Windows 7 - Windows Messenger 5.1 new sign-on problem

Asked By Teija

19-Nov-09 10:01 AM

Can we keep using Windows Messenger 4.7, 5.0 and 5.1 in on o ur Windows XP
desktops at work for the foreseeable future? The interface is SOOO much
cleaner than the Windows Live Messenger.
In the past week or so we have have lots of problems with people not being
able to sign in:
1) The automatic signing-in process just keeps going without ever signing
the user in. They have to cancel sign-in and sometimes fully exit the program
before manually signing in.

2) Users are repeated being prompted to enter a display name with the
message: "Please provide a display name so you can sign in. Do not use your
e-mail address or leave the box blank. We now require a display name that is
not your e-mail address to protect you from e-mail virus attacks."

They enter their user name and are prompted again the next time they log
into their computer.

Any help on how to solve these would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

19-Nov-09 11:52 AM

We have recently seen this issue crop up at one of our client sites.
One fix I have seen that might help with the automatic sign-on process
hanging is to modify the registry setting for the server address to
which MSN is trying to connect.  The registry key can be found at
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\MessengerService\.  Edit the String "Server" to
read messenger.hotmail.com;64.4.34.200:1863

I still do not know what is causing the repeated Display Name prompt,
but I am thinking it is something being forced down by Microsoft for
security reasons.

Let me know if that helps.


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19-Nov-09 01:31 PM

Thanks for the prompt reply!
I had one client test it and it worked for solving the logging in problem.
I will test a bit further and will report back.

Anyone with ideas about the repeated Display Name prompt?

19-Nov-09 06:44 PM

Display name prompts.
My forum entry immediately followed yours with this issue.  I have been told
that it is related to having an incomplete profile on windows Live.
Particularly not having a full name.  It seems that microsoft have
'tightened' security by forcing you to either add something (anything)  as
your name in your profile or by making your life a pain by repeatedly asking
you for the display name that you have already entered.  I have not been able
to logon yet to windows live to prove this as there is a technical problem
with it.  I expect it cannot cope with all the people typing false names into
their profiles.

20-Nov-09 09:21 AM

This worked for me.  Thanks!  I am testing on some other accounts now,
and will report if I find out otherwise.  Thanks again!


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23-Nov-09 01:20 PM

Thank you, Kevbirder. Your solution took care of the display name issue.

I am still testing the registry modification suggested by  WindowsUser2009.
Does that really stick even after reboots? I will report back, and would love
to hear from anyone else with a suggestion.

23-Nov-09 01:37 PM

Sorry to report that the registry modification does not seem to work.

When you are signed into Windows Messenger, you can see the IP address listed
in HKCU\Software\Microsoft\MessengerService, so I edited it to match what
WindowsUser2009 suggested: messenger.hotmail.com;64.4.34.200;1863 (mine
originally had a different IP address  - everything else was the same.

I wondered about this, because when you are NOT signed into Messenger,
there is no IP address after messenger.hotmail.com in the registry. So,
anyway, I made minde 64.4.34.200 and then signed out and exited .... so far,
so good. The IP stayed in my registry and I was able to start Messenger again
with no problems.

Next, I rebooted my computer to test further. To my disappointment, I was
right back to Messenger trying to start, the icon flashing with no success. I
canceled sign-in, exited the program, launched it again from Start, Programs,
Windows Messenger, and was now able to sign in.

Another little trick that worked was the following, which makes me wonder
whether this issue is somehow tied into Kevbirder's suggestion .... not sure
how, though. Here is what happened:

After I canceled the automatic sign-in that was NOT successful, I chose

Take-away from this to me is that automatic sign-in does not work for
Windows Messenger version 5.1 (others?) any longer. Any ideas?

11-Dec-09 01:30 PM

OK folks, I have a friend that just called with this bit of repeated requests
for him to fill in a display name. This is a non-computer literate user. I am
not going to coach him on the phone to go into his registery file!

Any other approach? If he fills in a display name will the messages go away?

12-Dec-09 10:45 AM

Hi,

If his only problem is the sign in name he does not need to go anywhere near
his registry to fix it.

He just needs to enter his nickname as the first name in his windows live
profile - the sign in problem is because there is either no name entered or
it is listed as an email address which is not allowed as a valid nickname.


dr del