Select the product you need help with

Troubleshoot “can’t connect” error when joining a Room on Windows Phone 8

Article ID: 2789582 - View products that this article applies to.

Expand all | Collapse all

Symptoms

When you attempt to accept a Room invite, you receive one of the following error messages:

Collapse this tableExpand this table

Collapse this imageExpand this image

If you are joining from Windows Phone 8:

Can't connect

If you have good reception, the problem might be on the other end. Wait a little while and try again.

Or, if you are joining from a different mobile platform:

We couldn't add you to the Room.

Back to the top | Give Feedback

Things to Try

These errors may occur for several reasons:

There is a temporary service issue
You have lost connectivity
You are using an unverified Microsoft account
You are using a Microsoft child account
You or other Room members have reached the contact quota limit for the Microsoft account

Here are some solutions to try:

Temporary service issue or no data connection

Collapse this imageExpand this image

There may be a temporary service issue. Wait a little while and try again. To make sure that the Microsoft account services are up and running, go to the Service Status

(https://status.live.com)

webpage. This may also be caused due to a lack of connectivity, such as having poor cellular data connection, having Airplane Mode enabled, or being connected to a Wi-Fi network that is having issues. To test device connectivity, you can open Internet Explorer on the phone to see if you can browse to a web page. Once you can, try to join the Room again.

Collapse this imageExpand this image

Verify Microsoft Account

Collapse this imageExpand this image

If you recently created a new Microsoft account, you have to confirm that you own the account before you use it. To complete the registration process, follow these steps:

Open a web browser and go to Verify this email address .
Sign in to your Microsoft account.
Click or tap the button Send email to send a verification email to the email address listed on that page. Follow the instructions in the message to verify your email address.
Attempt to rejoin the Room.

Or, your Microsoft account may not have accepted the latest Terms of Use/Terms of Service and your profile may have missing information. To fix the problem, follow these steps:

Open a web browser and go to http://skydrive.com/ . If you need to accept the latest terms of use, you will be prompted at this time.
Browse to http://profile.live.com/ and ensure you have all information entered, such as a valid birthday.
Attempt to rejoin the Room. If it fails the first time, try again.

Collapse this imageExpand this image

Contact limit quota reached

Collapse this imageExpand this image

One or more of the Room members (yourself, existing or newly joining) may have reached the contact quota limit for their Microsoft account. Joining a room makes everyone Messenger friends, and if an account has reached their contact quota limit joining a Room will fail if members can’t become contacts of another. All Room members, including you, should ensure their Microsoft account profile is updated and verified. To fix the problem, have all Room members follow these steps:

Open a web browser and go to http://sms.live.com . Verify your account with a mobile phone number.
Browse to http://profile.live.com and ensure you have all information entered, such as a valid birthday.
Attempt to rejoin the Room. If it fails the first time, try again.

Note adding additional proofs to a Microsoft account, such as adding a mobile phone number, should increase the contact limit quotas for the account. However, any one member can cause this failure, so all members should try the above steps.

Collapse this imageExpand this image

Microsoft child account

Collapse this imageExpand this image

The account joining may be a Microsoft child account. Child accounts may have contact management policies applied that result in Windows Phone being unable to join Rooms successfully. To fix the problem, follow these steps:

Open a web browser and go to Protecting your kids with Family Safety . Follow the instructions to set up Family Safety through Windows Essentials.
Sign in to Family Safety with the Microsoft parent (primary) account.
Under the Family member section, click or tap Edit settings for the child account having the sign-in problem.
Click or tap Contact management, and then select Child manages their own contact list.
On the child account’s phone, attempt to rejoin the Room. If it fails the first time, try again.

Back to the top | Give Feedback