Setting up MSN with BitlBee

To add a MSN account to BitlBee:

account add msn username@hotmail.com password
account msn on

This should be enough for most people.

You can also leave out the password and set it afterwards with /oper.

FAQ

Q: Why would I want MSN?

Q: Isn't it going to die?

Q: Doesn't MSN use the XMPP protocol?

Troubleshooting

"Error during Passport authentication: (null)"

The most common error, usually means "location blocked".

See HowtoFixMsn for a solution.

This error says "(null)" because bitlbee can't parse the error message to show something more meaningful. Because of this, it could also get shown for other error codes.

"Error reported by MSN server: Authentication failed"

This error can mean that the account is "temporarily blocked" and you need to verify it by providing a phone number.

It has also been seen when using a non-primary 'alias' address to log in to an account (just switch to the correct one).

Check your account recent activity page for more details, and see HowtoFixMsn.

"Error during Passport authentication: wsse:FailedAuthentication (Authentication Failure)"

This error almost always means that the password is incorrect.

"BitlBee - Received offline message. BitlBee can't show these"

You'll have to use a different client to fetch those messages (pidgin, amsn, emesene, etc)

The reason this message is shown is because the relevant code isn't implemented in bitlbee yet. Patches welcome

A note about outlook.com

Outlook.com is the new hotmail.com / msn.com / live.com. Some useful stuff you can do with it: