Windows Messenger Auto-Logon Failures

Jonathan Kay, little help if you please?


It seems most people want Windows Messenger gone out of their lives forever.
I just want auto logon to work after SP2. I don't want MSN Messenger.

Why does XP SP2 state that it ships with the "latest" Messenger 4.7 when 5.0
has been out for so long? I found my 5.0 installs were overwritten by 4.7.
I downloaded 5.1 and installed it. Still no auto-logon.

Do you have any ideas on the auto-logon failue issue? I have yet to see any
mention anywhere of the direct cause for sudden auto-logon failures that
refuse to go away. Any other alternatives would be appreciated.

I had 9 user workstations automatically logging into Windows Messenger.
Then I applied XP SP2 on all of them and now Windows Messenger fails auto
logon on 4 of them. It doesn't even appear to try. Manual logons work fine
amd Windows Messenger works after that.

I have tried the "Sign In As..." automatic logon checkbox. It doesn't
stick. I have tried setting the auto logon checkbox in Outlook Express even
though we use Outlook. I'll try any checkbox which might set some televant
registry entry somewhere.

I have tried removing Windows Messenger with the well-known:
RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %windir%\INF\msmsgs.inf,BLC.Remove
and reinstallation did not fix it. In fact, running the Windows Messenger
installer after this little suggestion brings up the option of Repair/Remove
with Remove grayed out. Big help that is!

Uninstalling Windows Messenger 5.1 with "msiexec /x
{C3A6819F-62D3-4750-AF1C-28206DDF2C2E}" was successfull, but reinstallation
was ineffective for auto-logon. How about the uninstall product codes for
4.7 and 5.0? What should I look for concerning what might be a permissions
problem affecting auto-logon?

Auto-logon is successful under the local Administrator account. But not the
regular domain user account, which is where I need it. I tried giving the
user Administrator permissions to see if that would have any effect because,
as I said earlier, auto-logon works when I log into the local Administrator
account. But it did not help.

I tried looking in the HKCU registries for the user that works and the user
that doesn't to find something obvious but there are so many bit-level
settings, it's impossible for me to know what might be wrong.

I have tried "removing" Messenger from the control panel's Add/Remove
Windows Components, but we all know that's just cosmetic.

I'm all out of the common solutions. Jonathan, do you, or does anyone have
an informed solution?

--
JWP

Greetings JWP,

RunDll32... *IS* the uninstallation for 4.7, I'm not quite sure what you're looking for
there. Uninstalling 5.0 isn't going to do anything to solve this problem. As you've already
noted, the problem is not within the application, but within the profile.

Windows Messenger 5.x is considered a separate product in the "Windows Messenger" family and
is not related to "Windows" per se; therefore is not included in XP.

Regardless, have you tried closing down Messenger and removing the
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\MessengerServ ice key and then trying again (don't bother
uninstalling or anything, just try it)?

If that doesn't work, if you pull up the keyring (click Start, then Run, type: control
keymgr.dll and click OK), is there a Passport.Net\* (Passport) entry?
____________________________________________
Jonathan Kay
Microsoft MVP - Windows Messenger/MSN Messenger
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com
All posts unless otherwise specified are (c) 2004 Jonathan Kay.
You *must* contact me for redistribution rights.

"JWPlatt" wrote in message
...
Jonathan Kay, little help if you please?


It seems most people want Windows Messenger gone out of their lives forever.
I just want auto logon to work after SP2. I don't want MSN Messenger.

Why does XP SP2 state that it ships with the "latest" Messenger 4.7 when 5.0
has been out for so long? I found my 5.0 installs were overwritten by 4.7.
I downloaded 5.1 and installed it. Still no auto-logon.

Do you have any ideas on the auto-logon failue issue? I have yet to see any
mention anywhere of the direct cause for sudden auto-logon failures that
refuse to go away. Any other alternatives would be appreciated.

I had 9 user workstations automatically logging into Windows Messenger.
Then I applied XP SP2 on all of them and now Windows Messenger fails auto
logon on 4 of them. It doesn't even appear to try. Manual logons work fine
amd Windows Messenger works after that.

I have tried the "Sign In As..." automatic logon checkbox. It doesn't
stick. I have tried setting the auto logon checkbox in Outlook Express even
though we use Outlook. I'll try any checkbox which might set some televant
registry entry somewhere.

I have tried removing Windows Messenger with the well-known:
RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %windir%\INF\msmsgs.inf,BLC.Remove
and reinstallation did not fix it. In fact, running the Windows Messenger
installer after this little suggestion brings up the option of Repair/Remove
with Remove grayed out. Big help that is!

