If you are looking to install Ledger Live on a new computer and want to restore all the accounts that you previously added, then you have arrived at the right place!
In this article, I am going to show you step-by-step how to install Ledger Live on a new PC (without accidentally resetting your hardware wallet) and two ways you can restore the accounts for the crypto assets you have in your portfolio.
So without further ado, let’s get started!
Reasons You Might Want To Reinstall Ledger Live
Before we start it might be a good idea to discuss the various reasons why you might want to install Ledger Live on a new computer in the first place. One of the most common scenarios is when you buy a new PC and want to move everything from the old computer to the new one.
Another common reason is when you use two computers simultaneously and want to manage your crypto assets from both ones. (e.g desktop computer at home and laptop while on the move). Lastly, your old PC might have simply broken down and you can’t use it anymore.
The process for installing Ledger Live on the new computer is the same for all the mentioned scenarios. However, restoring your previously configured accounts and settings is a bit easier if you still have access to your current PC and the Ledger Live installation.
So let’s start with the general Ledger Live installation first and after that I will show you two different ways to restore the accounts and settings.
Install Ledger Live on a New PC
The first thing you want to do is to install Ledger Live on the new computer by following these steps:
- Download the Ledger Live setup file from Ledger’s official website
- Launch the installer
- Follow the instruction and complete the general Ledger Live installation
- Open Ledger Live once the installation is complete
- Click on Get started
- Select the Ledger hardware wallet you are using
- Scroll down and select “Connect your Nano device”
- Connect your Ledger wallet to your computer (using either a USB cable or Bluetooth)
- Start the Genuine check of your hardware wallet
- Enter your PIN to unlock the wallet
- Allow Ledger manager from your hardware wallet
- Click Continue once the genuine check completes successfully
- Congratulations! The Ledger Live base setup is now complete.
After the installation, you will notice that the Ledger Live application doesn’t have any accounts or settings that you had previously configured (e.g Password lock, theme etc). This is entirely normal and expected!
Ledger Live does not store your accounts and settings on a centralized database. This information is only stored locally on your computer (or phone) and you must manually re-add accounts when you set up Ledger Live on a new computer.
Restore Accounts
After installing Ledger Live on a new computer, the official method for restoring accounts is to simply manually re-add all the accounts one by one.
It’s important to know here that your crypto assets are stored on the blockchain and not Ledger Live. When adding a new account, the application will automatically query the blockchain for all (sub)accounts linked to the private key that is stored on your wallet.
To make things easier, there is an unofficial way to make a backup of the Ledger Live application data and restore it on your new computer. I have tested this and was able to restore all the accounts and settings from the old computer to the new device.
So let’s first look at the unofficial way first (and the requirements for it) and then also go over the official way to restore your accounts in case the former method is not applicable in your case.
Restore Accounts from Backup
The requirements for being able to make a backup of Ledger Live application data on your current PC and restoring it on your new computer:
- You still have access to the file system of the old computer (for copying the application data from the old PC to the new one)
- Both the old and new computers are running on the same operating system (Windows, MacOS, Linux)
- Both the new and old computers have the same version of Ledger Live installed
If you meet these requirements, then follow these steps to restore your Ledger Live accounts from the backup on Windows computers:
- Power on your old computer
- Open file explorer (Win Key + E)
- Type %APPDATA% into the location path and press Enter
- Find Ledger Ledger and copy the whole directory
- Paste the Ledger Live directory to a known location (e.g Desktop)
- Transfer the directory to your new computer (e.g using a USB hard drive)
- Close Ledger Live on the new PC (if open)
- Copy and paste the directory to %APPDATA% (overwrite existing files)
- Launch Ledger Live
If everything went as expected, the Ledger Live installation on your new computer should be exactly the same as on your old computer (including all the accounts and configured settings). When in doubt also see the Youtube video below, where I demonstrate the process:
Note! Even though I have not tested the method for MacOS and Linux computers, it should work similarly there as well. Use the following Ledger support article for finding the application data folders.
Restore Accounts Manually
When you don’t have access to the previous Ledger Live installation (e.g when your PC broke down) or if the “backup and restore” method I described didn’t work, you have to add all the accounts manually one by one.
What this means is that you have to remember all the accounts (crypto assets) that you have in your portfolio. This can be tricky, especially if you have a lot of different assets in your portfolio.
One potential way to derive and remember the previous accounts is to go over all the exchanges that you use and look at the transaction history to find all the crypto assets that you had previously transferred to cold storage.
Once you have a good overview of your crypto assets, here is how to add back the accounts on a new computer:
- Open Ledger Live
- Connect your Ledger wallet to your computer (using either a USB cable or Bluetooth)
- Go to My Ledger and allow Ledger manager
- Install the app for the crypto asset you are adding
- Click on Portfolio and then Add account
- Find the correct crypto asset and select Continue
- Open Polkadot app on your hardware wallet
- Check all the accounts your want to add and select Add Accounts
- Repeat the process for all other crypto assets in your portfolio
If you are trying to add back an account and it shows zero balance with no transaction history, then you are most likely not using the correct recovery phrase associated with the account you are trying to find. Here are a couple of possible reasons:
- At one point you reset your hardware wallet and generated a new 24-word recovery phrase.
- You were using the Passphrase functionality which manages a different set of accounts
If you have previously reset your wallet and generated a new seed phrase you have to restore your wallet with the old recovery phrase to access and add these accounts. You can also find some other reasons and solutions for missing Ledger Live accounts from my previous article.
And that’s a wrap! If you have any questions, feel free to add a comment to the Youtube video I listed above and I’ll do my best to help you out if I can!