quote:
Originally posted by apeclys
When I run a registry cleaner, it finds something related to MsgPlus 5. (I'm attaching the screenshot).
I removed other invalid keys and unmarked the one that leads to "C:\Arquivos de Programas (Program Files)\Yuna Software\Messenger Plus!\Interface\Images" and WLM was still working like before.
Perfect info! Confirmed, I can now reproduce this error:
- Start with a normal installation of WLM 2011 and Plus! 5.0.
Judging from previous posts in this thread it can be reproduced on WLM 2009 too, but Plus! 5.0 is essential.
- Start Messenger and confirm Plus! is working properly.
- Close Messenger completely.
Use Task Manager if you have to, msnmsgr.exe has a tendency to stay in the background sometimes.
- Open the Registry Editor (regedit.exe) and navigate to 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Yuna Software\Messenger Plus!'.
On 64 bit Windows go to 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Yuna Software\Messenger Plus!'.
- Delete the 'ImagesDir' key.
- Start Messenger, you will now get the Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime error directly when Messenger attempts to start.
- Go back to the Registry Editor and recreate the ImagesDir key. Messenger will start again.
It doesn't even matter what path you point ImagesDir to.
Windows 7 Home Premium x64 (6.1.7600)
Windows Live Messenger 15.4.1109
Messenger Plus! 5.00.0.702
Messenger Plus! 4.9 didn't have the ImagesDir key, which explains why problems only started recently. In addition to that ImagesDir references to 'C:\Program Files\Yuna Software\Messenger Plus!\Interface\Images' which is not created by Plus! itself. My guess is registry cleaners and other kind of tuneup software delete this registry key because it refers to an non-existing location. Plus! could create the Images folder but even then the folder would be empty and I'm afraid more aggressive cleaners might delete empty folders too, leading to the same error.
And there are more registry keys in the same location which will cause problems in Plus! when deleted:
- AppDir = Plus! doesn't load, but Messenger will start fine without Plus!
- ImagesDir = Runtime Error
- LangDir = Plus! doesn't load, but Messenger will start fine without Plus!
- ResourcesDll = Plus! doesn't load, but Messenger will start fine without Plus!
- WLM-ScriptsDir = Prevents scripts from running
- WLM-SkinsDir = Prevents skins from running
- WLM-WorkerDll = Plus! doesn't load, but Messenger will start fine without Plus!
Obviously it is bad behavior of registry cleaners and alike to delete registry keys of other applications. But assuming the cause of this problem is the same for all these people, I don't think it can be ignored as a user error. There is no reason for Messenger shouldn't be able to launch successfully when this registry key is missing. But an even better fix would be to not write these values to registry by default at all and let Plus! figure out the default value on itself. In 99% the user would never change any of these values from it's default. If the user does want to change these values he/she could then manually create them at own risk.
This ImagesDir issue was only been introduced since 5.0 and already caused quite a few reports during the short time it has been out. Only a small portion of people having problems will bother to even bother to post it in the right place. But apart from ImagesDir the other keys listed above cause the less obvious error of Plus! refusing to load, addressing this may fix a lot of of issues. Although I fully agree with Cookie registry cleaners is something to stay away from in the first place.
For everyone who is having this problem:
- Do you have any registry cleaner or cleanup / security software installed which might be deleting registry keys?
- If you uninstall this software (or disable it) and re-install Messenger Plus! after that, does Messenger work again?
EDIT: Informed the developers at Yuna about it too. Hopefully they'll have a more permanent fix soon.
/ 
