hi,a friend of mine emailed me asking why after years of using messenger it suddenly forgot her sign in details which are always checked to "remember me". i have tried everything to solve the problem,even got in contact with Microsoft(waste of time that was)but failed,thanks in advance for any help.its not a big deal she says its just annoying.

Recommended Answers

All 8 Replies

Forgot or forgets? I should imagine it has an easy fix in the registry, have you tried contacting microsoft about registry entries for live?

I presume you have reinstalled messenger?

Forgot or forgets? I should imagine it has an easy fix in the registry, have you tried contacting microsoft about registry entries for live?

I presume you have reinstalled messenger?[/QUOTE

yes mate several times,contacted microsoft,followed their uninstall/clean instructions (several times)no joy .it seems this has everyone stumped.

hello, have you seen this? not the program he offers to download, but a comment from adam, 4th post, the registry edit thing. it worked for me :3

hello, have you seen this? not the program he offers to download, but a comment from adam, 4th post, the registry edit thing. it worked for me :3

why not just copy ,past what adam wrote.


ADAM=You don't actually need to install this app everybody keeps downloading.... All you need to do is change a registry value.

After hours of messing around with RegEdit + Yahoo Messenger + Microsoft's Virtual PC I've found the problem and a solution to why apps like Msn Messenger suddenly can't remember their passwords anymore.

When Yahoo toolbar gets installed it sets the following registry value:

[HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-796845957-926492609-725345543-1003\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders]
AppData = %AppData%

The problem here is AppData should actually be the following

AppData = %USERPROFILE%\Application Data

So when MSN or other apps that use that registry key go to save their data it gets lost.

So the solution is simple, run regedit and go to

[HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-796845957-926492609-725345543-1003\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders]

and set the value AppData to a data value of %USERPROFILE%\Application Data

thanks for the advice,did not work,just left a userprofile folder on desktop which refused to delete,she said that the[HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-796845957-926492609-725345543-1003 was a different one which began with s-1-5-21-8,she undid the value then she could delete the desktop profile folder,she passes on her thanks again for your efforts

sorry mate good call,she got back to me this lunch time saying she had tried again and this time its working,sends her thanks,says it'll be great not having to keep signing in,thanks again .

ah, sorry, i thought i'd link the source anyways.
i'm glad it worked :) although that folder-thing looks kinda freaky

ah, sorry, i thought i'd link the source anyways.
i'm glad it worked :) although that folder-thing looks kinda freaky

no problem ,a good find,thanks ,
i just pasted it to make it easier !
yeah, registry editing is tricky and dangerous ,anytime making changes one should do a registry backup first

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.