Uninstalling Windows Messenger 5.1 with "msiexec /x
{C3A6819F-62D3-4750-AF1C-28206DDF2C2E}" was successfull, but reinstallation
was ineffective for auto-logon. How about the uninstall product codes for
4.7 and 5.0? What should I look for concerning what might be a permissions
problem affecting auto-logon?

Auto-logon is successful under the local Administrator account. But not the
regular domain user account, which is where I need it. I tried giving the
user Administrator permissions to see if that would have any effect because,
as I said earlier, auto-logon works when I log into the local Administrator
account. But it did not help.

I tried looking in the HKCU registries for the user that works and the user
that doesn't to find something obvious but there are so many bit-level
settings, it's impossible for me to know what might be wrong.

I have tried "removing" Messenger from the control panel's Add/Remove
Windows Components, but we all know that's just cosmetic.

I'm all out of the common solutions. Jonathan, do you, or does anyone have
an informed solution?

--
JWP

Jonathan,

Yes, 27th time's a charm! Deleting the MessengerServices key fixed it.
Thanks!

You had given us in another message the uninstall product code for 5.1. I
was also asking for prior version uninstall codes, including 4.7.

A note on XP SP2 and Messenger:

The first note on this page:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/messenger/download.asp
says, "The latest version of Windows Messenger is available for Windows XP
in Windows XP Service Pack 2." The latest version of Windows Messenger is
5.1 which would imply it, or 5.0, is the one included with SP2. On other
pages, however, Microsoft states the "latest" version is 4.7.

The fact is that installation of SP2 broke Messenger auto-logon. When SP2
installation was complete, the 5.0 installations I had done were back to 4.7.
At the very least, the notes saying Messenger is "included" with SP2 are
misleading both in terms that SP2 includes Messenger and that the "latest" is
4.7 instead of 5.0 or 5.1. At worst, SP2 installed an older version of
Messenger over a newer one and broke it.

How do I delete te messengerservices key?

"Jonathan Kay [MVP]" wrote:

Greetings JWP,

RunDll32... *IS* the uninstallation for 4.7, I'm not quite sure what you're looking for
there. Uninstalling 5.0 isn't going to do anything to solve this problem. As you've already
noted, the problem is not within the application, but within the profile.

Windows Messenger 5.x is considered a separate product in the "Windows Messenger" family and
is not related to "Windows" per se; therefore is not included in XP.

Regardless, have you tried closing down Messenger and removing the
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\MessengerServ ice key and then trying again (don't bother
uninstalling or anything, just try it)?

If that doesn't work, if you pull up the keyring (click Start, then Run, type: control
keymgr.dll and click OK), is there a Passport.Net\* (Passport) entry?
____________________________________________
Jonathan Kay
Microsoft MVP - Windows Messenger/MSN Messenger
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com
All posts unless otherwise specified are (c) 2004 Jonathan Kay.
You *must* contact me for redistribution rights.

"JWPlatt" wrote in message
...
Jonathan Kay, little help if you please?


It seems most people want Windows Messenger gone out of their lives forever.
I just want auto logon to work after SP2. I don't want MSN Messenger.

Why does XP SP2 state that it ships with the "latest" Messenger 4.7 when 5.0
has been out for so long? I found my 5.0 installs were overwritten by 4.7.
I downloaded 5.1 and installed it. Still no auto-logon.

Do you have any ideas on the auto-logon failue issue? I have yet to see any
mention anywhere of the direct cause for sudden auto-logon failures that
refuse to go away. Any other alternatives would be appreciated.

I had 9 user workstations automatically logging into Windows Messenger.
Then I applied XP SP2 on all of them and now Windows Messenger fails auto
logon on 4 of them. It doesn't even appear to try. Manual logons work fine
amd Windows Messenger works after that.

I have tried the "Sign In As..." automatic logon checkbox. It doesn't
stick. I have tried setting the auto logon checkbox in Outlook Express even
though we use Outlook. I'll try any checkbox which might set some televant
registry entry somewhere.

I have tried removing Windows Messenger with the well-known:
RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %windir%\INF\msmsgs.inf,BLC.Remove
and reinstallation did not fix it. In fact, running the Windows Messenger
installer after this little suggestion brings up the option of Repair/Remove
with Remove grayed out. Big help that is!

Uninstalling Windows Messenger 5.1 with "msiexec /x
{C3A6819F-62D3-4750-AF1C-28206DDF2C2E}" was successfull, but reinstallation
was ineffective for auto-logon. How about the uninstall product codes for
4.7 and 5.0? What should I look for concerning what might be a permissions
problem affecting auto-logon?

