how to connect to msn server with pidgin 2.10.11

After numeral news (here , here  and here) that msn will? was? shut down, today we will take another  look if connection to msn server is still possible. hehe

Well, this issue of cannot make connection to msn server happen to me again. But I'm not so sure if microsoft really shutdown the messenger server? Anyway, let's fire up pidgin with --debug option.

(04:39:32) account: Connecting to account ursa@hotmail.com.
(04:39:32) connection: Connecting. gc = 0x7fb12226a4a0
(04:39:32) msn: new httpconn (0x7fb12244ce40)
(04:39:32) proxy: Gnome proxy settings are set to 'manual' but no suitable proxy server is specified.  Using Pidgin's proxy settings instead.
(04:39:32) dnsquery: Performing DNS lookup for messenger.hotmail.com
(04:39:32) proxy: Gnome proxy settings are set to 'manual' but no suitable proxy server is specified.  Using Pidgin's proxy settings instead.
(04:39:32) dns: Wait for DNS child 4807 failed: No child processes
(04:39:32) dns: Wait for DNS child 4816 failed: No child processes
(04:39:32) dns: Created new DNS child 5206, there are now 1 children.
(04:39:32) dns: Successfully sent DNS request to child 5206
(04:39:32) dns: Got response for 'messenger.hotmail.com'
(04:39:32) dnsquery: IP resolved for messenger.hotmail.com
(04:39:32) proxy: Attempting connection to 64.4.45.209
(04:39:32) proxy: Connecting to messenger.hotmail.com:1863 with no proxy
(04:39:32) proxy: Connection in progress
(04:39:32) proxy: Connecting to messenger.hotmail.com:1863.
(04:39:32) proxy: Error connecting to messenger.hotmail.com:1863 (Connection refused).
(04:39:32) proxy: Connection attempt failed: Connection refused
(04:39:32) msn: Connection error: Connection refused
(04:39:32) msn: Connection error from Notification server (messenger.hotmail.com): Connection refused
(04:39:32) connection: Connection error on 0x7fb12226a4a0 (reason: 0 description: Connection error from Notification server:
Connection refused)
(04:39:32) account: Disconnecting account ursa@hotmail.com (0x7fb1218f83c0)
(04:39:32) connection: Disconnecting connection 0x7fb12226a4a0
(04:39:32) msn: destroy the OIM 0x7fb12226b250
(04:39:32) msn: destroy httpconn (0x7fb12244ce40)
(04:39:32) connection: Destroying connection 0x7fb12226a4a0

Bummer! So connection to msn really a problem (again) ! So I'm trying to play around the settings and surprise surprise, pidgin can connect to the msn again. >:-) Here is how I did to make it work.

1. In the pidgin menu, click on Accounts.


2. Click on Manage Accounts.


3. Select your msn account and click on Modify...


4. In the Modify Account window, click on Advanced tab and check the checkbox Use HTTP Method.


5. Then in the Proxy tab, for the proxy type, select Use Environmental Settings. Note this setting really depend on your network setup so check with your network admin.

save the settings and click on the checkbox in the Enabled column in Accounts. Finger cross it will work, at least this time for me (until it break again). :-)

That's it!