Step-by-step
- Stop typing the phrase into the browser chrome. Only the Import screen at gaurdwallet.com/app (or the extension you installed yourself) should see the words. Close phishing tabs.
- Set 12 or 24 to match the paper. The toggle must match the backup. 11, 13, 18, or 25 words cannot checksum. Paste-into-first-field splits on whitespace.
- Re-enter from paper using autocomplete. Each field suggests BIP-39 English words. A checksum failure after all words look “real” usually means two words were swapped. Then create a new local password.
Why the checksum fails
BIP-39 encodes entropy plus a few checksum bits. GaurdWallet uses audited @scure/bip39 with the English list — the same family of tests as official BIP vectors in our core package. A single wrong word, an extra space that creates a 13th token, or a hidden passphrase wallet all fail this UI string.
| You typed | What the parser sees | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| 11 words | Incomplete mnemonic | Find the missing word on paper; do not invent one |
| 12 real words, one typo | Unknown token or bad checksum | Pick from the datalist; English only |
| 12 words swapped | All in wordlist, checksum fails | Re-copy order from paper |
| Hidden 25th passphrase | Valid 12/24 without passphrase | That is a different wallet; GaurdWallet Import has no extra passphrase field |
A site that “validates your seed to unlock support” is theft. Our Import flow never phones home with the mnemonic. Keys stay in the scrypt + AES-256-GCM vault on device.
What Import does not do
It does not talk to MetaMask, Phantom, or iCloud. It does not accept raw private keys in the 12-word form. Accounts you imported into MetaMask by private key are not on this mnemonic — see what carries over. 12 vs 24 entropy is a separate guide; both lengths are valid BIP-39 if the checksum matches.
import.invalid → “This is not a valid BIP-39 recovery phrase”
validator → @scure/bip39 English wordlist + checksum
passphrase → not a field on Import (different addresses if the old wallet used one)If you created the wallet in GaurdWallet and this error appears on a second device, you are not typing the original words. The verify step at create time only checks one word — the paper is the source of truth.
FAQ
Does GaurdWallet support languages other than English BIP-39? Import is English wordlist only. A Japanese or French mnemonic will fail this error even if another wallet accepted it. Use an English backup or send funds on-chain to a new English wallet.
Can I skip the checksum? No. A wallet that accepts invalid checksums will derive a random empty account. That looks like “balance is zero” and loses you time, not a backdoor into the real wallet.
I have a 15-word Trezor-style backup That is not the 12/24 BIP-39 GaurdWallet Import expects. Use the vendor’s recovery tool, then send on-chain to a GaurdWallet Receive address you control.