Installing Windows Live Writer on Vista x64

This is my first post from my new work machine. It seemed appropriate to post about the little bit of struggle I had to go through to actually get it done. :)

First off, if you aren't using Live Writer yet check it out.  I've been using it for a while and have been pretty happy.

So what's the issue with getting Live Writer running on x64?  If you check the release notes you'll see that "64-bit is not supported for beta 2."  This isn't entirely true.  The Live team is using an installer package that doesn't run on x64.  If you get your hands on the actual MSI packages for the individual live installs they work on x64 (at least the ones I've tried).

I first found the post from Ed Bott's talking about a work around.  He basically gave some more details of the post on LiveSide.net.  This seemed like a bit of work but I figured I could use a Windows XP VPC install to get the MSI packages (since the VPC is running as x86).  This all seemed fine and good but when I went to install the app the Windows Live download service was down (AARGHH!).  So after looking around a little more I found yet another way to get the MSI, and this one was much simpler!  On one of the MSN groups forums someone posted info on how to get the Live Writer MSI directly from the live.com site.  I guess this is a different URL then what the WLinstaller.exe installer uses.

 

To make it even easier for others I put together all the links for the individual Live installer packages (I'm sure these will change but it works for now).

• Live Writer
• Live Messenger
• Live Sign-In Assistant
• Live Mail
• Live Toolbar
• Live Photo Gallery

 

This should save you a bit of time for getting the installers downloaded and installed.  

Enjoy. 

-kf

Update:  Well, looks like they've fixed this.  A coworker sent me the URL to the new installer.  I tried looking for it on the Live site but it wasn't there.  Here is the URL if you're looking for the newer installer that works on x64.  Cheers.