Can't use audio, video and file transfer in Windows Messenger

[Guest]

Can somebody help me. I've turned off my firewall like most of you said to do and I stll can't send files or use the audio/video on Windows messenger. I have DSL modem going to a Linksys router to two computers and it won't work. Running a fresh install of Windows XP.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

thanks

 

[Bill Holt]

Can somebody help me. I've turned off my firewall like most of you
said to do and I stll can't send files or use the audio/video on
Windows messenger. I have DSL modem going to a Linksys router to two
computers and it won't work. Running a fresh install of Windows XP.

I have a similar problem, but with some help from Netgear for my router
I have got a bit further.

For me the audio and video worked with the software firewalls turned off
between my XP machines on my side of the router. This doesn't work
between MSN Messenger and Windows Messenger, so both machines must be
running XP to work without installing the separate MSN Messenger.

To work through a router, Windows Messenger has to be able to open and
close all sorts of ports on the router's firewall, and it uses uPnP for
this. So the router has to support uPnP. My Netgear router said on the
box that it did. It came with a slightly old version of firmware, which
I upgraded to the latest version on their site.

At this stage I contacted Netgear, who upgraded me to an even later beta
version of firmware, but this didn't help. Then, on their advice I
completely uninstalled the Norton firewall instead of merely disabling
it. This Norton uninstall has to be done by choosing 'Change' , then
'Uninstall' in the Add remove programs app, not by choosing the direct
'Uninstall', which is a Microsoft function and thus doesn't work.

I also found that one machine had an old dial up connection set up, but
not the default and long since unused, to use ICS. This was removed.

After doing all this and re-booting the machine, one machine will work
through the router. On a second machine to achieve the same thing I had
to re-install the Norton Firewall, which had been installed and
uninstalled previously. Using the Change/uninstall method made the
system come good and it now works using a separate dial-up connection..

The thing that I can't do now is to make more than one machine work
through the firewall, and I don't understand the UPnP portmapping
screens on the Netgear router. I can't seem to find whether the UPnP
should work with multiple machines or just one.

I'm trying to make this work so that the video connection can be used
via the built in Windows component on a wireless laptop.

I hope this is of some help. I'm very impressed with the help given
here by Jonathan Kay. Perhaps he could jump in here and fill in some of
the gaps.

 

[Jonathan Kay [MVP]]

Greetings Bill,

I haven't actually seen the latest (or even older) Netgear UPnP configuration screens, so I'm
not exactly sure what you're facing, but, one of UPnP's primary features is the ability to
use multiple computers with audio, video, and file transfer. It is however good to hear that
Netgear's support agents are now aware of the existence of UPnP.

Some of the firewall problems you described are well known, not just with Norton's firewall
products but with ZoneAlarm and others as well.

What you may not be aware of however is that as long as UPnP has been engaged, you can
actually configure the UPnP ports through Windows itself. To do so, click Start, All
Programs,Accessories, Communications, Network Connections. Right-click the "Internet Gateway"
(should be under the Internet Gateway heading) and choose Properties. If you wish to "clean
out" the UPnP port entries (which should be done from time to time), choose the Settings
button,click each 'msmsgs' or 'msnmsgr' entry and then choose 'Delete' to each one. Then
close Messenger (right-click the Messenger icon, choose Exit), then restart Messenger (on all
PCs wishing to use it). Cleaning out the entries may allow your laptop or whatever other PC
that isn't working right now, to work, as it's possible due to some rogue entries, there may
be none left for it to open.

One other thing that needs to be mentioned here is that the built-in Windows Messenger
version in Windows XP (4.7) does not have UPnP-enabled file transfer, in order for that
functionality, you'll need to either upgrade to Windows Messenger 5:
http://microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=77c3799f-6388-4193-8002-be55584c1ac1

or install and use MSN Messenger 6 instead:
http://messenger.msn.com/Download
____________________________________________
Jonathan Kay
Microsoft MVP - Windows Messenger/MSN Messenger
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com

 

[Jonathan Kay [MVP]]

Greetings Ozzie,

In order to establish voice/video conversations through Windows Messenger, the router must
support Universal Plug and Play (UPnP). A vast majority of Linksys routers now have this
capability, and as such, all you'll probably need is a firmware update from here:
http://www.linksys.com/download
and/or just turn on UPnP in the routers configuration screens (usually in the Password tab or
somewhere else in Administration, depending on your router model).

After this, simply reboot and it should simply work. Also be aware, that the built-in
Windows Messenger version in Windows XP (4.7) does not have UPnP-enabled file transfer, in
order for that functionality, you'll need to either upgrade to Windows Messenger 5:
http://microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=77c3799f-6388-4193-8002-be55584c1ac1

or install and use MSN Messenger 6 instead:
http://messenger.msn.com/Download
____________________________________________
Jonathan Kay
Microsoft MVP - Windows Messenger/MSN Messenger
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com

 

[Bill Holt]

What you may not be aware of however is that as long as UPnP has been
engaged, you can actually configure the UPnP ports through Windows
itself. To do so, click Start, All Programs,Accessories,
Communications, Network Connections. Right-click the "Internet Gateway"
(should be under the Internet Gateway heading) and choose Properties.
If you wish to "clean out" the UPnP port entries (which should be done
from time to time), choose the Settings button,click each 'msmsgs' or
'msnmsgr' entry and then choose 'Delete' to each one. Then close
Messenger (right-click the Messenger icon, choose Exit), then restart
Messenger (on all PCs wishing to use it). Cleaning out the entries may
allow your laptop or whatever other PC that isn't working right now, to
work, as it's possible due to some rogue entries, there may be none
left for it to open.

Hi Jonathan,

This did work on one machine. But the others all say "The Internet
Connection Sharing computer is not configured to let network users
control or disable the shared internet connection. The setting can be
changed in the Advanced properties of the internet connection sharing
computer"

The problem is that I have no ICS computer. Just the router. I have
taken out all the unused old dial up network connections. Is there a
service that I could look for on all the machines that is ICS?

I have cleaned out all the uPnP entries where I can, but there were only
2, which pointed to the machine that works. They come back if I remove
them.

I also upgraded every machine to XP Messenger 5, but that made no
apparent difference to the video as expected.

Bill

 

[Bill Holt]

I also upgraded every machine to XP Messenger 5, but that made no
apparent difference to the video as expected.

I forgot to say that on at least 2 of the machines this upgrade left the
Messenger shortcut pointing at the installer not the program, and when
clicked this gave a pretty frightening error message.

Creating a fresh shortcut cured this and the program appears to be
running OK, if not actually working .