Microsoft Customer Support - I'm loving it!

Recently Microsoft released a whole host of tools and services from the Live line-up, many of which had previously been in Beta. From what I had read Windows Live Writer sounded like a very interesting blogging tool so I wanted to give it a try. Unfortunately the installation didn't work out and as I really wanted to test it I decided to contact Microsoft's support with a description of the issue I kept running into [my emphasis]:

"Dear Live Writer support,

I have trouble installing Windows Live Writer 2008 on my machine (Windows XP SP2, .NET Framework 3).

First the installation seems to go well, then it starts checking for other installed Live products. After several minutes the message turns into "Sorry this is taking a little longer than expected. Please bear with us just a few more minutes." before resulting in "Sorry, we couldn't install these programms". Just on a sidenote I also wasn't able to install the Beta of Live Writer because of a similar issue.

I'd really like to give Live Writer a shot so I'd appreciate any help you can give me!

Thanks in advance,
Christoph Derndorfer"

A day later I received the following message from Microsoft Customer Support:

"Hello Christoph

Thank you for writing to Windows Live Writer Technical Support. My name is XYZ and I understand that you are having issues installing Windows Live Writer. I apologize for the inconvenience you had experienced.

Christoph, we want to work with you until we get this issue resolved. In order to investigate on this further, I will need you to provide us your Windows Live Writer log file. The log file is a text document that contains logs of every action taken on Windows Live Writer, and the processes that happen on the back-end.

You can get the Writer log file by doing the steps below:

1. Open Windows Live Writer and then click on the "Help" menu.

2. Select "About Windows Live Writer.". A small window showing your version of Writer should pop-up.

3. Click on the "Show log file" link found at the bottom-right side of the window.

4. Another window should open containing a "Windows Live Writer" text document. This is your Windows Live Writer log file.

5. Reply to this email and attach the Windows Live Writer log file.

Once we receive this information, we will be able to check and pinpoint exactly where the error occurs and the process fails.

We appreciate your continued support as we strive to provide you with the highest quality service available. Thank you for using Windows Live Writer. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely,

XYZ

Windows Live Writer Technical Support"

Given that I was reading the e-mail only 5min after I had gotten up at first I wasn't really sure what to make of it. I mean that customer support guy couldn't be *that* stupid as to suggest for me to open a programm I hadn't been able to install in the first place, right? I mean, he even said that he understood that I was "having issues installing Windows Live Writer"! So I decided to reply once again explaining that his reply wasn't really helping me:

"Hello XYZ,

thanks a lot for the quick reply.

However I'm not sure how your instructions are supposed to help me because in order for me to "1. Open Windows Live Writer and then click on the "Help" menu." the application would have to be installed already. Seeing that I encounter issues that keep the installation from happening successfully I am unable to provide you with that log-file you're asking for.

Shouldn't there also be some kind of log file that's created during the installation? I assume that should allow you to understand what's going wrong during the installation.

Best regards,
Christoph"

Only three hours later I received another reply from Microsoft's Customer Support, but this time from another person:

"Hello Christoph,

Thank you for writing to Windows Live Writer Technical Support. My name is ABC and I understand that you cannot install Windows Live Writer. I know how inconvenient this may be for you.

Christoph, please remove the installer-preventing Writer from installing and send your log files to us. Here are the steps to follow:

1. Create a new folder on your desktop and name it Log Files.

2. Copy 3 log files on your system to the new folder you created.

If you are using Windows XP (SP2) the log files are located at the following locations:

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\WindowsLiveInstaller\logs

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\WindowsLiveInstaller\MsiLogs

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\WLInstaller

f you are using Windows Vista the log files are located at the following locations:

C:\programdata\WindowsLiveInstaller\logs

C:\programdata\WindowsLiveInstaller\MsiLogs

C:\programdata\WLInstaller

3. Click this link: http://download.microsoft.com/download/2/3/0/23036331-516d-4c7e-b9ac-31554a2fec06/WL-Beta-remove.zip.

4. When prompted, click "Save" to save the ZIP file to your desktop.

5. Go to your desktop and open WL-Beta-remove.zip.

6. Extract all the files to your desktop (this should create a folder named WL-Beta-Remove on your desktop if not, skip to step 8).

7. Go to your desktop and open the folder named WL-Beta-remove (there should be a file named WL-Beta-Remove.cmd in the folder).

8. Double-click on the file named WL-Beta-Remove.cmd.

9. If prompted by the Open File - Security Warning, click "Run" (after clicking "Run" a window will open and you will see commands running in that Window, when the commands are finished the window will automatically close).

10. Go to http://get.live.com/betas/writer_betas and install Writer again.

NOTE: If you had Windows Live Mail or Windows Live Messenger installed you will also need to reinstall those applications:

Reinstall Windows Live Mail http://get.live.com/betas/maildesktop_betas

Reinstall Windows Live Messenger http://get.live.com/betas/messenger_betas

11. Reply to this email and attach the Windows Live Writer log file.

12. Delete WL-Beta-remove.zip and the folders named Log Files and WL-Beta-remove from your desktop.

If you still encounter the same issue, please reply to this e-mail with the following information:

- The outline of steps you took that lead to this problem
- The exact error message you received
- The Windows Live ID you used to sign in

- The Weblog service you are using

We appreciate your continued support as we strive to provide you with the highest quality service available. Thank you for using Windows Live Writer.

Sincerely,

ABC
Windows Live Writer Technical Support"

Now that sounds significantly more reasonable! I haven't had the time to actually follow these steps and see whether it can help me resolve this issue but I hope to do that later today. Anyway, it's certainly quite an amusing story and we'll see how it all works out!

To be continued...