Windows 7 - Windows Live messenger refuses to install

Or try using the standalone 8.5 installer and then updating it afterwards or use this other method.

Download Standalone Installer for Windows Live Messenger 8.5 for XP and Vista » My Digital Life

Retrieve Windows Live Messenger 2009 Standalone Individual Setup Installer (MSI) from Web Download » My Digital Life

yea, the msi ive tried before, still get an error message

You've tried both those methods?

correct.

I don't know what else to suggest other than what I did.

Ok,

I was having the same problem.

After a few hours of registry entry permissions changes I was able to get windows live mail to install.
It just takes a lot of time because there are so many. So if you really want to put in the time follow the instructions on the link here How to fix 'Error 1402. Could not open key: UNKNOWN...'
and keep trying to install and find the next entry you need to change the permissions on until you're done.

Small addition......when I went to run live mail it didn't work but was running system restore which failed....then ran in safe mode....and failed....but was able to use office...which I thought was a problem and uninstalled...then repaired....and failed but in the end the good news is even though it said that all those operations failed...I am able to use office again and live mail works great.

So my best guess would be to shut down and restart before trying to use live mail