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Retrieve MSN history?

Can I view my old chat history from Windows Live Messenger?

  • Does windows live messenger save users chat history? Is there any way I can retrieve conversations from 5-7 years ago? I have reformatted my 5 year old desktop countless of times, erasing any documents that might have been auto saved to my hard drive. I now wish to revel in some nostalgia by rereading old conversations with friends and family at that point of time(5-7 years ago). Is this possible? MSN messenger (Windows live messenger) used to be immensely popular throughout the world 5 years ago.. I am sure many of us wish to reread our past chat histories to see the kind of conversations we had at that point of time. I don't have an answer unfortunately but I really hope someone does. Meanwhile.. http://www.buzzfeed.com/robinedds/15-things-msn-messenger-taught-you-about-relationships I am sure many of us are guilty of one of the mentioned inclinations. If you are unable to provide a solution. Please kindly A2A somebody you know who perhaps have the capability to do so. Thank you!

  • Answer:

    You can also download messenger reviver 2 and that will give you back your windows live messenger but I am sorry I do not know how to view chat history that's what I want too :( but I cant find it!

Mohson Zaman at Quora Visit the source

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A2A; I am afraid you can't. Though MSN Messenger has the ability to keep an indefinite log of all conversations you had in your system. But since you have formatted your system number of times, these files must have been long lost. Typically these conversations are saved in the default directory with the name of the person you had conversation with and it ends with .xml extension. These files can be viewed in Internet Explorer.

Ankit Srivastav

Considering you've reformatted several times, it's unlikely. MSN saves chat history to the computer. I've been able to access very old chat history from different HDDs, but I've never reformatted.

David Higgins

If you use WLM via IM+ you can have access to old messaging history right in IM+ mobile app or in IM+ Web Messenger https://plus.im

Maria Dyatlova

No, it's not possible to view old chat from live messenger in your case. MSN does store old chats in your documents(as you already mentioned) but since it's not stored online, this is just a lost case.

Pradeepan Karunanithi

Unfortunately, no. Depending on your settings, it's very likely your chat history was saved. However, any logs would be local (on your own machine), not saved to any larger Microsoft archive. That means that any logs you might have had were lost when you reformatted your hard drive, unless you made a point to save those files (which, it seems, you didn't.) Sorry, but it's too late. They're gone.

Daniel Rosensweig

In MSN Messenger select the Tools menu, Options... menu item, and then the Messages tab. At the bottom of the dialog is an item labeled: Message History. Select it and your conversations will be recorded in the directory listed in the box below. (Of course you can set that to be whatever you like but the default directory is probably fine for most.)

Rohit Nigam

The steps to retrieve the old chat logs work only on the old computer where you used the Window Messenger. If you no longer use your old computer or if that computer was reformatted, then you may not be able to access the old chat logs. However, if you had taken the backup of all the data of that computer, before you reformatted or changed it, then you should still be able to retrieve the chat logs from the backup that you had created. If the backup of the data were not taken, then unfortunately, we do not have any other options to retrieve the old Window Messenger chat logs. Hope this information is helpful. Please get back to us if you need any other assistance with the Microsoft Products and Services.

Mikey John

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