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Home / Other I-Appliances / MSN Companion dial-up without having an MSN account it is possible, i've been able to do it

dial-up without having an MSN account (modified 0 times) sin613 Profile i signed up for a free 3 month trial, and plugged that info in (i wanted to use the native OS!) logged out, so i was just sitting at the login screen... and notice the option to "log in as guest" clicked "log in as guest" and the computer asks for my passport adderss... @hotmail.com, @passport.com, @msn.com, etc... i thought "hmm, i should go change my MSN password for my *new* account so if the ipaq tries to connect it can't..." changed it, logged in as guest... everything works fine dialing into my normal ISP. SOOOOOOO my next plan is to dump the ROM image, and edit my primary user config to use my hotmail account instead of the msn account. should be possible, if so i'll post better instructions... although, my main long-term goal is to be running an unadultered copy of WinCE instead of this MSN companion crap. -barton oh yeah, QNX is my second goal, my favorite fuggin' OS in the entire world... 12-15-2001 13:26:38

RE:dial-up without having an MSN account (modified 0 times) javajedi Profile Wait just one minute.. Are you saying that it's possible to use the default OS and *NOT* pay the Borg whatsoever? It was my understanding that even if you allready had an ISP (i have dsl), if you wanted to use the default os, you needed to pay them $9.95/mo. So you can do w/o this by just logging on as a guest and using your hotmail?!!? 12-15-2001 15:03:11

RE:dial-up without having an MSN account (modified 0 times) sin613 Profile yup, just remember that you *have* to use a valid MSN account to gain access to the login screen from a virgin machine... but then you can discontinue the MSN account, leave the info for the discontinued account on the IA-1, and just log in as guest. since the filesystem is entirely simplistic, modifying the primary account should be a snap. the file CFlash:\USERS\%USERNAME%\SETTINGS.REG should (theoretically) hold all of that specific user's information, so altering the @msn.com to be a valid @hotmail.com should be a snap. this is my next step, expect instructions soon. -barton 12-15-2001 19:58:40

RE:dial-up without having an MSN account (modified 0 times) foresto Profile Does this work with version 2 of the system software? Does it work with an ethernet connection? 12-15-2001 20:28:51

RE:dial-up without having an MSN account (modified 0 times) javajedi Profile sine613, y00 da man! I'll have my IA-1 Monday, I'll be sure to try this. Also I found out from MSN that the 3 month trial offering ends Dec 31.. I too am curious if it works with version 2.. Thanks again man! 12-15-2001 21:14:29

RE:dial-up without having an MSN account (modified 0 times) sin613 Profile it works with v2, that is currently what i'm running. -barton 12-16-2001 00:03:41

RE:dial-up without having an MSN account (modified 0 times) TruGeek Profile Barton, are you saying you have already done this? I just got mine today and signed up for the 6 month trial. I'm waiting for the v2 update - too chicken #### to force it... So after the six months I can edit the .reg file to use my (free) Hotmail account and I won't have to pay to use the iPaq over my DSL? Just want to clarify if this is theory or practice... TruGeek 12-17-2001 21:14:16

RE:dial-up without having an MSN account (modified 0 times) sin613 Profile this is not theory, i have done it. for testing purposes: 1) set up the ipaq to use your "new" MSN account 2) after successfully connecting once, disconnect/logout 3) go to another computer and change your "new" MSN account password, rendering the password stored on the ipaq useless 4) use the ipaq to connect as a "guest" since the connection works, the conclusion is *not* hard-coded into the OS, but rather is stored in settings specific to the MSN connection. checking through the SETTINGS.REG file located in the USER\_GLOBAL_ directory leads me to believe that this file is responsible for logging users in, whereas individual USER\%USERNAME%\SETTINGS.REG files contain specific information like password, e-mail address, favorites, etc. -barton 12-19-2001 10:32:03

RE:dial-up without having an MSN account (modified 0 times) djohnston Profile Do you think this will work with the broadband connectivity too? That is... I go through the same steps and using my cable modem (still waiting for the USB Ethernet device: hopefully UPS brings it tonight), and I no longer need MSN for my connection.... Of course, there seems to be something about the primary account as being the only one capable of changing most settings, do you lose that capability? -DJ 12-19-2001 16:05:02

