Ask Leo! by Leo A. Notenboom

How do I Uninstall Windows Live Messenger?

Search First! Then browse: Categories | Full Archive | By Date | Newsletter

Home » Instant Messaging

Summary: The location of the uninstaller has changed for Windows Live Messenger. I'll walk you through the steps to find it and uninstall messenger.

I installed Windows Live Messenger 2009 (aka Messenger 9) and it's not working for me so I want to uninstall it. Problem is it's not listed in Control Panel. Like others uninstalling Messenger 9 I've deleted the files from the systems disk but whenever I try reinstalling Messenger 8.5 it says that I'm still using 9.0. Should I give up and just reformat my whole system?

I've been getting variations on this question a lot lately because people can't seem to resist installing Beta software. (Hint: don't - no matter what anyone says - unless you really know what you're doing.)

As with all Beta software, there may be problems and you may find yourself wanting to revert to the previous version.

Except in this case Microsoft has done a nice job of hiding the uninstaller. Yes, it's there, it's just not obvious. And no, a reformat isn't required.

I have to repeat myself about installing Beta software. To put it bluntly, unless you really know what you're doing, installing Beta software is asking for trouble. So don't be surprised at all when trouble finds you.

The right way to install Beta software is to:

"... unless you really know what you're doing, installing Beta software is asking for trouble."
  1. Take a full image backup of your machine.

  2. Install the Beta software.

  3. Play with the Beta software to try it out and see if you like it or not.

  4. Restore your machine completely from that image backup to remove the Beta software.

Beta software shares at least one characteristic with viruses: once it's on your machine you don't really know what it's going to do. It will have bugs, and there's no guarantee that uninstalling just the application, or updating the application to a later version, will actually work. If you read the licensing agreement for Beta software, you'll typically find that they warn you about exactly this.

I know we don't always follow those rules, and that's one way we end up with systems that have problems and software that doesn't work.

Enough said.

Let's uninstall.

Windows Live Installation

I don't normally run Windows Live Messenger, so this was a good opportunity for me to download it and try it out. I was surprised at the size of the installation, and it quickly became clear that Microsoft was attempting to "bundle" a number of applications into a single installation. Yes, you could choose only one, like Messenger, but the download was still significantly larger than in versions past. That was my first clue.

Windows Live Messenger About Box

With Windows Live Messenger installed, I went to Control Panel's Add/Remove list, and sure enough, it wasn't there. But something else was:

Windows Live Essentials Uninstall

"Windows Live Essentials" appears to be the umbrella uninstaller for Windows Live Messenger and all the other Windows Live products you may have installed. Click on its Change/Remove. You'll be asked if you want to Uninstall, or Repair a Windows Live program. Select Uninstall and click Continue. Then you'll get the list:

Windows Live Essentials Uninstaller

Make sure that Messenger is checked and click Continue.

Windows Live Messenger is Uninstalled

That's it. Windows Live Messenger has been uninstalled from my machine, and hopefully now from yours as well.

Update: (02-Jan-2010) For those people who are still having trouble after following the instructions above, I'm very interested if the free version of Revo Uninstaller helps. It's been known to uninstall things that have been having problems, but I've not seen enough feedback to know whether or not it's working for this problem. If you have information, please leave a comment.

In addition, reader eddsn has provided a utility that some readers appear to be having success with: visit his site for more. (Disclaimer: use at your own risk, I do not know eddsn, and have not tried his utility myself.)

Related:

Helpful? Get new articles weekly by email in my FREE newsletter!

Your Name:
Your Email:


Why Subscribe?

Article C3641 - February 7, 2009

Was this article helpful? «Yes» «No»

Recent Comments
327 Comments

Thank you VERY VERY much! this is also for me the ONLY article that helped me uninstal messenger. It really is very simple, I just didnt know what Essentials was. Apparently nobody else (exept you) does...

Posted by: Jeroen at February 4, 2010 2:18 PM

AWESOME!!! thanks so much. i just upgraded to windows 7 & the stupid messenger kept popping up even AFTER i would close the stupid thing!

Posted by: Angelica Schiesser at February 4, 2010 11:12 PM

I think it's very stupid how Microsoft hides there folders like that, it's very low down and not professional.

Posted by: Jordan at February 5, 2010 6:36 PM

i did the thing with revo...it works...i hope that one stat gives u the data u need :) thanks so much!!

Posted by: Laura Lee at February 7, 2010 7:50 AM

THANK YOU!!!!
I've tried and tried. I even downloaded it in another language. Youre an ANGEL!

Posted by: Sophie Bendtsen at February 7, 2010 8:21 AM

Post a comment on "How do I Uninstall Windows Live Messenger?":






(Email Address will not be published.)

Remember Me?

By popular demand...
my tip jar
Cuppa Joe
Buy Leo a Latte!

(you may use HTML tags for style)

RSS feed Subscribe to the RSS Feed specifically for comments on this article.

Before commenting, please...

  • Read the article at the top of this page. If your comment shows you didn't, it'll be deleted and ignored.

  • Comment only on this article. Use the Google search box at the top of the page if you have a question about something else.

  • Don't include personal information in the comment. No email addresses. No phone numbers. No physical addresses.

  • Don't spam. Excessive links to unrelated sites within a comment or across multiple comments will cause all such comments to be removed.

  • Don't ask me to recover lost passwords or hacked accounts. I can't, and those comments will be deleted.

  • I can't respond to every comment. And I can't vouch for the accuracy of others who do.

Please wait. Your comment is being processed ...


Question? Ask Leo!