Fixing Windows Live Messenger 8100030F Error

16 Mar

Internet

When trying to run the newest version of Windows Live Messenger (at the time of writing this post, that’s version 2009, build 14) I was getting this error:

windows-live-messenger-8100030f-error

We can’t sign you in to Windows Live Messenger

Signing in to Windows Live Messenger failed because the authentication service is not compatible with this version of the program.

Error code: 8100030f

All it takes to solve it is browsing to C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\, opening the file called hosts, and adding the following line after the last entry:

65.54.239.80 messenger.hotmail.com

I’m using Windows Vista but this fix has been reported to work on XP as well.

13 Responses to “Fixing Windows Live Messenger 8100030F Error”

  1. Paulo Sebastião March 16, 2009 at 12:34 PM #

    Or use Pidgin (or even Digsby) :)

  2. Christie March 23, 2009 at 1:43 PM #

    I go to C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\ but then it asks me to choose a program to open up the Hosts file in…what do I do there?

    • Farinha March 23, 2009 at 6:11 PM #

      It’s just a text file, so you can choose any program that opens text files, like Notepad or Wordpad.

  3. Gary April 2, 2009 at 9:54 PM #

    Genius! That worked like a charm – thank you so much!

  4. JB April 3, 2009 at 5:23 PM #

    did that … now getting error 80072ee7

    fired up the “Windows Live Messenger Connection Troubleshooter” which got upset that the HOSTS file had MSN entries … allowed the ‘troubled’shooter to “fix” the problems (=remove MSN entries) after which it (the troubleshooter) was happy with my config

    and now getting original error (8100030f)

  5. lirulay April 21, 2009 at 11:50 PM #

    Worked just fine on the first try! thanks for the tip ;)

  6. Maverick April 24, 2009 at 6:58 AM #

    Yes it work. Thanks.

  7. Roger April 29, 2009 at 9:46 AM #

    Users should not have to manually add a DNS entry into the hosts file. Workarounds like this creates IP spoofing risks if the IP addresses are not validated!

    Microsoft should fix this!

    • Farinha April 29, 2009 at 9:55 AM #

      I totally agree that we shouldn’t have to do this.
      But since we have to do it if we want Live Messenger to work, we can always check if the IP is really from Microsoft, which gives some kind of security:

      http://ws.arin.net/whois/?queryinput=65.54.239.80

  8. Carol R May 5, 2009 at 1:26 PM #

    5.5.09 Worked great! Easy work around for someone that is not very literate about Windows.

  9. M-A May 6, 2009 at 6:26 AM #

    Tried it with XP SP2 in the office using Messenger build 14.0.864.206

    Works perfectly! Thanks!

    Odd thing is that it did work from home as long as I didn’t run the VPN…

  10. zehra nasif August 11, 2009 at 10:36 PM #

    Thanks!!!

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