Hello. I faced this problem. Here's my guide to solve it.Guide for solving Windows XP Remote Assistance trouble related to “Messenger version”
* I recommend reading this to the end before doing anything. There are some windows files needed to perform this and it’s better locate them before proceeding. This guide assumes that windows directory is c:\windows.
While talking to someone trough MSN or Live Messenger, if you ask for remote assistance using “Activities” menu and an error appears saying something is wrong with the version of messenger, this will probably help you.
First of all, the problem is not related to the version but to the very existence of messenger in your system. But I’m talking about Windows Messenger, not MSN or Live Messenger.
Windows Messenger is located in C:\Program Files\Messenger\ and its executable is msmsgs.exe.
If this file exists in your system and you still can’t use Remote Assistance, you’ll need to check if Windows Messenger is correctly registered as a system component.
To install Windows Messenger and solve the problem quickly you can install it using the “Windows Components Wizard” (Control Panel, Add/Remove programs, Add/Remove Windows components). For this, you can search the Internet for one of the dozens articles explaining how to uninstall or remove windows messenger and do the opposite. (If you don’t have Windows XP CD, you’ll have to get the installation files too. See below).
If Windows Messenger is not even shown on Windows Components Wizard, you’ll have to make it be shown. For this, go to c:\windows\inf\ (just copy this and paste it on the address bar of Explorer or Start menu, Run). Locate and edit sysoc.inf . You have to include this line among the other [Components]:
msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,,7
Save and exit.
Now, you’ll have to put two files in c:\windows\inf . The files are msmsgs.inf and msmsgs.pnf. Find these files in another Windows XP in the same directory or download these from the web (much simpler).
After that, try and access Windows Components Wizard (Control Panel, Add/Remove programs, Add/Remove Windows components).
If you find an error saying that msgrocm.dll is not found, you’ll have to locate this file and put it on c:\windows\system32\setup\. Then, try again.
Now that Windows Components Wizard is running, you can install Windows Messenger (it will be displayed on the bottom of first list). If it’s already “installed”, uninstall it and reinstall it back.
If you need any files, like cutsat.dll, locate them in another Windows XP. They are in c:\program files\messenger. I strongly recommend that you bring the whole \messenger directory with all the files in it to offer to installer, not just one missing .dll .
Good luck.
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