonly misspelled words here.

If you use a 12- or 24-word backup (BIP39), your words come from this list.

If you use a 20-word Single-share or Multi-share Backup (SLIP39), your words come from this list.

Lost wallet backup

Your wallet backup holds the private key to your funds – it’s essential to take very good care of it.

Without the wallet backup, you will not be able to recover your wallet if your Trezor device is ever wiped, lost, or damaged.

Please follow the instructions below depending on your situation.

You need to move your funds to another wallet with a known wallet backup as soon as possible. More information on how to proceed can be found here.

Self-custody means you’re the only one who can access your funds, which makes keeping your wallet backup safe absolutely essential.

If you lose your wallet backup and can’t access your wallet with your Trezor, we won’t be able to help you recover it.

Since we have no control over your wallet backup, losing it will mean permanently losing access to your wallet.

If you need any help, please contact us via our Chatbot Hal who will help resolve your issue.

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