How to install Windows Live Messenger 2009 on Windows Server 2003

Hello,

I just installed Windows Server 2003 on a private test-server.

After the installation I wanted to install Windows Live Messenger 2009, however it’s not possible according to the installer.

It seems that Windows Live Messenger cannot be installed on Windows Server 2003 and 2008.The installation error-message.
I have found some posts online saying that it can’t even be installed on Windows XP 64 bit. However I have not checked if that is correct.

I searched the internet and found a solution for the problem and it worked for me.
I have made a step-by-step guide below on how I did:

1. First download Windows Live Messenger from http://download.live.com/?sku=messenger

2. Then download Resource Hacker.
You can find the official site here (contains info and download-link).
I have however added an extra download-link here to the current version (as of 5h November 2009).

3. Open the Windows Live Messenger installer-file in Resource Hacker.

4. Open the resource tree and goto “CONFIG” > “CONFIG0″ > “0″.Screenshot of reshack in action

5. In the line to your right find the XML-tag <os productType=”workstation” />.

6. Replace “workstation” with “server” and recompile the script by clicking the “Compile Script”-button in Resource Hacker.

7. Save the modified file in Resource Hacker (that is done through the “File”-menu).

8. Now you are ready to install – simply run the saved file and the installer should not give any error now.

I hope this step-by-step guide helped you.
I now have Windows Live Messenger 2009 installed on my Windows Server 2003 enviroment – and that was my mission.