Fix 80048820 Error

One of the most popular and widely used instant messengers is Windows Live Messenger. With so many people using this service at once, it's bound to have problems, and it does. Perhaps the most annoying of these problems is the 80048820 error screen.

You try to log in to the messenger, but it won't work. Instead, you get a pop-up window which reads "We were unable to sign you into Windows Live Messenger at this time. Please try again later. Error code: 80048820 Extended error code: 80048412"

Chances are, this error is not your fault or the fault of your computer. Error 80048820 generally happens when there's a problem over at the .NET Messenger's server. For whatever reason, it's having issues and can't log in. The best thing to do once you get that error screen is shrug and go find something else to do for while. Come back after a while and check. In most cases, you'll be able to open up your messenger just fine. The problem usually only lasts for a few minutes, to at most, a couple of hours.

If after a while you still can't get your instant messenger to work even after watching videos of dogs riding skateboards for an hour, check to make sure your computer's time and date are accurate. If it's not, it could be confusing the Windows Messenger server. Double click the time at the bottom right of your screen to bring up the clock and calendar. If either of them are incorrect, put in the right time and date, click apply, then click ok. Messenger should work now.

If you are still getting an 80048820 error, then you're going to have to register some dll files. To do this, do the following:

1. Click the "start" button
2. Click "run"
3. In the text bar, type: regsvr32 softpub.dll Wintrust.dll Initpki.dll Rsaenh.dll Mssip32.dll Cryptdlg.dll
4. Click "ok"
5. Repeat steps 1 and 2.
6. In the text bar, type: regsvr32 Dssenh.dll Gpkcsp.dll Slbcsp.dll Sccbase.dll
7. Click "ok"

If Windows Messenger still does not work, try cleaning your registry for errors with a registry cleaner. That way you should ultimately get rid of the 80048820 error code.