RE:dial-up without having an MSN account (modified 0 times) javajedi Profile I can confirm barton's process, I too changed my account password, then loged in as guest, works like a champ! The question is, wether it only goes so long after using a guest account that the "primary" account must login?? 12-19-2001 18:05:17

RE:dial-up without having an MSN account (modified 0 times) tfhnotlt4char Profile UNLESS the ia-1 gets a hashed key or something from MSN that it uses to validate that the unit is under subscription regardless of the user password. That may make sense, otherwise if you logged in with a hotmail id (as I do...I already had hotmail and didnt have any interest in the @msn.com address), how would it know you're subscribed unless there's some sort of handshake. Do any of the folks testing this have their MSN account cancelled? I'd be willing to bet if you do that the unit will stop working shortly thereafter, even with the 'guest' login. I am hoping my brains out that this isnt the case, but it seems like a pretty easy 'out'. Maybe with a little hacking to avoid that key validation or pass it through as successful, that may be the way to get around this if it turns out there is a key involved. My big reason for saying this is as follows...I had a cookie problem on my ia-1 and had to do an 'erase' on it, which reset the unit. I had to call microsoft to reset my MSN password after this, and then I logged back in to the @msn.com account. All my hotmail accounts were gone as were all my settings, which is what I expected. I figured I'd put them back in another day. The next day, all my accounts and settings were restored...but I dont know if they were restored from some backup location on the ia-1 or from one of msn's servers...but i'm suspecting the latter. clearly the msn servers have a lot of info replicated on them about what you're doing on the ia-1...only thing missing (thank god) were the passwords to the hotmail accounts, i had to reenter those. 12-20-2001 10:54:53

RE:dial-up without having an MSN account (modified 0 times) mkraai Profile That's my guess, too. They don't need a password to check if your account is active and/or paid-up. 12-20-2001 12:16:28

RE:dial-up without having an MSN account (modified 0 times) TruGeek Profile oy, wouldn't that suck. I was able to sign in as a guest... I'll let you know in six months if I can still do that with a cancelled MSN account. Of course, if all the iPaq is doing is checking to make sure the account is valid, it's not even checking the password, all you need to do is put in a valid MSN email address for it to work. You wouldn't even need to know the poor fool's password. Of course, MSN Command Central might get suspicious that bgates@msn.com gets checked 1000's of times daily... TruGeek 12-20-2001 19:23:03

RE:dial-up without having an MSN account (modified 0 times) tfhnotlt4char Profile Sooo...about 4 months later, does this "guest" method still work for everyone? I cancelled my msn account several months ago and put the ia-1 on the shelf. I was curious if continued use "revalidated" your msn account and restarted billing, or if after a month or two the guest process stopped working. I'm tempted to try it, but not if it costs me $20... 03-24-2002 20:29:24

RE:dial-up without having an MSN account (modified 0 times) Wiz_ Profile So folks, it's been months since this thread was started. Does the guest account continue to work after the original account has been canceled? Thanks! Wiz 04-23-2002 13:01:23

RE:dial-up without having an MSN account (modified 0 times) KingKaj Profile Is anyone willing to share a MSN 2.0 image that is configured for a broadband connection and is setup to login a guest / has SETTINGS.REG modified for a hotmail account? 04-25-2002 03:32:51

RE:dial-up without having an MSN account (modified 0 times) Wiz_ Profile Anybody noticed that MSN no longer seems to have service plans for the MSN Companion? Look at http://msnc.msn.com/v2/companion/buyersguide_serviceplans.asp. Maybe they no longer care if you pay them and we continue to login as "guest". Related question. I've signed up for a free 3 months MSN account and now want to change the password from another PC. I have broadband connection with AT&T, and am using that with the USB adapter to connect. How can I change my MSN password or cancel the account? I don't really want to mess with MSN dialup from my PC. 05-01-2002 22:08:14

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