Private Key lost.... with a difference..... HELP!

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Outline of my problem:

  • I use MetaMask on Chrome and Brave
  • I had to re-install MetaMask on Brave and stupidly thought that I only needed my secret recovery phrase so I didn’t record the ‘private key’ for my second account, Account 2.
  • Realising the issue, I checked Chrome, got the ‘private key’ for Account 2 and imported that as Account 2 on Brave. I have since discovered that this Account 2 on Chrome is a different address to the one I’ve ‘lost’.
  • I don’t think the lost account was an imported account otherwise I would have used the private key from Chrome version to create it. It only has coins on BSC network. No on the ETH network.

Questions:

  • Is there any way of recovering Account 2?
  • Now that I’ve added/imported an incorrect account/address to Brave will this cause any problems?
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p.s. I know the public address of the lost account

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Hi @scotpot and welcome to MetaMask community,

If the account you are missing was created under the same Secret Recovery Phrase, you can follow the steps in this article and try to restore it:

Also, imported accounts can simply be deleted, so if you imported a wrong account and you do not actually need it, just remove it. And make sure to re-add the BNB Smart Chain network, if you had funds only on BSC.

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Does the fact that I’ve imported another account into Account 2 make any difference? Should I delete this account before trying these steps?

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I do not think it makes any difference. After all its an imported account which you can delete and re-add as many times as you wish.
Try the steps in the article and also double check if Account 2 you now have in chrome, the one you exported the private key of, matches the public address of the account you are looking for.

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You’re correct, it doesn’t seem to make a difference. I’ve tried the steps and the public address I’m looking for is not appearing. :cry: :cry: :cry:

There is zero chance that the ‘lost Account 2’ was created under another secret recovery phrase account.

I’ve never had more than one or two accounts. I’ve only tried upto 3 accounts… is there any point in adding more accounts e.g. upto Account +10 ?

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Yes you can add a few more, maybe it shows up. Also, did you re-add the BNB Smart Chain network?

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I’ve added 6 more accounts with no success. Yes, I’ve added BSC Smart Chain.

Am I right in thinking that there are only two possible ways that Account 2 could have been created by me;-
a) automatically by adding a new account - in which case it should appear when I create a new account on a fresh MM install.
b) by importing an account which either has its own recovery phrase or sits under a main account/address with a different 'recovery phrase - I’ve only ever had one account-recovery phrase combination so I don’t see how this could have happened

(By the way… I REALLY appreciate your help.)

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Yes, so there are two types of accounts. The ones that are genereated under one Secret Recovery Phrase and you see them in MetaMask like Account1, Account2 and so on and then among these you can have also imported accounts. These imported accounts can be from different other self-custodial wallets, or even from a different MetaMask wallet, with a different Secret Recovery Phrase. When you import these accounts, you need to enter their private key or JSON file.

Now, my suggestion is to go to the MetaMask wallet you still have in Chrome and export the private of this account and add it one more time. It should not be an issue to import it if you have the private key and the address is the same as the one you are missing.

No worries, glad I am able to help a bit here.

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The issue I have is that Account 2 on the Chrome install of MM is a totally different address. I already used that pk to try and recover the account on the fresh install. Are you saying try again?

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Well if it is a different address than the one you are looking for, there is no need to try again.
In this case you need to remember how this account you are looking for was created, are you sure it is not a hardware wallet account?

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There is one more thing you can try: in this article I will share here, check point2 -->The account you are missing was a secondary…and use the tool provided there to generate accounts created under one Secret Recovery Phrase. Just follow the steps, it is really easy to use.

The tool will generate up to 100 accounts created under one Secret Recovery Phrase and it will also provide you the private keys. Ideally, use on a computer that is not connected to the internet.
Now, the accounts you will see are without the 0x in the front, and then you can use the search function to look/scroll for the account more easily (crtl+F/cmd+F). If the account is on that list, you can easily import it using its private key.

But if the account does not show up on that list, it means it was created under a different Secret Recovery Phrase.

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No luck with the tool unfortunately. :cry: I do have a hardware wallet account but I’ve checked the addesses and they don’t match up.

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I understand :frowning: Then you need to remember how that account you are looking for was created in the first place. Maybe you have another Secret Recovery Phrase for it?

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