Installing Windows Live Mesh 2011 with Windows Essentials 2012

Yesterday Microsoft released Windows Essentials 2012 which among other things, removes Windows Live Mesh for SkyDrive (which is barely a comparable product).  But unlike the 2011 and 2009 versions of the Essentials, thankfully you can actually install Live Mesh on your existing 2012 installation.

To make this easy, I’ve written a small tool called Live Mesh Installer.

Download Live Mesh Installer

Getting started with Live Mesh Installer

To get started, download the Live Mesh Installer, choose Run if possible or download and open the zip file yourself.  Next, just run the LiveMeshInstaller.exe inside the zip file and choose Yes when prompted for administrator rights.

Finally choose the language version you prefer from the list and then select the Begin button.  The Installer will then download the Windows Live Essentials 2011 web installer and automatically install Windows Live Mesh.  Please note that installation will take some time as it will need to download, extract and install Live Mesh.  When it is complete, Live Mesh will start automatically.

Options

If you prefer to see what’s happening with the installation, uncheck the ‘Hide installation wizard’ option before you begin.  When the Windows Live Essentials setup begins, you will be prompted to either install all the products or choose the ones you prefer.  Only Live Mesh will be installed on either option (unless you choose others specifically in the choose screen).

Final notes

Unfortunately as Windows Essentials 2012 is hardcoded to remove Live Mesh, any upgrades or changes you make to your Windows Essentials 2012 installation will result in Live Mesh being removed again.  If this happens, just re-run the tool and install it again.  Hopefully this won’t happen too often.

Version history
09/01/2012 1.1.1.0 Fixed Italian not showing in the list
08/19/2012 1.1.0.0 Added the remaining languages
08/08/2012 1.0.0.0 First release of Live Mesh Installer