Hello all

I stumbled across this forum from http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected], so thought I should cross-post my problem here.

I've been using get_iplayer for a few years, and was running version 2.85 up until this afternoon, not having updated since earlier this year as was out of the country. I was using the command line with --pid=, so it still worked though I noticed the BBC feed changes etc.

However, this afternoon every download was unable to start. I figured it was a good time to upgrade, and tried to download the latest version from
[url=http://www.infradead.org/get_iplayer_win/get_iplayer_setup_latest.exe][/url]
For some reason this download kept failing (possibly my browser problem?), but I eventually managed to get it. The file seems to be 6.47MB?

However, on trying to install it several error messages appear:

Two error messages ending Tamil/Tankra?

Then:
...
Extract: 34.pl
Extract: 35.pl
Extract: 36.pl
Error opening file for writing:
C:\Program Files (x86)\get_iplayer\lib\unicore\lib\Nv\3_16.pl
Click Abort to stop installation
Retry, Ignore etc

Can't write: C:\Program Files (x86)\get_iplayer\lib\unicore\lib\Nv\3_16.pl

After which the installation is unable to continue. Re-trying the installation results in:

Error! Can't initialize plug-ins directory. Please try again later.

Restarting the computer and trying again results in the same \unicore\lib\Nv\3_16.pl error as before.

I've read the latest release notes, FAQs etc and haven't found anything specifically about this problem. Would greatly appreciate any help on this; I'm not much of a tech expert so rely on those with the know-how. I suppose (but hope not) that it could also be a problem with my computer (2yrs-old Windows 8, win64, 1.9GHz quad-core, 6GB RAM).

Cheers!
Alex

Smells like permissions problem. Are you logged as an administrator? When you ran the installer, did you get the UAC prompt to confirm making changes to your machine?

Actually 6.47 MB is light, so the download may be bad after all. File size here is 6793629

I'm the only user of this computer and am logged in as Administrator, so I'd have thought admin permission wasn't an issue?

I did get the "Do you want to allow the following program to make changes" etc prompt, but that happens whenever I install programs, to which I clicked Yes.

Quote:<div class="d4p-bbp-quote-title">Quote:</div>
However, on trying to install it several error messages appear:

Two error messages ending Tamil/Tankra?

On retrying it, these are:
Error opening file for writing:
C:\Program Files (x86)\get_iplayer\lib\unicore\lib\Blk\Thaana.pl
C:\Program Files (x86)\get_iplayer\lib\unicore\lib\Blk\Tibetan.pl
Click Abort to stop installation
Retry, Ignore etc

Then the C:\Program Files (x86)\get_iplayer\lib\unicore\lib\Nv\3_16.pl error again.

I tried my old copy of 2.85 just in case but that no longer works.

Quote:<div class="d4p-bbp-quote-title">Quote:</div>Actually 6.47 MB is light, so the download may be bad after all. File size here is 6793629

Ah that's the same as mine - "Size on disk: 6.48MB (6,793,629 bytes)."

I tried posting to http://lists.infradead.org/pipermail/get_iplayer/ like I used to, by email to
[email protected]
[email protected]
but got a postmaster return error. Is this forum a better place to post though?

Quote:<div class="d4p-bbp-quote-title">Quote:</div>Re-trying the installation results in:

Error! Can’t initialize plug-ins directory. Please try again later.

A different error this time:
"Error writing temporary file. Make sure your temp folder is valid"

I hadn' been anywhere near my temp folder, so not sure why it said that...

Ah yes - MB vs MiB. Alas, I can't help with the mailing list. If you use Yahoo, there are known problems there.

Bad temp folder would explain things since the installer has to unpack things there. Open a command prompt and run: and see if it prints a directory that exists and that you can write to.

Quote:<div class="d4p-bbp-quote-title">Quote:</div>Smells like permissions problem. Are you logged as an administrator? When you ran the installer, did you get the UAC prompt to confirm making changes to your machine?

After reading a few different problem posts, I thought perhaps I should unsinstall the old version first instead of installing 2.90 over the top. However, this poses another problem. For some reason my 'Programs and Features' window doesn't list get_iplayer as being installed. It doesn't list some other programs either eg iTunes, Open Office etc. I hadn't noticed this before; it seems to have happened recently, possibly after a Windows update.

While I try to get to the bottom of that, is there path to completely uninstalling the old version of get_iplayer?

There should be a link to the uninstaller in the Start menu, if you use a Start menu replacement. If not, just launch it directly from Explorer:. Select all components to uninstall, and when it is finished, delete .

Things missing from Programs and Features doesn't sound good. Registry problems?

Quote:<div class="d4p-bbp-quote-title">Quote:</div>Ah yes – MB vs MiB. Alas, I can’t help with the mailing list. If you use Yahoo, there are known problems there.

I use Hotmail, but it's always been hit&miss when posting to that forum. Ah well...

Quote:<div class="d4p-bbp-quote-title">Quote:</div>Bad temp folder would explain things since the installer has to unpack things there. Open a command prompt and run:

Code:

echo %TEMP%

and see if it prints a directory that exists and that you can write to.

Yes, it prints C:\Users\Alex\AppData\Local\Temp, which I can access. I saved a test .txt file there so it seems the computer can write to it ok?

The mailing list is plain text only, so perhaps your bounced messages were HTML? It may just not like Hotmail, either. Anyway, that's why this site is here.

Your disk isn't full, is it? Or corrupted somewhere?

Quote:<div class="d4p-bbp-quote-title">Quote:</div>There should be a link to the uninstaller in the Start menu, if you use a Start menu replacement. If not, just launch it directly from Explorer:

Code:

C:\Program Files (x86)\get_iplayer\Uninst.exe

. Select all components to uninstall, and when it is finished, delete

Code:

C:\Program Files (x86)\get_iplayer

.

Uninst.exe doesn't currently appear in that folder, though other files (eg get_iplayer.cgi) do - perhaps it was over-written by the aborted new installation? Would deleting the folder be safe in this case?

Quote:<div class="d4p-bbp-quote-title">Quote:</div>Things missing from Programs and Features doesn’t sound good. Registry problems?

Possibly! That's a whole new kettle of fish :-(

Quote:<div class="d4p-bbp-quote-title">Quote:</div>The mailing list is plain text only, so perhaps your bounced messages were HTML? It may just not like Hotmail, either. Anyway, that’s why this site is here.

Aaaah yes, I forgot to change to non-html... will try that next time.

Quote:<div class="d4p-bbp-quote-title">Quote:</div>Your disk isn’t full, is it? Or corrupted somewhere?

It's not full, but could do with freeing up some space. I hope it's that, rather than being corrupted. I'll clear space & run some scans, but in the meantime thanks for your current help, and for keeping get_iplayer running for so long!

Quote:<div class=”d4p-bbp-quote-title”>Quote:</div>Your disk isn’t full, is it? Or corrupted somewhere?

It’s not full, but could do with freeing up some space. I hope it’s that, rather than being corrupted. I’ll clear space & run some scans, but in the meantime thanks for your current help, and for keeping get_iplayer running for so long!
</blockquote>

PS
my hard drive does have a fair few GBs left - more than enough for the 231.3MB get_iplayer Setup tells me it requires. But I could definitely free some more space, which may help solve other problems.

Quote:<div class="d4p-bbp-quote-title">Quote:</div>There should be a link to the uninstaller in the Start menu, if you use a Start menu replacement. If not, just launch it directly from Explorer:

Code:

C:\Program Files (x86)\get_iplayer\Uninst.exe

. Select all components to uninstall, and when it is finished, delete

Code:

C:\Program Files (x86)\get_iplayer

.

Things missing from Programs and Features doesn’t sound good. Registry problems?

On further investigation
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windo...-questions
"Only programs written for Windows will appear in Programs and Features. If you don't see the program listed and you want to uninstall the program, check the information that came with your program, or go to the manufacturer's website. Most programs install automatically in the C:\Program Files folder. Look in this folder—some programs also include an uninstall program that you can use."

Although that FAQ is for Win-7, if it's still the case for Win-8 then the absence of some programs seems to be normal. Will do a bit more digging to verify that.

Quote:<div class="d4p-bbp-quote-title">Quote:“Although that FAQ is for Win-7, if it’s still the case for Win-8 then the absence of some programs seems to be normal. Will do a bit more digging to verify that.

Stop. get_iplayer will show in the 'Programs and Features' section of the Control Panel in both Windows 7 and Windows 8.

Something has obviously gone wrong either with the installation or your wider system. It could be registry problems as user-2 said so you'd be better served to investigate that first.

On Win8 I've found I can't unzip while in C:\Program Files (x86)
but I can unzip on the Desktop to a folder then copy that folder into
C:\Program Files (x86)

If that helps

Quote:<div class="d4p-bbp-quote-title">Quote:</div>The mailing list is plain text only, so perhaps your bounced messages were HTML? It may just not like Hotmail, either. Anyway, that’s why this site is here.
Your disk isn’t full, is it? Or corrupted somewhere?

Quote:<div class="d4p-bbp-quote-title">Quote:</div>
<blockquote>
<div class="d4p-bbp-quote-title">Quote:“Although that FAQ is for Win-7, if it’s still the case for Win-8 then the absence of some programs seems to be normal. Will do a bit more digging to verify that.
</div>

Stop. get_iplayer will show in the ‘Programs and Features’ section of the Control Panel in both Windows 7 and Windows 8.
Something has obviously gone wrong either with the installation or your wider system. It could be registry problems as user-2 said so you’d be better served to investigate that first.
</blockquote>
A little belatedly but... thanks for both your advice. I found that the uninstall of the older version had left a few random files, and getting rid of them manually, then installing v.2.91 worked fine. Much appreciate the help in this case, and your continued support for this program.