Shoutbox

This is a long shot but anyways...
I'm going to assume you know how to open your registry editor (if not, give a shout).
Make sure you have the following registry settings:



HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideMyComputerIcons
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideMyComputerIcons
/\
If you don't have these registry keys then that is good, you don't need to create them in that case.
If you do have one of them, check if the value of the key {FC9FB64A-1EB2-4CCF-AF5E-1A497A9B5C2D} is set to 0 (a value of 1 hides the map, 0 shows it).



HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{FC9FB64A-1EB2-4CCF-AF5E-1A497A9B5C2D}
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{FC9FB64A-1EB2-4CCF-AF5E-1A497A9B5C2D}
/\
Check if you have one of these. If you don't have any of them, then create the key in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.
The value of the default root entry must be a RES_SZ string "Messenger Sharing Folders" (without the quotes)



HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Shell Extensions\Approved
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Shell Extensions\Approved
/\
Check if you have one of these. If you don't have any of them, then create the key in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.
Inside this key there should be an entry: "{FC9FB64A-1EB2-4CCF-AF5E-1A497A9B5C2D}" with REG_SZ value "Messenger Sharing Folders" (all without the the quotes).



HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Shell Extensions\Blocked
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Shell Extensions\Blocked
/\
Make sure there is no entry of "{FC9FB64A-1EB2-4CCF-AF5E-1A497A9B5C2D}" in any of these. If so, remove it.


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Then you also must check if you don't have any addons or patches for Windows Live Messenger which disable the Sharing Folders. eg: A-Patch is such a patch tool which can hide that folder. So make sure you don't have that option ticked.

After that, reinstall Messenger (this should take care of re-registering the proper files).

And of course, check if Sharing Folders is enabled in Messenger itself: Tools > Options > Sharing Folders > Use a sharing folder when I drag a file onto a contact's name

Als note that Sharing Folders will not work if your drive is formatted with a FAT32 partition. It must be NTFS.