Error restoring from .keys file

Question

I lost my mnemonic seed and therefore would like to restore from my .keys file I created with Monero version v0.8.8.6. Being certain that I am using the correct password, I received the following message when opening my .keys file:

You had been using a deprecated version of the wallet. Your wallet file format is being upgraded now. ( in green) Error: failed to load wallet: file not found "wallet" ( in red)

If I cannot locate my misplaced mnemonic seed, is there any way I can recover the Monero I have in my wallet?

Answer 1

Your Monero is safe. There was a load-from-keys bug with v0.8.8.6

Download the current Monero release or build from source and you will be able to recover using your .keys file and password

After recovery use the "seed" command in simplewallet and record your mnemonic seed in a safe place for offline cold storage.

Answer 2

Remove (or rename) the file "wallet". It's a cache file that will be recreated, and tends to become corrupt. It will be made into an actual database at some point, to avoid these problems.

Note that nowadays, deleting this cache isn't as harmless as it used to be, since the cache now contains records that can't be derived from the blockchain (eg, it remembers tx secret keys, outgoing addresses for your own transactions, etc). But for a cache created with 0.8.8.6, there's nothing that needs saving anyway.