Older versions of the protocol no longer being accepted by any Messenger server

I’m sorry to report that this Thursday’s update ends the last bit of trickery for any clients prior to Windows Live Messenger 2012 (MSN Protocol Version 21).

You can see this for yourself using dx’s server list on www.ismsndeadyet.com.

On Thursday, February 26th, most of the servers removed MSNP18 support, but left a few bn1 servers allowing the old version and all db3 servers.
On Thursday, March 5th, the last of the bn1 servers removed MSNP18 support, leaving only db3 servers.
On Thursday, March 12th, the last of the db3 servers removed MSNP18 support.

If you’re using Windows 7, Windows 8 or Windows 10, and wish to continue using Messenger on its own, you will need to upgrade to Windows Live Messenger 2012.  You can do so by downloading and running Reviver again, clicking the Advanced button, selecting “Do a new Messenger install” and choosing Windows Live Messenger 2012.

If you’re using Windows Vista, despite being unsupported officially, with a workaround you can install Windows Live Messenger 2012 too.  I’ll be detailing this process shortly.

If you’re using Windows XP, Mac OS X, Linux, or any other non-Microsoft Messenger client (as of this writing, none I’m aware of support MSN Protocol 21), you will need to either use Skype or the web-based client in Outlook.com.  My efforts on bridging an interface between the newer and older protocol wasn’t terribly successful so far.  You can always use Messenger 2009 or other clients if they’re made to work again.

This is the end of an era.  Messenger Reviver 2 supported these older clients (including the popular 2009 version) from April 23 2013 to March 12 2015, they will be missed.