Over the past few weeks, Windows Live Messenger(MSN) has been asking its customers using previous versions of the client to upgrade it to the latest version of 14.0. Beginning from August 25th, some users have already received the notification, and others will receive it soon. You’ll not be able to sign in the Messenger until the upgrade has finished.  So we strongly suggest you to upgrade the Messenger ASAP.

The upgrade process will take place in a phased approach over the next several weeks:

First Phase, Optional Upgrade:

The optional upgrade will happen in two stages:

Starting Aug. 25th, customers using versions 8.1 or 8.5 were asked to upgrade their client.

Starting early Oct., all customers using versions 14.0 (but not the latest release 14.0.8089) will be asked to upgrade their client.

The upgrade at this time is optional. Customers who haven’t upgraded during the optional phase will be required to do so during the second phase.

Second Phase, Mandatory Upgrade:

The mandatory upgrade will happen in three stages:

Starting mid-Sept., all customers using Messenger 8.1 or 8.5 will be required to upgrade their version of Windows Live Messenger.

Starting late Oct., all customers using Messenger 14.0 will be required to upgrade their version of Windows Live Messenger.

Those who do not conduct the upgrade will not be able to sign in to Messenger after this time.

Please Note: It will take several weeks for the upgrade process to be completed, as the upgrade will be rolled out to customers over the course of several weeks. 

Below are some examples of the prompts that you will encounter during the upgrade process. 

Notification to upgrade.

Want to upgrade now?  You don’t have to wait for the . In fact, we encourage you to download the updated version of Messenger right now by visiting http://download.live.com.

If you aren’t sure which version you have, you can go to the Help menu and select About Messenger.  Help –> About Messenger.  If you have a version that is lower than 14.0.8089 you will need to upgrade.

What are the changes with the new upgrade?

The changes vary depending on which version of Windows Live Messenger you currently have on your PC. The process will upgrade clients of Windows Live Messenger 8.1 or 8.5 to the latest version. Separately, customers who installed Windows Live Messenger client 14.0 before August 19th, 2009 will receive a code fix, but there will be no visible feature changes.

Who will receive the upgrade notification?

All Windows Live Messenger customers of versions 8.1, 8.5or 14.0 will receive the upgrade notification. Beginning from August 25^th, customers of Messenger 8.1 or 8.5 were prompted to upgrade their clients. Customers who installed the latest Windows Live Messenger client (14.0) before August 19^th, 2009 will start receiving an upgrade notification in September 2009. Customers of older versions of MSN Messenger on Windows 2000, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 95, Windows Me or Windows 98 will not receive an upgrade notification.

What can you do when encounter problems in upgrading?

The following links can help you in case you’re having a problem.

Update: Users on Windows XP will need to ensure that they have installed Service Pack 2 (SP2) or higher, otherwise the upgrade will not work.  Instructions to install the latest Service Pack (SP3) can be found here.  Additionally, here is more information about the system requirements.

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