XMR Not Showing in Wallet? Fix Missing or Locked Monero Funds

“Sent funds to wallet, synchronized, no funds showed up” and “XMR locked for hours” are two of the most common post titles on Monero support forums. Because Monero hides amounts and addresses, you cannot simply paste your address into a block explorer and see your balance, so a missing deposit feels scarier than it is. In almost every case the coins are safe and the problem is how the wallet is reading the blockchain. This guide shows you how to find out which problem you have and fix it.

First: are the funds actually missing?

The getmonero.org FAQ puts it well: coins are not really “lost”, because they live on the blockchain. Your wallet is only a tool that searches for them. If it searches the wrong range, with the wrong keys, or before it has finished, it shows the wrong number.

Work through these questions in order:

1. Was the transaction actually sent and mined?
2. Is your wallet fully synced?
3. Is the restore height early enough?
4. Are you looking at the right wallet, account and seed?
5. Are the funds simply locked?

Step 1: Confirm the transaction exists

Get the transaction ID (txid) from whoever sent the funds. Exchanges show it in withdrawal history; personal senders can copy it from their wallet.

1. Paste the txid into a Monero block explorer.
2. If it shows a block height and confirmations, it was mined and is permanent.
3. If it is not found, it was either never broadcast or dropped from the mempool. Ask the sender to check their wallet; an unmined transaction eventually returns to the sender’s balance.

A block explorer cannot show the recipient or amount, so the next step is to verify that the payment went to you.

Verifying the payment with a tx key

The sender’s wallet can export a transaction key (also called a tx key or payment proof). With the txid, the tx key and your address, any wallet or explorer that supports “check tx key” can confirm how much XMR that transaction sent to your address.

• In Monero CLI, the sender runs get_tx_key <txid> and the receiver runs check_tx_key <txid> <txkey> <address>.
• In Monero GUI, use the Advanced, Prove/check section.

If the check shows the amount went to your address, the money is yours and your wallet just is not seeing it yet. If it shows zero, the funds went to a different address.

Tip: Exchanges sometimes cannot provide tx keys. In that case, ask them to confirm the exact destination address they used and compare it character by character with your wallet’s receive address or subaddress.

Step 2: Make sure the wallet is fully synced

A wallet partway through syncing shows a partial balance. Check that the wallet’s block height matches the current network height. If it is stuck, switch nodes or update the app before doing anything else. Cake Wallet users who had the old “Cake Wallet (Onion)” node selected need to reselect the renamed “Cake Wallet (Tor)” node after updating to 6.5.0 or later.

Step 3: Check the restore height

This is the number one cause of “synced but zero”. If your wallet’s restore height is later than the block containing your deposit, the wallet never scans that block.

Fix in Monero GUI: Settings, Info, then “(Change)” next to Wallet restore height. Enter a block number or date before the deposit and let it rescan. If the balance is still wrong, go lower.

Fix in Feather: check Help, Debug info for the current restore height; if it is too late, restore from seed again with an earlier date.

Fix in Monero CLI: set refresh-from-block-height <block> followed by rescan_bc.

If you know the block height of the deposit from the explorer, set the restore height a few thousand blocks before it.

Step 4: Right wallet, right account, right seed?

Monero wallets can hold many accounts, each with many subaddresses. Things to check:

• Accounts: a deposit to a subaddress in account 1 does not appear in account 0’s balance. Switch accounts or view the total balance.
• Subaddress lookahead: wallets only scan ahead a certain number of unused subaddresses. If you generated many subaddresses and used a high-numbered one, increase the lookahead. Feather 2.9.1 fixed lookahead for 25-word seed restores specifically, so update first.
• Seed type and passphrase: restoring the same words as a different seed type, or with a different passphrase, produces a completely different, empty wallet. Compare the restored primary address with your original one.
• Multiple wallets: many people have a phone wallet and a desktop wallet. Make sure you gave the sender the address of the wallet you are checking.

Step 5: Locked funds and unlock time

Monero locks newly received outputs for about 10 blocks, roughly 20 minutes, before they can be spent. Wallets show these as a locked or “awaiting confirmation” balance. Change from your own outgoing transactions is new output too, so after you send, part of your balance can look locked for the same period. This is normal and resolves itself.

If funds have been locked for many hours, check:

• Is your wallet still syncing? A wallet that is behind the network cannot see the blocks that unlock your funds.
• Is your node behind? Switch to another node.
• Does the transaction carry a custom unlock time? The protocol historically let senders lock outputs until a future block. Nodes no longer relay new transactions that use this, and the Monero project announced in May 2026 that the feature will be removed at consensus with the FCMP++ upgrade. Transactions created after 1 June 2026 with an unlock time set beyond the fork will unlock immediately when the fork arrives. Older transactions keep their original unlock time.

Warning: Be wary of anyone paying you with outputs that claim to be spendable but show as locked far into the future. The Monero project notes that software mistakenly treating such funds as spendable has caused losses in the past.

Balance too high or too low after spending

Sometimes the problem is not a missing deposit but a balance that does not match what you expect after sending.

If you migrated from MyMonero or Exodus

Both stopped supporting Monero: Exodus on 18 August 2025, MyMonero on 6 January 2026. If you restored one of their seeds elsewhere and see nothing:

• Use the correct format. Exodus offered a 12-word Exodus phrase and a 25-word Monero mnemonic; Cake Wallet can restore both. MyMonero used 25-word seeds.
• Set a restore date before your first deposit. Exodus suggests 26 April 2019 if you are unsure.
• Let the wallet fully sync. Old wallets restored from early dates take a while.

When to ask for help, and how to stay safe

If none of the steps work, ask on r/monerosupport or Monero StackExchange. Include your wallet name and version, whether you use a local or remote node, the restore height you used and whether a tx key check succeeded. Never share:

• your seed phrase,
• your private spend key,
• screenshots that show either of them.

Warning: “Recovery experts” who DM you after you post are almost always scammers. Legitimate helpers answer publicly and never need your seed.

Summary checklist

1. Get the txid and confirm it is mined.
2. Verify the payment with a tx key, or confirm the destination address.
3. Make sure the wallet is fully synced and the node is current.
4. Lower the restore height and rescan.
5. Check accounts, subaddress lookahead, seed type and passphrase.
6. Wait about 20 minutes for new funds to unlock.
7. Rescan spent outputs and check frozen coins if the balance looks off after spending.

For related guides on syncing, restore heights and seeds, browse the Wallets category.