MSN Messenger 7.5 configures Office 2007 endlessly

[oscareczek]

Hi, it’s my first post here.

1. I couldn’t create a topic via MSN Messenger 7.5 browser + IE11, I had to do this on Firefox.
2. Every time I sign in, Windows Installer window appears and tries to configure Office 2007, but it fails and loops, I have to cancel it twice to see contacts list. I have Windows 7 x64. Has anyone got this before?

[TReKiE]

Assuming you’re starting Messenger via a shortcut, the issue you’re seeing with Office when you start Messenger is a feature of the Windows Installer known as Advertised Shortcuts. When one of these shortcuts is used, before starting the application, the Windows Installer will attempt to automatically repair the application and anything else which is it associated with. Microsoft largely gave up on this feature in modern times as what you’re seeing was not that uncommon a problem, but when both Messenger 7 and Office 2007 were made, it was the norm of all the installers of that era.

The quickest fix is to create a new shortcut to Messenger’s msnmsgr.exe yourself and delete the old one. To do so, right-click on the desktop, choose the New option, Shortcut, Select the location of Messenger (C:\Program Files (x86)\MSN Mesesnger\msnmsgr.exe), click Next, click Finish, and then move the shortcut to your start menu, or the taskbar, or wherever you prefer.

Alternatively, if my memory serves me correctly, you could uninstall Office completely and install it again to clear the problem as well.

With regards to creating a topic here via the Messenger tab, you need to apply the following change:

Fixing Messenger's tabs to use the latest version of IE

Some of the more recent tabs now added in Messenger do not appear correctly or throw javascript errors due to the IE WebBrowser Control which defaults to IE7 mode unless you tell it otherwise. Thankfully, it’s easy to fix most of them by adding some values into the registry. Quick fix Close Messenger fully - right-click Messenger’s icon in the notification area (by the taskbar clock) and choose Exit Download and run this .reg file Run the .reg file, confirm administrator rights for the regi…

Although I think a full browser window is preferred anyway myself .

[oscareczek]

Well, the part with built-in browser works, however, changing shortcut didn’t help, same with repairing Office (it’s not such a big issue that I want to reinstall it entirely). Thanks for help anyway.

[TReKiE]

Unfortunately using the repair mechanism with Office doesn’t touch the Installer part of it, as that’s what it’s using to do the repair.

Are you absolutely sure you’re using your new shortcut and nothing else? Is this happening on Windows logon (if you have Messenger starting up automatically that is)?

As I didn’t mention it before, here is the difference between an advertised shortcut and a standard one, note the Target fields, pixelated icon, and disabled buttons.

Advertised:

Standard:

Another possible alternative (and also a good test of where the issue might be) would be to copy your \Program Files (x86)\MSN Messenger folder to the Desktop, uninstall MSN Messenger 7.5 from Programs and Features in the Control Panel, and then move the MSN Messenger folder back to Program Files (x86). As older versions of Messenger on modern Windows do not require installation, it should continue working and you’ve already created a new shortcut for it.

If you still are seeing the problem after that, then something else is going on.

[oscareczek]

Even without any shortcut, nothing changes, uninstalling didn’t help either.