Windows Live Messenger Sign-in Fails for Accounts Also Used with Office 365

Following the global availability of Office 365, some customers have found that they’re no longer able to sign-in and use Windows Live Messenger. The launch of Office 365 is no mere coincidence, as according to Microsoft, users that leverage a single account to access both Windows Live Messenger and the unified communications component of the Redmond company’s Cloud productivity suite are affected.

Starting with July 14th, 2011, the software giant removed support for Lync connectivity with Windows Live Messenger. The move is only temporary, Microsoft insists, and it only impacts customers leveraging Office 365 for professionals and small businesses (Plan P).

“This means that customers using Lync with Office 365 for professionals and small businesses will temporarily not be able to see presence, IM and make video calls with people using Messenger. They will, however, still be able to see presence, IM and make video calls with other Lync users inside and outside their organization,” the software giant said.

“The reason for this temporary change is that individuals using a vanity or custom domain (i.e. yourcompanyname.com) with both Office 365 and Messenger were unable to access their Messenger accounts. By temporarily disabling Lync-Messenger connectivity, those customers can continue to use their existing Messenger accounts.”

With Lync connectivity with Windows Live Messenger now disabled, users leveraging a single custom business email address for both the UC Cloud solution and the instant messaging client will be able to sign-in and IM with their friends.

Microsoft offered no specifics as to how long will Lync - Messenger connectivity remain disabled, but the company is bound to provide an update when the Office 365 functionality will be enabled.

However, a member of the Office 365 team noted that the issue might take as much as a few months to resolve.

“In Office 365 for enterprises (Plan E), Lync-Messenger connectivity (also known as Public Internet Connectivity or PIC) is enabled but turned off by default. If you decide to enable connectivity, please notify your users that they will not be able to use their business e-mail to sign into their Messenger account,” the software giant said.

“This only affects individuals using their business e-mail address to sign in to Messenger, and does not affect those using @hotmail.com or @live.com e-mail addresses with Messenger.”