Windows Messenger 4.7 -- Your search failed for an unknown reason

[Mark]

In Windows XP SP2 Home Edition with all updates installed, when I run
Windows Messenger 4.7 (4.7.3001), log in to my .NET account, and click Add a
Contact, I do the following steps:

1. Select 'Search for Contact'. Click Next.
2. Enter the person's First and Last Name in the fields.
3. When I click Next, the next window shows this message:

Operation could not be completed

Your search failed for an unknown reason. Please try again later.

There is no firewall blocking Windows Messenger. I have the Windows XP SP2
Firewall enabled and Windows Messenger is in the Exceptions. I even tried
this with Windows Firewall disabled, same result.

This problem in Windows Messenger 4.7 has been occurring for some time. Is
there a problem on Microsoft's end that is causing this problem?

Thanks.

 

[S.Sengupta]

Instead of using version 4.7,switch over to ver.5.1
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...73-5f8c-4b9a-940f-9157a3b3d774&DisplayLang=en

regards,
S.Sengupta[MS-MVP]

 

[Mark]

Thank you.

I did not know there is a Windows Messenger 5.1 version available. This is
not available through Windows Update.

Instead of using version 4.7,switch over to ver.5.1
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...73-5f8c-4b9a-940f-9157a3b3d774&DisplayLang=en

regards,
S.Sengupta[MS-MVP]

In Windows XP SP2 Home Edition with all updates installed, when I run
Windows Messenger 4.7 (4.7.3001), log in to my .NET account, and click
Add a Contact, I do the following steps:

1. Select 'Search for Contact'. Click Next.
2. Enter the person's First and Last Name in the fields.
3. When I click Next, the next window shows this message:

Operation could not be completed

Your search failed for an unknown reason. Please try again later.

There is no firewall blocking Windows Messenger. I have the Windows XP
SP2 Firewall enabled and Windows Messenger is in the Exceptions. I even
tried this with Windows Firewall disabled, same result.

This problem in Windows Messenger 4.7 has been occurring for some time.
Is there a problem on Microsoft's end that is causing this problem?

Thanks.

 

[Mark]

After installing Windows Messenger 5.1, I tried the same steps again. The
same error occurs.