Is private key stored externally by MetaMask?

[vde49]

I setup a new wallet with a test account on computer A (with a Secret Recovery Phrase and password).
Then I installed the metamask extension on computer B, and choose to import existing wallet, and entered the Secret Recovery Phrase used on computer A. Wallet is restored on computer B with account and associated public/private key.
How is it possible ?
Does somebody have some detail about how is it possible to restore account/pkey from a secret ( Secret Recovery Phrase ) without giving any additonnal information, especially pkey ? Does it means that my pkey are stored anywhere on the Internet by MetaMask ?
Thanks.

[nakedwinnie]

Hey @vde49, welcome to the MetaMask community!

MetaMask is a non-custodial wallet and does NOT hold your private key. Your Secret Recovery Phrase is what allows you to recover your MetaMask wallet. Here is more information on our Knowledge Base:

User guide: Secret Recovery Phrase, password, and private keys

[MomOfTwins]

I’m not sure if I understand you right @vde49. Do you mean you imported an account using a private key on your computer A and once imported a wallet using your seed phrase on computer B there was an imported account that showed up even you didn’t imported it manually, right?

[vde49]

Hi !
Not exactly.
The procedure is the following:

1. I created a fresh new wallet on computer A with a test account protected with a seed phrase.
2. On computer B, I installed MetaMask and choose to import an existing wallet. I enter the seed phrase from step 1
3. My wallet is imported on computer B with account and private key.

==> question ? where was stored the restored wallet ? on MetaMask server ?
I thought MetaMask was a local wallet but it seems I misunderstood the concept…
Could somebody shed my light about this ?
Thanks.

[MomOfTwins]

Oh, ok. Your accounts are stored in your seed phrase

[Fjeezy]

@MomOfTwins - Thanks for the visual…super helpful. I had 2 accounts and one of them is not showing up… what do I do? I have me seed phrase. It looks like I need the private key but I don’t have that private key saved somewhere.

[MomOfTwins]

@Fjeezy here is the steps explained

How to add missing accounts after restoring with Secret Recovery Phrase

[Fjeezy]

@MomOfTwins - tried with no luck…

[MomOfTwins]

@Fjeezy would you mind to discribing what happened? What device are you using? What device you have used to create the wallet? When/how you lost the access to your Account 2? (it’s Account 2 right?)

[Fjeezy]

@MomOfTwins - I created the wallet via chrome…account 1 shows but account 2 when I add it shows 0 coins. I had account 2 connected to STRONG and now I can’t find account 2… it may have been account 2 or 3, I added all the way to 4 but they all show 0 tokens. STRONG is a unique tokes so I added it as a special token for all accounts and nothing shows when I connect them to strong. By the way, thank you so much for trying to help.

[MomOfTwins]

@Fjeezy You are welcome Do you remember your public address? Can you see STRONG ballance on etherscan?

So, you downloaded the MetaMask extension and created a wallet (seed phrase) on Chrome (Windows?), right?

Do you have only one seed phrase?

Then you probably reinstalled the extension for some reason, and once imported a wallet with your seed phrase, your account with STRONG was no more there, right?

Just trying to understand

[vde49]

This is NOT possible. You just can’t decode all account information with key… from a seed phrase.

It seems that informations are stored externally but this looks very obscur and not documented…
Does somebody has reliable information ?
Thanks.

[vde49]

Why don’t you open a new topic ? your question is not related to current topic

[Luigi]

Watch this video

Your MetaMask Secret Recovery Phrase

Your MetaMask seed phase is not stored on any MetaMask servers A seed phrase is a series of words generated by your cryptocurrency wallet that give you access to the crypto associated with that wallet.