Microsoft Notification Protocol (MSNP, also known as the Mobile Status Notification Protocol) is an

instant messaging Instant messaging (IM) technology is a type of online chat allowing real-time text transmission over the Internet or another computer network. Messages are typically transmitted between two or more parties, when each user inputs text and tri ...

protocol Protocol may refer to: Sociology and politics * Protocol (politics), a formal agreement between nation states * Protocol (diplomacy), the etiquette of diplomacy and affairs of state * Etiquette, a code of personal behavior Science and technology ...

developed by

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washi ...

for use by the

Microsoft Messenger service Messenger (formerly MSN Messenger Service, .NET Messenger Service and Windows Live Messenger Service) was an instant messaging and presence system developed by Microsoft in 1999 for use with its MSN Messenger software. It was used by instant me ...

and the instant messaging clients that connect to it, such as

Skype Skype () is a proprietary telecommunications application operated by Skype Technologies, a division of Microsoft, best known for VoIP-based videotelephony, videoconferencing and voice calls. It also has instant messaging, file transfer, debi ...

since 2014, and the earlier

Windows Live Messenger MSN Messenger (also known colloquially simply as "Messenger"), later rebranded as Windows Live Messenger, was a cross-platform instant-messaging client developed by Microsoft. It connected to the Microsoft Messenger service and, in later versio ...

MSN Messenger MSN Messenger (also known colloquially simply as "Messenger"), later rebranded as Windows Live Messenger, was a cross-platform instant-messaging client developed by Microsoft. It connected to the Microsoft Messenger service and, in later versio ...

, Windows Messenger, and Microsoft Messenger for Mac. Third-party clients such as

Pidgin A pidgin , or pidgin language, is a grammatically simplified means of communication that develops between two or more groups of people that do not have a language in common: typically, its vocabulary and grammar are limited and often drawn from s ...

and Trillian can also communicate using the protocol. MSNP was first used in a publicly available product with the first release of

in 1999.

Technical details

Any major change made to the protocol, such as a new command or syntax changes, results in a version-number incremented by one in the format of MSNP''#''. During October 2003, Microsoft started blocking access to Messenger service using versions below MSNP8. Starting on September 11, 2007, Microsoft forces most current users of

to upgrade to

8.1 due to security considerations.

Version history

MSNP1

MSNP1 has never been public. It is believed it was used during the early stages of design and development with MSN Messenger 1

MSNP2

A pre-release version was made available to developers in 1999 in an Internet Draft

However, the production version differed from the published version in a few subtle ways.

MSNP3

Both MSNP2 and MSNP3 were supported by MSN Messenger 2.0

MSNP4 and MSNP5

MSNP3, 4, and 5 were supported by the Messenger servers by July 200

and used by MSN Messenger 3.0 and 4.0.

MSNP6 and MSNP7

MSNP6 was used by later versions of MSN Messenger 4.x. In 2002 MSN Messenger 5.0 used MSNP7.

MSNP8

MSNP8 introduced a different authentication method, now sending authorization to Microsoft Passport, Microsoft Passport's secure servers and returning a challenge string. It is the minimum version of the protocol accepted by .NET Messenger Service after Microsoft blocked earlier versions for security reasons. As such, old and obsolete clients are unable to sign in, forcing users to upgrade clients. Version 5.0 of MSN Messenger is the only one that uses this MSNP version. Windows Messenger uses MSNP8 as its standard version, including 4.7 up to the latest 5.1. This protocol supports Windows Messenger-to-Windows Messenger webcam and voice capabilities.

MSNP9

MSNP9 was introduced with MSN Messenger 6, adding support for "D type" (data) messages, which are used for transferring display pictures and custom emoticons between clients, frame-by-frame web cam (rather than a traditional stream like

Windows Media Player Windows Media Player (WMP) is the first media player and media library application that was developed by Microsoft for playing audio, video and viewing images on personal computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, as well as ...

