Messenger 4.7 not upgrading to 5.0

[Keith Patrick]

I keep running the 5.0 installer from www.microsoft.com, and it runs the
installer as the instructions say, but when it is finished, it starts up
Messenger, although it's still version 4.7. I am running as admin, I've
shut down the app and the service, but every time I do it (and I've run it
many times with no error message), it's still 4.7.


BTW: What is the deal with the download page just calling it the "Latest
Version"? That's like saying "Things will be working tomorrow" without
providing a concrete frame of reference (not picking on MS...same stuff with
Google Toolbar) If I didn't already have a machine running 5.0, I really
wouldn't know if I do have the latest version, as WM doesn't have any kind
of "Check for updates" feature.

 

[J_Zanetti]

I keep running the 5.0 installer from www.microsoft.com, and it runs the
installer as the instructions say, but when it is finished, it starts up
Messenger, although it's still version 4.7. I am running as admin, I've
shut down the app and the service, but every time I do it (and I've run it
many times with no error message), it's still 4.7.

Uninstall msn 4.7!
It can be done through a bat file.
Look here how to do :
http://forums.pimprig.com/archive/topic/9534.html ---> Potato Joe post..
after removing it, install new version
good luck!

 

[Keith Patrick]

This is not MSN 4.7...it's Windows Messenger.

But yeah, that's a last resort, but I'm curious as to whether or not this is
a bug and if MS is going to fix it. I searched Knowledge Base (which,
incidentally, I hate with a passion, as I rarely ever get relevant results
out of pages and pages of "noise") for "4.7 5.0" and got a big fat nothing
in terms of an idea of an existing problem. Is there a better way to check
via MS if something is a bug?

 

[Jonathan Kay [MVP]]

Greetings Keith,

That's rather odd, 5.0 does install over 4.7. Just to be sure, are you sure you are
downloading the correct installation?

For instance:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/messenger/download.asp is Windows Messenger 4.7 but,
http://microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=77c3799f-6388-4193-8002-be55584c1ac1 is
Windows Messenger 5.
____________________________________________
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.

 

[danish]

are u sure you're not installing msn 5.0 instead of
windows messenger?

 

[Keith Patrick]

I am absolutely, 100% positive. I can even provide screenshots if you like.
The installer does not provide an error message when it fails, plain and
simple.

 

[Keith Patrick]

That did the trick. THANK YOU!
Now, why in the name of all that is holy would MS put the most recent
version in some obscure place yet put an older version on the default page?
I hope when I go to the store to buy Windows FX (or whatever Longhorn is
called), I am not told that if I want to buy off the shelf (aka,
conveniently), I can have XP, but I want the most current version, I have to
hunt down some relatively obscure location to buy the new version. Is 5.0
somehow deficient enough for MS to make it harder to get than the old
version? If that is the case, why is it a release rather than some tech
preview or being QA'ed? I'm just agast a bit because there is this huge
push to makes things user-friendly, but I cannot see how the default
Messenger page is not current. And to reinforce, here is a quote directly
from the page: "Need a different version of Windows Messenger? Click the
link below for the version you need." Now, what is the link below? Windows
Messenger for Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2003 Nowhere on
that page is 5.0 ever mentioned.


And to anyone who can affect this, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE make it more clear
what the current version is. Relativity means jack squat without a point of
reference. "4.7" is mentioned at the bottom of the page, but it is not made
clear that the link is that version (if I go to grab the most current
version from the product's homepage, and you've got 4.7 and 5.0 floating
around, in my world, 5.0 is more current) So I go to the Messenger home
page and try to download the most current version, I would expect to get
*the most current version*


BTW: Please don't chalk this up to me being anti-MS. In fact, I am very
pro-MS (if I buy a piece of software, I will buy MS first, regardless of
features my experience is usually more stable and consistent). I am not too
happy with this whole fiasco because in my experience, MS is the most
user-friendly software (I don't "get" the MacOS paradigm as far as apps go),
and this thing has been anything but.