Windows Live Essentials installation is such a pain in the ***.

Not sure if normal discussion, non-question threads are allowed, but...

Seriously, Windows Live Essentials is such a hassle to install / uninstall / reinstall.

When I went to delete Messenger to attempt a re-install, it wasn't listed in add or remove programs, so then I had to go delete the folder in Program Files x86.

Then I had issues with the Windows Live Essentials thinking it was still installed. Even CCleaner wasn't enough to get rid of whatever it was tricking the installer into thinking it still existed.

In the end, it took a long time of browsing forums and so forth until I had to use third party tools to get it to work. People have had to develop their own dedicated tools for this specific problem.

Seriously, Microsoft, the creators of the Windows OS, and one of the most established companies in the world, should not have such crappy problems. I'm so annoyed that I actually had to rant somewhere about it.

But, for future reference, is there any more simple way of repairing MSN without going through all this again?

If anyone here knows anyone that has anything to do with the development of Live Messenger : Pass this info up. It's seriously a headache to deal with. I love the features of the programs themselves - the Essentials Antivirus is enough to protect anyone's computer (who won't download dumb crap) and messenger is good (except blocking people in nearly impossible now). It's just the installation that's so...crap, really. You shouldn't be nearly forced to do a system restore just to reinstall a single program.

Edit : Okay, so ACTUALLY it still doesn't work. Wow. Nothing I've done so far has gotten MSN reinstalled and working. I'm annoyed.

Help please. Otherwise I'll just have to forget about it entirely.

In add / remove programs, now Windows Live Messenger or Essentials or anything of the sort is even listed at all.

Hello Alexander,

It's really not so hard to do once you know how. The tutorial below can help show you how to uninstall any one or more of the Windows Essentials programs.

Windows Essentials - Uninstall One or More Programs

Hope this helps, :)
Shawn

Is Windows Live Essentials there?

If not, then run the wlsetup-all.exe file from Microsoft below again to repair the full installation. Afterwards, go to Programs and Features, and look for either Windows Live Essentials (old) or Windows Essentials (new 2012) to uninstall what you want.

http://g.live.com/1rewlive4-all/en/wlsetup-all.exe

Have you already tried the full installer for the 2012 below?

http://g.live.com/1rewlive5-all/en/wlsetup-all.exe

Yeah, sounds like somethinig went screwy somewhere. May have needed to delete the registry entries using the tutorial below instead for the installer to work properly again afterwards.

Windows Live Messenger - Manually Uninstall

Sorry, but all help needs to be posted on the site instead.

If you like, merge the REG file below and restart the computer to see if that may help with Messenger. It will remove registry entries for Messenger to hopefully allow it to be installed again afterwards if you like.

Delete_Messenger_Registry.reg