WMV Windows Media Video (WMV) is a series of video codecs and their corresponding video coding formats developed by Microsoft. It is part of the Windows Media framework. WMV consists of three distinct codecs: The original video compression technology ...

format) and an improved voice system, as well as improved

NAT Nat or NAT may refer to: Computing * Network address translation (NAT), in computer networking Organizations * National Actors Theatre, New York City, U.S. * National AIDS trust, a British charity * National Archives of Thailand * National A ...

traversal for file transfers.

MSNP10

Employed in MSN Messenger 6.1, after Microsoft started blocking earlier versions in October 2003. However, it was not a big overhaul, the only obvious change was integration with Hotmail address books.

MSNP11

Employed by

7.0

MSNP12

Employed by

7.5.

MSNP13

Employed by Windows Live Messenger 8.0, MSNP13 features a lot of changes. Most notably, contact list synchronization has been removed and clients must instead send a

SOAP Soap is a salt of a fatty acid used in a variety of cleansing and lubricating products. In a domestic setting, soaps are surfactants usually used for washing, bathing, and other types of housekeeping. In industrial settings, soaps are us ...

request to a contacts server, also known as "Client goes to ABCH" (where ABCH stands for Address Book Clearing House, the address book service behind all

MSN MSN (meaning Microsoft Network) is a web portal and related collection of Internet services and apps for Windows and mobile devices, provided by Microsoft and launched on August 24, 1995, alongside the release of Windows 95. The Microsoft Net ...

and

Windows Live Windows Live is a discontinued brand name for a set of web services and software products developed by Microsoft as part of its software-as-a-service platform. Chief components under the brand name included web services (all of which were expose ...

services). The client must then send the contacts data to the server for it to send presence information.

MSNP14

MSNP14 adds Yahoo! Messenger interoperability.

MSNP15

MSNP15 is the protocol version introduced with Windows Live Messenger 8.1 on 2006-09-08. It is based on MSNP14 but uses a different authentication mechanism called RPS (Relying Party Suite). Where TWN "Tweener" authentication is used on protocol versions 14 and below, SSO (Single Sign-On; RPS) authentication will be used on protocol versions 15 and above. In addition to a new authentication mechanism, Microsoft is also planning on making more of the properties of the user roaming. That is, the user's display picture, and in the future personal status messages, will be the same wherever the user signs in. Furthermore, support for user locations has been added to the Personal Status Message, although this feature was later removed from the Windows Live Messenger 8.1 client.

MSNP16

MSNP16 is used in a pre-release version of Windows Live Messenger 9.0, leaked in December 2007. It features "Multiple Points of Presence" (MPOP), the ability to sign in at 2 places at the same time with having chats replicated at all places. The UUX data have been extended to contain Endpoint Data (also MPOP), as well as Signature Sound MSN Object Data.

MSNP17

MSNP17 is identified by Windows Live Messenger servers on messenger.hotmail.com, but unused by any official client released by Microsoft.

MSNP18

MSNP18 is used in Windows Live Messenger 2009 (14.0). Its main new addition is the Groups feature, much like persistent grouped conversations. UUX Data have been extended to include Scene image MSN Object data.

MSNP19

Employed by Windows Live Messenger 2011 (Wave 4)

MSNP21

Employed by Windows Live Messenger 2012

MSNP24

Employed by

since early 2014. Also used by Microsoft Teams.

References

External links

MSN Messenger Protocol
- Protocol documentation
MSNPiki
- Protocol wiki
MZK
- A PHP library that implements the MSN protocol
MSNP-Sharp
- A dotnet library implements the MSN protocol
WSDL & XSD files
- Web Service Definitions and Schemas
MSNP15 authentication scheme REdJava MSN library
- Supports protocol 8 to 15
MSNp.py
MSN messaging in Python {{Instant messaging Instant messaging protocols Microsoft server technology

Technical details

Version history

MSNP1

MSNP2

MSNP3

MSNP4 and MSNP5

MSNP6 and MSNP7

MSNP8

MSNP9

MSNP10

MSNP11

MSNP12

MSNP13

MSNP14

MSNP15

MSNP16

MSNP17

MSNP18

MSNP19

MSNP21

MSNP24

See also

References

External links