Auto-logon is successful under the local Administrator account. But not the
regular domain user account, which is where I need it. I tried giving the
user Administrator permissions to see if that would have any effect because,
as I said earlier, auto-logon works when I log into the local Administrator
account. But it did not help.

I tried looking in the HKCU registries for the user that works and the user
that doesn't to find something obvious but there are so many bit-level
settings, it's impossible for me to know what might be wrong.

I have tried "removing" Messenger from the control panel's Add/Remove
Windows Components, but we all know that's just cosmetic.

I'm all out of the common solutions. Jonathan, do you, or does anyone have
an informed solution?

--
JWP

Hi Eric,

Click Start, then Run, enter "regedit" and click OK. Then just navigate to it (it'll look
like a folder on the left, similar to Explorer), right-click on it and choose Delete.

--
Jonathan Kay
Microsoft MVP - Windows Messenger/MSN Messenger/Windows Live Messenger
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com
All posts unless otherwise specified are (c) 2006 Jonathan Kay.
You *must* contact me for redistribution rights.
--


"Eric Rose" Eric wrote in message
...
How do I delete te messengerservices key?

"Jonathan Kay [MVP]" wrote:

Greetings JWP,

RunDll32... *IS* the uninstallation for 4.7, I'm not quite sure what you're looking for
there. Uninstalling 5.0 isn't going to do anything to solve this problem. As you've
already
noted, the problem is not within the application, but within the profile.

Windows Messenger 5.x is considered a separate product in the "Windows Messenger" family
and
is not related to "Windows" per se; therefore is not included in XP.

Regardless, have you tried closing down Messenger and removing the
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\MessengerServ ice key and then trying again (don't
bother
uninstalling or anything, just try it)?

If that doesn't work, if you pull up the keyring (click Start, then Run, type: control
keymgr.dll and click OK), is there a Passport.Net\* (Passport) entry?
____________________________________________
Jonathan Kay
Microsoft MVP - Windows Messenger/MSN Messenger
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com
All posts unless otherwise specified are (c) 2004 Jonathan Kay.
You *must* contact me for redistribution rights.

"JWPlatt" wrote in message
...
Jonathan Kay, little help if you please?


It seems most people want Windows Messenger gone out of their lives forever.
I just want auto logon to work after SP2. I don't want MSN Messenger.

Why does XP SP2 state that it ships with the "latest" Messenger 4.7 when 5.0
has been out for so long? I found my 5.0 installs were overwritten by 4.7.
I downloaded 5.1 and installed it. Still no auto-logon.

Do you have any ideas on the auto-logon failue issue? I have yet to see any
mention anywhere of the direct cause for sudden auto-logon failures that
refuse to go away. Any other alternatives would be appreciated.

I had 9 user workstations automatically logging into Windows Messenger.
Then I applied XP SP2 on all of them and now Windows Messenger fails auto
logon on 4 of them. It doesn't even appear to try. Manual logons work fine
amd Windows Messenger works after that.

I have tried the "Sign In As..." automatic logon checkbox. It doesn't
stick. I have tried setting the auto logon checkbox in Outlook Express even
though we use Outlook. I'll try any checkbox which might set some televant
registry entry somewhere.

I have tried removing Windows Messenger with the well-known:
RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %windir%\INF\msmsgs.inf,BLC.Remove
and reinstallation did not fix it. In fact, running the Windows Messenger
installer after this little suggestion brings up the option of Repair/Remove
with Remove grayed out. Big help that is!

Uninstalling Windows Messenger 5.1 with "msiexec /x
{C3A6819F-62D3-4750-AF1C-28206DDF2C2E}" was successfull, but reinstallation
was ineffective for auto-logon. How about the uninstall product codes for
4.7 and 5.0? What should I look for concerning what might be a permissions
problem affecting auto-logon?

Auto-logon is successful under the local Administrator account. But not the
regular domain user account, which is where I need it. I tried giving the
user Administrator permissions to see if that would have any effect because,
as I said earlier, auto-logon works when I log into the local Administrator
account. But it did not help.

I tried looking in the HKCU registries for the user that works and the user
that doesn't to find something obvious but there are so many bit-level
settings, it's impossible for me to know what might be wrong.

I have tried "removing" Messenger from the control panel's Add/Remove
Windows Components, but we all know that's just cosmetic.

I'm all out of the common solutions. Jonathan, do you, or does anyone have
an informed solution?

--
JWP