Can't connect to MSN messaging service

[Darrian]

Not sure this is the right place to post this. If not, sorry.

A while ago I stopped being able to connect to MSN on my Windows Phone (HTC Trophy). At first I thought it was an issue with the phone, but today I noticed some weird things. The messaging button wasn't click-able in outlook.com. When I opened up Skype for Windows 8 only my Skype contacts showed up, not my MSN contacts. Trillian doesn't display any of my MSN contacts as being online. The Skype desktop app shows all my msn contacts, but their service icon is red. I'm not even sure what it means.

Does it mean that I have a contact on my list that isn't authorized (or in this case, have all my contacts "de-authorized" me)? Does it mean that it's not connecting to the MSN servers anymore due to the changes they made to Windows Messenger that supposedly made it so that Skype was the only app that was actually SUPPOSED to work and something has backfired with my account. This is incredibly frustrating, I haven't been able to talk to anybody via MSN for more than a month now, and that's where 90% of my contacts are.

Has anybody else had this issue, and have you been able to fix it? I've looked everywhere I can think in my Microsoft Account settings and Skype settings and come up with nothing. All my contacts do show up via "People" on my phone, the Windows 8 app, and the outlook.com web app, I just can't talk to any of them unless they have facebook or I want to email or text them.

[Brandon H Supervisor]

the msn service has been shut down now, they've been fully converting people over to skype for a little over a month now

[goretsky Supervisor]

Hello,

The following blog post was recently linked to in Neowin's News section.

Use Messenger Reviver 2 to bring back Messenger and beat Skype

Perhaps you will find it of use.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

[Darrian]

I think you guys are completely missing the point. I'm not using MSN/Windows Messenger. I'm using Windows Phone. I'm using Skype, the official Microsoft chat client now. I'm using the chat service built into Outlook.com. This is not an issue with Windows Messenger; I don't even have it installed.

[Tha Bloo Monkee]

Hello,

The following blog post was recently linked to in Neowin's News section.

Use Messenger Reviver 2 to bring back Messenger and beat Skype

Perhaps you will find it of use.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

lol, the 2nd line states it's on Windows phone.

[j2006]

Hi there,

Messenger and Skype now use the same backend. Therefore people still on the Messenger network and on the Skype network can chat seamlessly with each other. However, the Windows Live Messenger CLIENT has been discontinued.

The "Messaging" Hub on Windows Phone, Windows 8, Outlook.com and Xbox still works as usual since it's the same backend.

When you login to Skype, you need to click "Microsoft account" and then login with your Messenger username and password (Hopefully they change this soon, so you don't have to click that first).

You should then see all your Messenger contacts there. You'll need to merge accounts if you don't see your past Skype contacts there.

If you're unable to login to the Messaging hub on your Windows Phone anymore, there may be an issue with your account or your phone, since it should still work perfectly fine.

Also, since you said 90% of your contacts are there, it could be an issue with them as well. But really, it all should work perfectly fine as long as you are using your Microsoft account still and not a separate Skype account.

Hope this helps :)

[Darrian]

Ok, well, ****. At some point, it appears, 100% of my contacts were blocked. Going through the list with Trillian I was able to see that they were blocked and easily unblock them. Still haven't confirmed on my phone, but everywhere else people are appearing online, so I assume it will work there, too. I wonder wtf happened there? I know I didn't block them myself.

[goretsky Supervisor]

Hello,

Ah... I thought that Skype for Windows 8 and Trillian meant a desktop problem and you were just confirming on the smartphone. Sorry for the incorrect advice.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky