Chat on Lan with IP Messenger

By Ashish Mohta

91 Comments and Link-Backs to “Chat on Lan with IP Messenger”

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90 Comments from Friends and Readers

• Madhur Kapoor, August 5, 2007:

  I have been using it for 3 years in my college . Its the best and the download speed it gives is pretty neat too .

• Anand, August 6, 2007:

  So nice to see a review of IP messenger here..I love the tool, and have been using it for more than 4 years..

  It is infact indispensible here in my institute..all important information, class PPTs all get circulated through the IP Messenger..It’s a boon..

• LanTalk, August 6, 2007:

  Our messenger is commercial product and any bad words will looks like adv, but I should say that “IP Messenger” looks like a code sample from CodeProject ,not like an useful product.

• Vijay Teach Me, August 6, 2007:

  I had not heard of this before, looks promising, will give it a try.

  Vijay

• Haris, August 7, 2007:

  Yeah, even I haven’t heard of this. I’ll try to use this in school.

• Softros LAN messenger, August 7, 2007:

  Interface doesn’t looks like user-friendly on these screenshots.
  Users prefer an MSN, ICQ styles messenger.

• Selva, August 7, 2007:

  Hi,
  I am also ok with your point. It is very simple and user friendly. The UI part of this software is very nice. Is there any other tool like this in the market?

  Regards,
  Selva

• LanTalk LAN messenger, August 8, 2007:

  Selva, try our LanTalk NET
  http://www.cezeo.com/products/lantalk-net/

• Ashish Mohta, August 8, 2007:

  @Selva: Thanks for the comment. Looks like Dot net version of this tool is good. If somebody can download it in office will be great

• sanjay, September 10, 2007:

  its a very good messenger for an office

• Nitu, September 22, 2007:

  How to unblock a blocked IP?

• rajender, September 27, 2007:

  Is there any body can track the messaged in Ip Messenger.

• Anand, September 27, 2007:

  Rajender, you can right-click on the IP messenger icon in the quick launch toolbar and select ‘View Log’ to view all the messages..

• Ashish Mohta, September 27, 2007:

  Thanks Ananad

• Ameen, October 9, 2007:

  Will Shirouzu release new versions of IP Messenger with different skins.. or can we do some tweaking for changing the skin to match our dsktop???

• Ashish Mohta, October 10, 2007:

  @Ameen: I am not sure of that but you can try emailing them. They must help

• Prasad, November 13, 2007:

  Ip Messenger is a good tool for chatting in office networks.
  It is very helpfull in communicating team members.

  Also its file and folder transfer functions absolutely superb. It redused the hassel of sharing files and folder.

  I have small problem with this. I ve registered the application to run on start up. But the application wont run when xp starts. What is the problem? How to solve this.

  I am using 2.06 version

• Ashish Mohta, November 13, 2007:

  @Prasad: Thanks for sharing the info with us. Yes its a superb software when it comes to sharing. Regarding your problem, it should work fine as it does in most of the XP systems in our office. However as it does not work you can out it in scheduler and setit for “When computer starts”, It will automatically load when windows starts or when you login.

• Prasad, November 14, 2007:

  Thanks Ashish for your Suggestion.

  I have added the program to scheduler. Its working.

  Please inform us if any new versions available for this application.

• sriram, November 27, 2007:

  hi

  around 20 pc’s connected in our small office and we are using it for last 2 years, now past 2weeks its unable to detect all PCs and some times data transfer also not happening,

  problem is like this PC1 and Pc2 ipmessenger deceting all pc’s in the network and able to transfer data, bt these two not communicating . its happening randomly on any two pc’s
  am using 2.06 version and my network is virus free

  i am unable to understand the problem,any suggestion or solution

  regards

• Ashish Mohta, November 27, 2007:

  @Sriram: I Had the same problem and I will tell you why it happened to me.

  I had both local ip ( 162.2….) like and dynamic ip set for the network adapter. Now what was happening is It used to show the local ip in the Ip mesenger and never detcted any other computer on the network.

  I tried flushing the DNS settings and some more things with IP config command. Something like resetting the IP address of the machine.

  Immediately after doing this , I did a refresh on ip messenger and all the computers were detected but I faced the same problem again.

  Now my analysis is There is something worong with IP setting of the machine, see if the local ip is going heywire.

  I hope that helps you out.

  Ashish

• sriram, November 28, 2007:

  hi Ashish thanks for your reply

  i am using all static IPs,and the problem not only with particular system. still i did ip reseting and hardware reseting(like swith and wireless access point )no luck yet to find solution

  sriram

• Ashish Mohta, November 28, 2007:

  @Sriram: Thanks for updating us on this. I am not sure why this problem is coming on your side. I would guess its best if you mail the author of the software and ask for suggestion. He can give you a best solution

• minami, December 4, 2007:

  maybe you are using vista just like me…it was working perfectly before even when i installed it in vista but after some weeks or months, it faile to see other users… i vaguely recall blocking something which may caused it but i cant really recall what i did and what i blocked using trend micro.

• Ashish Mohta, December 4, 2007:

  @Minami: Thanks for sharing the problem with us, However I faced this problem in XP too. I am guessing its a general problem where Ip configuration is messing with IP messenger

• Laxmikanth, December 24, 2007:

  I have installed this on my system.

  And i have just copied the file “ipmsg” on all the systems which is connected in lan.

  But the other systems can only see me not all the users who are in that group

  how to install if u found any manual please post it

  Thanks in Advance

• Ashish Mohta, December 26, 2007:

  @Laxmikant: Try resetting your ip and also by flushing the dns or renewing it. Thats the two way i tried to troubleshoot it

• r.s, January 3, 2008:

  I’ve been using IP Messenger here in the office for a year now but one day, after going back from lunch, I can’t see anyone in the window (0 users).  I didn’t do anything so I don’t have any idea why this happened.
  Please help. Thanks thanks

• Ashish Mohta, January 3, 2008:

  @R.S: This is a common problem. You will need to reset your ip and flush dns. We are not sure why this problem comes to so many people. Also check if your Ip has some problems

• nagaraja, January 3, 2008:

  Hi,
   
  Can anyone let me know whether IP Messenger will support multi-user session. I have LAN with one server and 8 thin-cllients attached to server. I am getting binding error if i run IP messenger on thin client.
   
  rgds
   
  m.s.nagaraja

• Garima Grover, January 3, 2008:

  Hi..
   
  I have been using this software in the office & I must say it’s a boon. The speed with which messages, and files are transfered is remarkable..
  I would like to know something. Recently the networking model has changed in our office, and we are now connected through VPN. Our company has several branches all over India & abroad. We are all connected through VPN. Now I notice that with in the office (within the premises) many of us are not visible to each other on IP messenger, despite the fact that the chances of IP address clashing doesnt arise, and even after refreshing the IP numerous times there is no improvement. We are all using Windows Vista in our laptops. I would like to know why does this problem arise?
   
  Also I wish to know, that if we wish to see all the users (all over India - connected through VPN to the main server) how can this be done using this IP msger? DO we need to add the concerned person’s IP address to ensure they are visible to us on our IP?
   
  Looking fwd for your advice & help.
   
  Regards
  Garima Grover
  http://www.intellectualcritter.blogspot.com
   

• r.s, January 3, 2008:

  Hi.
  I tried flushing the DNS but it didn’t work.  Found out that our VirusScan blocks the port used by the IP Messenger.  I removed it from the list and was able to successfully use the IP Messenger again.
  Just FYI for others
  You can also just disable the VirusScan and run IP Messenger but if this doesn’t work, try what I mentioned above.
  thanks thanks

• Ashish Mohta, January 3, 2008:

  @Nagaraja: I dont think it supports multi user session. I would suggest you to check the help file at the home of Ip messenger. Its binded to just one Ip.

• Ashish Mohta, January 3, 2008:

  @Garima: If everybody is in one network they will be visible to each other. Moreover Check if the port is getting blocked by any Anitivirus.

  However I have some doubt over vista but never tested IPmsgr on it.

• Ashish Mohta, January 3, 2008:

  @R.S: Thanks a lot for sharing the info. This will even help me in sorting out the problem I was facing in office.

• Jay, January 19, 2008:

  I am using the IP messenger in our office, but unable to get the chat-log, error message is as described below: Windows can not find ‘ipmsg.log’

  Please help me in resolving the problem

• Garima, January 19, 2008:

  @ Jay
  Re-install the msger, the problem would resolve

• Ashish Mohta, January 20, 2008:

  @Jay: Your problem is very simple. Right click on the tray icon and look for log settings. The error you are getting as you have not defined the path for the log file. Do tell me if it works, Else I will gives you more details.

• chetan bhawsar, February 6, 2008:

  hi this chetan and its great tool to communicate over lan can you suggest me any wan tool for simple and fast comm.

• Kavaski, February 6, 2008:

  How to use password settings in ip messenger

  Adv.Thanks & Regards,

  Kavaski.

• Ashish Mohta, February 6, 2008:

  @Kavasaki: go to settings of ipmessenger ( right click on tray icon). You will get a password button there. You can set password there. a word of caution, This password will be required by other person who recieves your message.

  Check the 2nd pic in this post

• Ashish Mohta, February 6, 2008:

  @Chetan: I will look around for you . Thanks for the idea.

• Vidya, February 18, 2008:

  Hi,

  IP Messenger is no doubt a great toool and i must say alongwith attaching files just like typing a message … it sure does keep everyone in the office on their toes .. in short alert …

  would also like to share that ip is compatible with mac machines too ..

  regds
  vids

• Ashish Mohta, February 18, 2008:

  Vidhya, No there is nothing for mac as far as I know. If they we will know

• Ashish Mohta, February 19, 2008:

  Correction, IP Messenger is multi platform which includes Mac OS. I almost overlooked.

• Sarfaraz, February 27, 2008:

  Hi I am Using IP Messagner version 2.04 the problem i am facing is I have kept the notification system on.(ie when user opens my seal message i get a pop up stating that message opened. the problem i am facing is tht this popup always displayes in minimized form so i need to restore it first then i have to click on OK button is there any solution to this problem. if so please do let me know

• Vidya, February 27, 2008:

  Hi Sarfaraz,

  Try this out …

  right click on the IP icon below and in settings click on details/log settings icon and make sure ‘Open/Check Dialog is icon’ is not checked .. if it is tick pls make sure there’s no tick there .. this should solve your problem.

  please let me know if this was what you were trying to solve.

• Sarfaraz, February 27, 2008:

  Thx Vidya.

  But the method u suggested will stop giving the Message open notificaiton itself. And i Need to have the confirmation of message opening. the only issue is I want it in the center fo screen (Which is currently appearing as minimized by default so i first need to restore it then click on OK button.))

  Any ways thx for the efforts. M workign on it to find some solution to it. if found will let u know jst drop ur Email ID if u wish…

• Vidya, February 27, 2008:

  Hi Sarfaraz,

  did u try that out ??? did u … did u ??????????????????????????? or was it your assumption … ke shayad aisa karne se aisa hoga … ???????????????????

  i’ve tried it and given u a solution so please try it and let me know ..

• Sarfaraz, February 27, 2008:

  Hi Vidya..

  I Suppose u are not able to understand my problem itself. As doing that will stops giving me confirmation message that “Message opened”

  But still for your confirmation i tried that also and it is not solving my problem…..

• sanju, February 27, 2008:

  For file transfer, it very useful and fast,

• Sarfaraz, February 27, 2008:

  Hi vidya

  I FOund its Solution…

  My Problem was sloved by making a small change in the Registry entry for IP Msg

  any ways thx for the support….

• Vidya, February 27, 2008:

  hi sarfaraz,

  lets see how correctly have i been able to understand ur problem …

  … u want the MESSAGE OPEN window … right but it is appearing in a minimised form correct .. and its only after u restore that u are able to read the message … correct ????

  I know you do not want this ..
  but this is for your info .. if you do not want that window “message open” at all .. u have to check the “Message open check” from the settings ..
  now this is not what you want so this box should be blank .. fine

  so now to undo the sleep mode of this message open window .. in the settings below group name u’ll find an active icon i.e. Details/Log Settings .. click here … and out here make sure

  “OpenCheckDialog is icon” see the difference between these two statements in quotes .. so make sure this is not checked … and this should save u from restoring and being able to read your message.

  hope i have been clear with understanding your problem … have i understood ur problem and has this solved it???

• Sarfaraz, February 27, 2008:

  Hi vidya

  Now u got the problem of minse as well as its solution… Thanks,

  U gave a simpler solution to it.. Actually i solved my problem in a novice way. I opened the registry entry for Ip MSg and in tht there is a key named MsgMinimized I set its value to get my problem solved…

  THe method u gave is also functioning well… Thanks once again…..

• Ashish Mohta, February 27, 2008:

  Thanks for your efforts vidya. I was busy from morning so was not able to reply at the moment. Thanks again

• Ashish Mohta, February 27, 2008:

  Probably IPMSG does not have very clear language on options but I think Vidhya solved your problem

• Vishal, February 28, 2008:

  hi,
  we use ipmsg in our institute. sometimes i dont get to see some users in my contact list. Also iam invisible to the person on his list.

  does ipmsg show all ppl in the network? or does it differentiate between people in one subnet from the other..like 172.17.100.* is not visible to 172.17.130.*??

  let know

  vishal

• Vidya, February 28, 2008:

  Hi Sarfaraz,

  that was the solution i gave you even earlier .. but guess u did not understand … and sometimes it is not that complicated as it seems to be so maybe we must look out for something simpler rather go in for more complicated solution and make a mess of it .. anyways worth a try .. thanks.

• Vidya, February 28, 2008:

  Hi Vishal,

  Ur query seems to be a very technical one .. but as long as all u students are connected thru LAN, I guess it should not matter to whichever subnets u r connected to …

  and i wish ip was more stylish like any other chat programs … but guess IP’s simplicity is the best and that’s why it’s so effective a messenger …

  u do not have an option of being “invisible”. whoever is logged on to the system … they appear on the IP List … u can see how it looks .. above ..

  U cud run a brief check around ur neighboring PC’s to see if IP Msngr is on the startup .. so that its on, once the pc goes on … try refreshing by clicking on the REFRESH button below Member …

  Does the person receive ur message even if you are not visible on his member’s list ???? Ask him to refresh his list in that case ..

• Vidya, February 28, 2008:

  Thankyou Ashish, its my pleasure … and i guess that’s the best part of troubleshooting .. trying to solve other’s query .. one tends to learn something more everytime we try to solve a problem.

• Ajeet, March 10, 2008:

  How to make sure that after sending the message, the window is not closed. Can i have the reply on the same window as the original message?

• Ashish Mohta, March 11, 2008:

  @Ajeet: I dont think there is option for any of them

• San, March 12, 2008:

  Hello everybody

  Which port this software uses to communicate…?

  Thanks
  San

• sanjay, March 13, 2008:

  Good Morning all,

  I wish you a cool day,,,without having work tensions

  sanju

• latish, April 18, 2008:

  i like chat with ipmsger

• Garima Grover, April 18, 2008:

  Hi..

  I would like to confirm if we can use IP Msger like Yahoo or MSN msger? If one doesnt have these msgers, can IP msger be a subsctitute, by asking the other person’s IP address additing and starting the conversation on the world wide web.

  Please note I m refering on the world wide web / Internet & NOT on INTRANET.. if yes, can u pls let me know how to do so.

  Regards
  Garima Grover
  http://www.intellectualcritter.blogspot.com

• Ashish, April 18, 2008:

  Hi Garima, Thats not possible.

• Garima Grover, April 19, 2008:

  Hi Ashish

  Thanx for the reply

  Regards
  Garima Grover
  http://www.intellectualcritter.blogspot.com

• alwina, May 16, 2008:

  hey guys
  i need reply to this query urgently
  v use ipmsg in our office for file transfer n chatting
  nw my boss says that v chat nonofficial thing on ipmsg
  v carefully remove the data from the log
  then how come he came to kno wht v chat not
  is there any way that log can be get recorded without our knowledge on other machine???
  thnx
  plz reply me on maxfashun.ally@gmail.com

• Ashish Mohta, May 16, 2008:

  alwina, I think in your office data transfer through network is monitored. As the message is sent on network it can be tracked. There has to be some software which monitors all your computers in office

• alwina, May 16, 2008:

  so how can i avoid it….

• Ashish Mohta, May 16, 2008:

  I dont think you can . Since you don’t have control over network nor IP messenger has this kind of settings

• Chaitanya, May 21, 2008:

  Hi this is chaitanya,

  Iam new to this ipmsg. can anybody tell where i can view the DNS settings and registry key..

  Thanks in Advance,
  Chaitanya.

• Ashish Mohta, May 21, 2008:

  Chaitanya, I dont think you can . There is no DNS built in here. As far as I understand its a ring network protocol which detects all other installation by sending a particular packet r pining it at particular port. I am not sure of reg key either

• Chaitanya, May 22, 2008:

  Ashish,

  Thanks for ur quick response.

• KVH, May 25, 2008:

  ”
  ” ==== AutoReply(DecryptErr) ====
  ” My PubKey is updated, I can’t
  ” receive your message.
  ” Please press refresh button.
  ” ==============================
  Sometimes I am getting this autoreply while chatting with IP messenger. Not getting corrected even after pressing refresh.
  What may be the reason ?

• Saket, June 11, 2008:

  We have terminal server and think client (disk less node)
  and i want to use IP Message on my think client but its not working
  can any one help me

  coz we have 1 Server and think client connect to the server different user name and passwords in this case IP message give error

  Please help me

  Regards,

• Ashish Mohta, June 11, 2008:

  Saket whats the error you are getting ?

• Dudemumbai, June 11, 2008:

  Hi

  I am unable to get log history as you mentioned ablve i have right click on the tray icon and look for log settings, i have given a path but since there was no ipmsg.log file. i have created a notepad file with the name of ipmsg.log Please help

• Ashish Mohta, June 11, 2008:

  Dudemumbai,

  There is a check box under log settings with the name “Logging available”. Even if you provide a file but dont check that , logging will not work.

  See if this fixes the problem for you.

  Ashish

• thalib, June 16, 2008:

  Hi,

  IPMSG is cool. I use it for years. By the way, what port number this software use? Can we change it to another port number?

  thanks

• abdul, June 17, 2008:

  Nice post..
  il do same post…

• Urmil, June 20, 2008:

  Hi,

  I have been using IPMsg for last 3 yrs and am very happy with it. Though recently I came across one problem which I earlier didn’t have.

  Till sometime back, I could see all the user (machine) names in the list, including my own machine name. But recently I installed “Kaspersky Internet Security (KIS)” software on my machine and since then my own machine name has disappeared from the list. It’s not a big issue as I am able to send messages to everyone in my organization, but sometimes I send messages to my own machine name so that I can have them in the log and would use it to keep certain things for my own record purpose.

  Just FYI…. Prior to installing KIS, I had Kaspersky Antivirus and with that I was able to see my user/machine name too.

  Is there any way where I can have my machine name appear in the list again with KIS still installed on my machine?

  I would appreciate if someone can help me to resolve this problem.

  Thanks in advance.

• Bhaskaran S, June 23, 2008:

  We have been using IPMessenger for a long time in our college…
  Recently we have upgraded our n/w to DHCP and created virtual lan.. I mean seperate virtual lan for Hostel, college etc.

  Now the prob is.. When we are in college we can see only ppl who are in college and same in hostel.. I guess bcz of virual lan…. i tried broadcast ip address but not working..

  But if i know somebody in college (while i’m in hostel) ip address and if i add it in broadcast address.. i can see that person and can send messeges too…

  Any solution for this.. or how to use broadcast address in ip..
  TIA

• Ashish Mohta, June 23, 2008:

  Bhaskaran, thats the only way we can do it. I dont have any provision through which I can give you an example though. Is there anyay those ips are blocked ?

• Bhaskaran S, June 23, 2008:

  No.. None of the ip’s are blocked..

  We have around 4 virtual lans with 255 ids each… I cant add all of those to the ipmessenger..

  Can u tell me more about the broadcast tool.. is there anyway to add multiple ipaddresses at a time.. say comma seperated values, or 192.168.0.* or sth similar to this.. I tried all the above said possibilities..

  Or is there anyway to add all the ip address in bulk.. some log file, registry entries etc..

• Ashish Mohta, June 23, 2008:

  Bhaskaran, Yes there is way to do it with registry. But again you will have to add manually

  HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\HSTools\IPMsgEng\BroadCast

  Here you can add a string with number as name and ip address as value. Then restart Ip messenger and you will see that ip in ipmessenger.

  I am not sure how to but you can write a small program which can accept an ip and add to registry.

  Good Luck

• Bhaskaran, June 24, 2008:

  Thanks a lot.. Hope i can write a program to do this stuff..

  Final question to you.. How can i do the same in MAC.. I am using Mac OSX leopard and using Mac version of ipmessenger

  Thanks in advance

• Ashish Mohta, June 24, 2008:

  I really dont have any idea of MAC. Never used it. If MAC has some place like registry may be you can do that way. Sorry man

• Bhaskaran, June 24, 2008:

  Thanks for your help..

  Will try to figure it out on MAC.. Hope i will

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