HowTo: Migrate from Umbrel 0.5.x to StartOS

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

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?

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.

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

That worked! Thanks!

1 Like

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

1 Like

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