Help Recovering Lightning Channel (Linux)

OK, so in playing around, I think I may have messed up.

My node failed on me, just after creating a new Lightning channel - I don’t think my channel had synced to the chain either (was pending), but I was able to add it to Zap (I have a backup from there but I’m not sure what use that is).

I’ve been able to recover my BTC using Blue Wallet. However, I’m having some issues on the Lightning side of things.

This is the transaction moving my BTC to the Lightning channel:

I copied the channel.backup from Zap to my Linux machine (Ubuntu) but I can’t restore it. I’m trying:

docker-compose exec lnd lncli restorechanbackup --multi_file ~/lnd/channel.backup

But this is the error:

networks.default.ipam.config.subnet is invalid: should use the CIDR format
services.tor.ports contains an invalid type, it should be a number, or an object
services.bitcoin.ports contains an invalid type, it should be a number, or an object
services.electrs.ports contains an invalid type, it should be a number, or an object
services.lnd.ports contains an invalid type, it should be a number, or an object
services.lnd.ports contains an invalid type, it should be a number, or an object
services.nginx.ports contains an invalid type, it should be a number, or an object
services.lnd.ports value ['9735:9735', ':', ':'] has non-unique elements

I have created a new node and it’s syncing now.

Is there anything I can do or are the fund I sent to Lightning lost?

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Just to add - I have managed to run the command using:

sudo docker exec -it lnd lncli restorechanbackup --multi_file ~/lnd/channel.backup

However, I get the following error:

[lncli] unable to decode multi packed backup: open /home/ubuntu/lnd/channel.backup: no such file or directory

It is there though:

Please help.

Is there anything I can do or are the fund I sent to Lightning lost?

The funds are not lost, they are recoverable.

I was able to add it to Zap

I copied the channel.backup from Zap

You need the original channel.backup from Umbrel, not the new one from Zap. Do you have a copy of it?

I can’t restore it

You’re passing the LND container the path to your channel backup on the host, the file doesn’t exist at that path inside the container.

You can follow these instructions to recover a channel backup:

Step 1: Copy over the channel backup file from your computer to your Umbrel.

Open the “Terminal” app on Mac/Linux, or “PowerShell” on Windows and run this:

scp <path/to/your/channel/backup/file> umbrel@umbrel.local:/home/umbrel/umbrel/lnd/channel.backup

(Replace <path/to/your/channel/backup/file> with the exact path to channel backup file on your computer)

You will be asked for a password which will be your Umbrel dashboard password, or if you haven’t set one up yet, enter moneyprintergobrrr.

Step 2: Recover the channel backup in LND

Run

ssh -t umbrel@umbrel.local "cd ~/umbrel && docker-compose exec lnd lncli restorechanbackup --multi_file /data/.lnd/channel.backup"

Use the same password you used above.

After you run this, wait for 1 minute. You should now be able to see your channels being closed on http://umbrel.local/lightning.

Hi @lukechilds - thanks for the reply.

Unfortunately, I only have the Zap backup - I mistakingly thought it could do the same thing. Without an Umbrel backup am I screwed?

As for the commands you gave - I’m running Umbrel on Ubuntu. Do I run the commands from that Linux machine? I assume yes?

Without an Umbrel backup am I screwed?

No, Umbrel has automatic encrypted backups built in. So there will be an encrypted version of your channel backup on our backup server. The recovery process is not yet automated yet but I can talk you through it.

I’ll DM you so I can send you the file privately.

I’m running Umbrel on Ubuntu. Do I run the commands from that Linux machine? I assume yes?

Ah in that case you need to log in to the machine Umbrel is installed on and copy the channel.backup file to:

$wherever_you_installed_umbrel/lnd/channel.backup

Then run:

cd $wherever_you_installed_umbrel
docker-compose exec lnd lncli restorechanbackup --multi_file /data/.lnd/channel.backup

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Getting the below error:

Yes, up and running and 100% synced.
I recovered my Umbrel using the 24 word seed phrase a few days ago.

I noticed this in the logs:

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Will share via DM.

It seems that something went wrong while recovering my Umbrel from an existing 24 word seed phrase. My old SD got corrupted so I changed to a new SD and also to a new SSD. I still have the old SSD as well with all data.

Interestingly this is what stands out:

Seed
May 23 08:43:34 umbrel umbrel startup[1102]: Missing derivation parameter, this is unsafe, exiting.
May 23 08:43:34 umbrel umbrel startup[1102]: cat: /home/umbrel/umbrel/db/umbrel-seed/seed: No such file or directory

btc-rpc-explorer
Starting app btc-rpc-explorer…
cat: /home/umbrel/umbrel/db/umbrel-seed/seed: No such file or directory

LND
lnd | 2021-05-23 08:43:17.360 [INF] LTND: Waiting for wallet encryption password. Use lncli create to create a wallet, lncli unlock to unlock an existing wallet, or lncli changepassword to change the password of an existing wallet and unlock it.

Thanks! Just ran the command you provided, running the recover again using the 24 word seed phrase. Wish me luck :slight_smile:

That went well, looking a lot better now. I don’t see any funds in my wallet however.
Do I need to run the below?

lnd --reset-wallet-transactions

Executed

Channel Backup
docker-compose exec lnd lncli restorechanbackup --multi_file /data/.lnd/channel.backup

Running

Finishing Sync
2021-05-23 14:58:46.365 [INF] LTND: Waiting for chain backend to finish sync, start_height=684671

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Backend sync complete.

I don’t see any fund back into my wallet, still at 0 :frowning:

Rescan completed, I can see 2 transactions now.

Channels are not recovered.

How do I get my funds back into my BTC wallet?

Thanks for your continued help, really appreciated.

Unfortunately I’m unable to get my channels back, I’ve tried all command and get nothing.
I even used my old SSD again and made new backups, ran the above commands and no success.
I made channel backups in RTL and tried to restore them also, no success.

What bothers me is that there’s 0 feedback executing the above commands, it’s just loading for 1-2 seconds and then it goes to a new line: umbrel@umbrel:~/umbrel/bin

@aarondewes is there any way I can copy some files from my old SSD to get my channels back?

I have a very similiar problem and cannot close / access my channels. Had to recover with the seedwords, but the channels are not showing. If you find any solution, please post it. Thank you!

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I have similar issue. I had a power outage and wifi outage…restarted the Umbrel node. The Bitcoin Core is synced up but LND is showing no channels and balance is zero. I am told I may have to restore from backup —- which means all channels will be force closed. How can I get the channel backup file from Umbrel backup server?

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If you had an outage and lost your channels you will most likely not be able to recover them. I tried for many weeks without success… You can get your funds back though using the command posted by @lukechilds above. I personally wiped my SD and my SSD and started everything from scratch using the 24 word seed phrase.

Umbrel is still in early stages therefore be careful but don’t forget to have fun and learn :slight_smile:

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I also have only a zap backup. what should I do? How can I get the Umbrel backup?

You can DM @lukechilds to get your encrypted channel backup and the instructions on how to restore.