Configure your network for instant messaging and file transfer

Windows Messenger .NET

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To configure your network for instant messaging and file transfer

Note: This information is for network administrators and those who understand how to configure computer systems that have firewalls or network address translation (NAT).

If Windows Messenger cannot make a direct connection to the Internet from computers or networks that are behind firewalls or NATs, it will attempt to connect using the same connection settings that your default Internet browser uses. If Windows Messenger connects in this way, its features are limited to sending instant messages and seeing which contacts are online.

For greater performance and full feature availability—including being able to transfer files by using Windows Messenger—you might be able to configure your proxy servers in a way that allows your network or computer to connect directly to the .NET Messenger Service servers.

For instant messaging

Set outgoing Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) connections to port 1863 on your proxy servers.
On the main window, click the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Connection tab.
Note the information that is required on this tab.
Provide all network users with the information and instructions they need to properly configure the Connection tab of their Windows Messenger program.
Make sure the internal local area network has access to the Domain Name System (DNS) servers to resolve the names of external hosts such as messenger.microsoft.com.

For file transfer

Open as many TCP ports as you can between 6891 and 6900.
Configure the TCP ports so that sockets on a port remain open for an extended period of time.

Note

If you are using a NAT, file transfer will not work unless you have a UPnP framework NAT. If you are not sure what type of NAT you have, check with your computer manufacturer or NAT vendor. Make sure that your NAT is updated to the latest version and that it is compliant with the UPnP framework.