How to import private keys
Paste the key into a text file, save it to disk and use the path to that file with geth account import.
For all operating systems:
In order to import a private key, you need geth, the command line client for the ethereum node. geth resides in a subfolder of the MIST Wallet. When you download the mist wallet, you'll unzip the release file to a folder with the name "Ethereum-Wallet-osx-version" (osx stands for the operating system, version is the tree digit version number). Inside the folder navigate to the subfolder resources/node/geth. In this folder there is only one file, the geth runtime.
Before running geth, the MIST Wallet should be stopped. Then run ./geth account import privekey-file.txt.
For Windows:
- Open Notepad
- Paste key into notepad without any extra characters or quotations
- Save the file as nothing_special_delete_me.txt at C:\
- Run the command, geth account import C:\nothing_special_delete_me.txt
- After successful import, delete the file at C:\nothing_special_delete_me.txt
For Mac:
- Open TextEdit
- Paste key into TextEdit without any extra characters or quotations
- Save the file as nothing_special_delete_me.txt to your Desktop
- Open Terminal, run command:
- geth account import ~/Desktop/nothing_special_delete_me.txt
- After successful import, delete the file on your desktop.
For Linux:
- Open text editor
- Paste key into TextEdit without any extra characters or quotations
- Save the file as nothing_special_delete_me.txt to your home directory
- Open Terminal, run command:
- geth account import ~/nothing_special_delete_me.txt
- After successful import, delete the file on your desktop.