HowTo: Migrate from Umbrel 0.5.x to StartOS

DIY, Hacking, & How-To
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Caution: this guide only applies to Umbrel version 0.5.x. For 0.4.x, see this guide.

WARNING: AFTER YOU COMPLETE THIS GUIDE, DO NOT EVER START UP YOUR UMBREL AGAIN - IF YOU DO, IT IS POSSIBLE YOU COULD LOSE MONEY VIA PENALTY TRANSACTIONS

Migrating your LND channels (and optionally the Bitcoin blockchain) from Umbrel 0.5.x to StartOS

This guide uses commands that assume you are on a computer running Linux or macOS, and should work equivalently on either. It works whether you have two different servers - a source Umbrel and a destination Start9 server - or if you intend to repurpose your current Umbrel hardware into your Start9 server midway through the guide.

First, make a directory called umbreldata and cd there:

mkdir -p ~/umbreldata/bitcoin && cd ~/umbreldata

SSH into your umbrel:

ssh umbrel@umbrel.local
#You will be asked for your Umbrel's dashboard password
# Once ssh'd in, then run:
sudo ./umbrel/scripts/stop

You’ll see Umbrel services shutting down like this:

To return to the terminal on your local computer, type:
exit

At your local terminal, copy the data from your Umbrel to your local umbreldata folder:

rsync -vr umbrel@umbrel.local:~/umbrel/app-data/lightning/data/lnd ~/umbreldata/

Optional: If you are also trying to skip having to do IBD on your Start9 server, copy the Bitcoin blockchain data to your local computer:

#Copy the blockchain from your umbrel to your local computer (this ~500GB transfer may take hours):
rsync -vr umbrel@umbrel.local:~/umbrel/app-data/bitcoin/data/bitcoin/{blocks,chainstate} ~/umbreldata/bitcoin/

Now if you are repurposing your Umbrel hardware, flash StartOS to a USB thumb drive and go through the initial setup.

Now you must follow this guide to get SSH setup on your Start9 server.

Optional: If you copied the Bitcoin blockchain data from your Umbrel to your local computer in the previous optional step, perform the following command, taking care to edit the hostname:

#Copy the blockchain data from your local computer to your StartOS installation (this ~500GB transfer may take hours):
# IMPORTANT: In the next line, replace ADJECTIVE-NOUN.local with your Start9 server's hostname
rsync --rsync-path="sudo mkdir -p /embassy-data/package-data/volumes/bitcoind/data/main ; sudo rsync" ~/umbreldata/bitcoin/{blocks,chainstate} start9@ADJECTIVE-NOUN.local:/embassy-data/package-data/volumes/bitcoind/data/main/

Copy your LND data to your Start9 server, taking care to edit the hostname:

# IMPORTANT: In the next line, replace `ADJECTIVE-NOUN.local` with your Start9 server's hostname
rsync -vr --rsync-path="sudo mkdir -p /embassy-data/package-data/volumes/lnd/data/main ; sudo rsync" ~/umbreldata/lnd/* start9@ADJECTIVE-NOUN.local:/embassy-data/package-data/volumes/lnd/data/main/

SSH into your Start9 server and insert your Umbrel’s dashboard password into pwd.dat (once again taking care to edit the ADJECTIVE-NOUN part of the hostname):

ssh start9@ADJECTIVE-NOUN.local
sudo -i
echo -n 'moneyprintergobrrr' > /embassy-data/package-data/volumes/lnd/data/main/pwd.dat

If everything looks ok, free up 500GB of hard drive space by deleting your local copy of the blockchain (in your terminal on your local machine):

rm -rf ~/umbrel/bitcoin

Start the Bitcoin & LND services on your Start9 server!

WARNING: DO NOT EVER START UP YOUR UMBREL AGAIN - IF YOU DO, IT IS POSSIBLE YOU COULD LOSE MONEY VIA PENALTY TRANSACTIONS

3 Likes
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I just gave this a try. Copied all the files to the right place. But when I start up LND I’m seeing this in the logs:

[/lnrpc.Lightning/GetInfo]: wallet locked, unlock it to enable full RPC access

Further up I see

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.

Would this actually help? How can I run lncli?

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I’m also seeing this in the logs

[/lnrpc.WalletUnlocker/UnlockWallet]: invalid passphrase for master public key

I followed the step to put the Umbrel password in the pwd.dat file.

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Can you try instead “moneyprintergobrrr” as the pwd.dat step while ssh’d into your embassy:

echo -n 'moneyprintergobrrr' > /embassy-data/package-data/volumes/lnd/data/main/pwd.dat
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That worked! Thanks!

1 Like
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Great, thanks for the feedback. I updated the guide to reflect that.

1 Like
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Just wanted to drop this here - Transform your Umbrel into an Embassy without losing your Lightning channels | by Start9 Labs | Medium

This is for if you’re migrating from Umbrel <v0.5

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Hi guys! I might have runied my migration process…
Coming from umbrel on Ubuntu, I followed this tutorial as a total noob and I’m stuck after rsync lnd folder via ssh:

start9@blocky-shark:~$ rsync -vr --rsync-path=“sudo mkdir -p /embassy-data/package-data/volumes/lnd/data/main ; sudo rsync” ~/Desktop/umbreldata/lnd/* start9@blocky-shark.local:/embassy-data/package-data/volumes/lnd/data/main/
The authenticity of host ‘blocky-shark.local (xxx.xx.x.x)’ can’t be established.
ED25519 key fingerprint is SHA256:*************************.
This key is not known by any other names.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no/[fingerprint])? yes
Failed to add the host to the list of known hosts (/home/start9/.ssh/known_hosts).
start9@blocky-shark.local’s password:
Permission denied, please try again.

I cannot go through - where can I find my start9 local password? I have tried the Master Password with no success…

Help appreciated, I don’t wanna lose a few million sats on-chain and in channels…

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Hey @CrazyUTXO, sorry for the difficulties. I just wanted to let you know that there is actually a built-in action called Import from Umbrel (0.4 or 0.5, depending on the Umbrel version that you are migrating from), in the StartOS LND service user interface. Take a look at the Migrating LND to StartOS (Start9 | Migrating LND to StartOS) documentation page where this is covered in greater depth. You can give that a try and see if it yields a better result.

1 Like