Background Knowledge
Today (2008-01-12) I loaded Pidgin and discovered that I was no longer able to connect to MSN. It appears either Microsoft is blocking the connection or a new version has been release. What the cause of the matter is I have not been able to verify with certainty at this time.
UPDATE: Pidgin v2.5.4 has been released that temporarily fixes the problem.
Error Message
“Unable to Retrieve MSN Address Book using Pidgin”. See screen shot of the error message below.
Solution
- Close Pidgin application.
- Download and install “msn-pecan“.
- Run Pidgin application.
- In Pidgin “Show Buddy List” and go to the menu “Accounts” -> “Manage Accounts”.
- Modify your MSN account, ensure the protocol shows “MSN”. …