# Having Backup Trouble

**URL:** <https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/having-backup-trouble/15918>\
**Category:** Technical Support\
**Created:** [May 14, 2017, 4:40am UTC](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/having-backup-trouble/15918 "2017-05-14T04:40:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![HoLiiDaYz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e19adc/32.png) [@HoLiiDaYz](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/u/HoLiiDaYz)\
**Post date:** [May 14, 2017, 4:40am UTC](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/having-backup-trouble/15918/1 "2017-05-14T04:40:31Z")

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I am stuck here trying to backup my wallets. i have created 4 of them. Now i have one wallet that i want to back up to put on another machine. I put this in.

./src/zcash-cli backupwallet my\_backed\_up\_wallet.dat

> error code: -4  
> error message:  
> Cannot backup wallet until the -exportdir option has been set  
> I am not so experienced with linux that much but can someone help me thanks.

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**Author:** ![Voluntary](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/zcash/user_avatar/forum.zcashcommunity.com/voluntary/32/4343_2.png) [@Voluntary](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/u/Voluntary)\
**Post date:** [May 14, 2017, 5:11am UTC](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/having-backup-trouble/15918/2 "2017-05-14T05:11:16Z")

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If you’re using Ubuntu, displaying the ‘hidden’ folders (the ones named with a ‘.’ at the beginning) can be toggled by pressing Ctrl-H. Look for your wallet.dat file(s) in the .zcash folder. You might also like to try opening a terminal window and entering:

> man zcashd

and / or

> man zcash-cli

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![HoLiiDaYz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e19adc/32.png) [@HoLiiDaYz](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/u/HoLiiDaYz)\
**Post date:** [May 14, 2017, 5:54am UTC](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/having-backup-trouble/15918/3 "2017-05-14T05:54:54Z")

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Thanks I found the wallet.dat. Does this file backup all of my wallets or just one? And just by this file I can import wallet into a new machine?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Voluntary](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/zcash/user_avatar/forum.zcashcommunity.com/voluntary/32/4343_2.png) [@Voluntary](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/u/Voluntary)\
**Post date:** [May 14, 2017, 6:34am UTC](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/having-backup-trouble/15918/4 "2017-05-14T06:34:30Z")

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I haven’t experimented with multiple wallet files. So far as I know, the file named wallet.dat in the .zcash folder is the default. There’s also a zcashd option -

> zcashd -wallet=

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![paige](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/zcash/user_avatar/forum.zcashcommunity.com/paige/32/31152_2.png) [@paige](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/u/paige)\
**Post date:** [May 15, 2017, 4:05pm UTC](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/having-backup-trouble/15918/5 "2017-05-15T16:05:00Z")

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You’ll want to set a directory to export to in the config file you created. Use `exportdir=` and add the path to the directory you want to export to.

Also, don’t include the `.dat` file extension with the command.

Here’s a reviewed but not-yet-merged guide to wallet backups: [zcash/wallet-backup.md at 4088ac68dbabb0216e1fb008c19cb81d6292abfd · ioptio/zcash · GitHub](https://github.com/ioptio/zcash/blob/4088ac68dbabb0216e1fb008c19cb81d6292abfd/doc/wallet-backup.md)