diff --git a/src/init.cpp b/src/init.cpp
index 7e1519769..0766abe03 100644
--- a/src/init.cpp
+++ b/src/init.cpp
@@ -2271,7 +2271,10 @@ bool AppInit2(boost::thread_group& threadGroup, CScheduler& scheduler)
         if (nLoadWalletRet != DB_LOAD_OK)
         {
             if (nLoadWalletRet == DB_CORRUPT)
-                strErrors << _("Error loading wallet.dat: Wallet corrupted") << "\n";
+                strErrors << _("Error loading wallet.dat: Wallet corrupted. If this wallet was last opened "
+                               "by an older version, move wallet.dat aside and restore from your seed "
+                               "phrase with -mnemonic=\"<your seed phrase>\" -rescan (see debug.log for "
+                               "the specific record at fault).") << "\n";
             else if (nLoadWalletRet == DB_NONCRITICAL_ERROR)
             {
                 string msg(_("Warning: error reading wallet.dat! All keys read correctly, but transaction data"
diff --git a/src/wallet/walletdb.cpp b/src/wallet/walletdb.cpp
index 31e83e4b5..47bc658a4 100644
--- a/src/wallet/walletdb.cpp
+++ b/src/wallet/walletdb.cpp
@@ -420,6 +420,9 @@ public:
     vector<uint256> vWalletUpgrade;
     // True once a well-formed "hdchain" record has been loaded.
     bool fHDChainRead;
+    // True when that record had to be repaired on read (see the "hdchain" case
+    // in ReadKeyValue); LoadWallet rewrites it in full form afterwards.
+    bool fHDChainRepaired;
 
     CWalletScanState() {
         nKeys = nCKeys = nKeyMeta = nZKeys = nCZKeys = nZKeyMeta = nSapZAddrs = 0;
@@ -427,6 +430,7 @@ public:
         fAnyUnordered = false;
         nFileVersion = 0;
         fHDChainRead = false;
+        fHDChainRepaired = false;
     }
 };
 
@@ -851,14 +855,48 @@ ReadKeyValue(CWallet* pwallet, CDataStream& ssKey, CDataStream& ssValue,
         else if (strType == "hdchain")
         {
             CHDChain chain;
+            // Keep an untouched copy: a failed >> has already consumed part of ssValue.
+            CDataStream ssRetry(ssValue.begin(), ssValue.end(), ssValue.GetType(), ssValue.GetVersion());
             try {
                 ssValue >> chain;
             } catch (...) {
-                // Do not let this land in the "user can live with it" bucket:
-                // report it, and leave wss.fHDChainRead false so LoadWallet
-                // turns it into DB_CORRUPT when a seed is present.
-                strErr = "Error reading wallet database: hdchain record is corrupt";
-                return false;
+                // Downgrade repair. A build predating VERSION_HD_TRANSPARENT writes
+                // this record back with only the four base fields while leaving
+                // nVersion at whatever it read, so the version-gated reads above run
+                // off the end. Without this, one address generated under such a build
+                // makes the wallet unopenable here ("Wallet corrupted") even though
+                // nothing is actually lost.
+                //
+                // Recovering is safe for a v1/v2 record: everything derivation needs
+                // is either in the four-field prefix or in the separate hdseed record,
+                // and the trailing counters are self-healing -- DeriveNewChildKey and
+                // GenerateNewSaplingZKey both skip indices whose key the wallet
+                // already holds, so restarting a counter at 0 re-walks past existing
+                // keys instead of reissuing them.
+                chain = CHDChain();
+                try {
+                    ssRetry >> chain.nVersion;
+                    ssRetry >> chain.seedFp;
+                    ssRetry >> chain.nCreateTime;
+                    ssRetry >> chain.saplingAccountCounter;
+                } catch (...) {
+                    // Short even in the base fields: genuinely corrupt.
+                    strErr = "Error reading wallet database: hdchain record is corrupt";
+                    return false;
+                }
+                if (chain.nVersion >= CHDChain::VERSION_HD_MNEMONIC) {
+                    // A record claiming to carry fMnemonicSeed must not have it
+                    // guessed: that flag selects the derivation input, so defaulting
+                    // it wrong yields a different key tree in silence. Fail loud, as
+                    // this branch always did.
+                    strErr = "Error reading wallet database: hdchain record is corrupt";
+                    return false;
+                }
+                chain.transparentChildCounter = 0;
+                chain.fMnemonicSeed           = false;
+                wss.fHDChainRepaired = true;
+                LogPrintf("Repairing a truncated hdchain record (nVersion=%d): it was last written by "
+                          "a wallet build that predates the transparent HD counter\n", chain.nVersion);
             }
             wss.fHDChainRead = true;
             pwallet->SetHDChain(chain, true);
@@ -1016,6 +1054,18 @@ DBErrors CWalletDB::LoadWallet(CWallet* pwallet)
     if (fNoncriticalErrors && result == DB_LOAD_OK)
         result = DB_NONCRITICAL_ERROR;
 
+    // Rewrite a repaired record in full form so the next load is clean and the
+    // transparent counter starts being persisted again.
+    if (wss.fHDChainRepaired && pwallet->HaveHDSeed())
+    {
+        try {
+            pwallet->SetHDChain(pwallet->GetHDChain(), false);
+            LogPrintf("Rewrote the repaired hdchain record in full form\n");
+        } catch (const std::exception& e) {
+            LogPrintf("Could not rewrite the repaired hdchain record: %s\n", e.what());
+        }
+    }
+
     // A wallet that holds an HD seed but whose hdchain record is missing or
     // unreadable is NOT safe to run. hdChain would fall back to its SetNull
     // defaults (walletdb.h:105-113), which (a) clears fMnemonicSeed, switching
@@ -1027,7 +1077,9 @@ DBErrors CWalletDB::LoadWallet(CWallet* pwallet)
     // Fail loud instead of quietly deriving into the wrong tree.
     if (pwallet->HaveHDSeed() && !wss.fHDChainRead)
     {
-        LogPrintf("Error loading wallet.dat: HD seed present but the hdchain record is missing or corrupt\n");
+        LogPrintf("Error loading wallet.dat: HD seed present but the hdchain record is missing or corrupt. "
+                  "Recover by restoring from the seed phrase: move wallet.dat aside and start with "
+                  "-mnemonic=\"<your seed phrase>\" -rescan\n");
         return DB_CORRUPT;
     }