RealPlayer G2 problems: the "real" explanation

Last time, we described problems installing RealPlayer G2b1. One reader went so far as to suggest that the hard drive needed to be named Macintosh HD for the installer to work. As many readers pointed out, this is not necessarily true. Here's what really seems to be going on:

James Steele claims that if you delete the file called "RealSharedPreferences" in the Preferences folder, the installation should proceed properly. He notes that this preferences file apparently stores the name of the hard drive within it, and the Installer uses this information. If you changed the name of your hard drive since this file was created, you will have the problem with the install. For example, if the hard drive was named "Macintosh HD" when the "RealSharedPreferences" file was created, and then renamed later, the install would fail until you renamed the drive back to "Macintosh HD." If you have not changed the name of the drive, you would not see this problem. The way James discovered this was by looking in the "RealNetworks Installer log" file that was created after the failed installation and noticing that his old hard drive name was in the error message." Several other readers have confirmed this basic problem and explanation.

The related issue where the installation must be to the default location (as also mentioned last time) was also confirmed by other users. For example, Sean Murphy notes that "every time I try to put it in a different location than where it wants to be, I get an empty folder." Philip Corriveau found that the same thing happens with RealProducer Plus G2 Beta.

On a final note, if you don't have any of these problems (presumably because you installed into the default location of a not-renamed hard drive), you may be pleased with the results. Terr Herzog writes: "The player installed perfectly and is working much better than the old one." Bryan Schmiedeler adds: "I had no trouble installing the G2. It has run flawlessly for about 5 days." However, other readers continue to complain about the program's clumsy interface.