[mikerich]

Why doesn't my Mac know what applications are installed on its disk and where?

Okay I'm going to say this... You won't like it, but I have to say it.

Windows does this *so* much better than MacOSX.

Now whilst you all pick yourselves up off off the floor, I'll explain.

I have a partitioned drive, 'Macintosh HD' for the key OSX programs, 'Applications' for all my other stuff.

I have iDVD 4 which as you know is a space-hog, so I moved it from Macintosh HD to Applications. It runs and works as normal.

Now Apple have released an update to iDVD, so I try to get it...

First of all Software Update doesn't find it - ho hum, I'll just get it from the downloads page at apple.com.

I download it and try to execute the installer.

Up comes a little window

'The installer program needs to run a program to determine if it can be installed. Do you want to continue?'

I click [Continue]

Then I get the error:

iDVD401Update cannot be installed on this computer.

iDVD 4.0 was not found in /Applications.

Well d'uh...

Is there any way of getting it to look elsewhere (like on the drive Applications)? Or can I do a manual install - if so how?

But this does seem a little - well - retarded.

Any solutions appreciated.

Thanks!

Mike.

[gorickey]

This has been a very well documented request/problem on these boards for awhile now...

[Moonray]

Yes that's a bit annoying and the only solution is to place a Unix symlink to the moved iDVD in the original /Applications folder.
To do that, open the Terminal, type "ln -s " (note the trailing space), then drag your moved iDVD in the terminal window so its path gets inserted, then type "/Applications/iDVD.app" and enter (the whole line should read like: "ln -s /Volumes/path/to/iDVD.app /Applications/iDVD.app").
After that the updater should find it.

-

[SMacTech]

Originally posted by mikerich:
Why doesn't my Mac know what applications are installed on its disk and where?

Okay I'm going to say this... You won't like it, but I have to say it.

Windows does this *so* much better than MacOSX.

This is a function of the installer/updater application, not of OS X. I assumed you dragged the application back to where they intended it to be, and then ran the updater? Then when you are done, move it back to the location you desire.
In regards to Windows, they too have default installation locations and once you do install it, don't dare rename, or move it. And of course, that is a much better solution than OS X isn't it?

[mikerich]

Originally posted by Moonray:
Yes that's a bit annoying and the only solution is to place a Unix symlink to the moved iDVD in the original /Applications folder.
To do that, open the Terminal, type "ln -s " (note the trailing space), then drag your moved iDVD in the terminal window so its path gets inserted, then type "/Applications/iDVD.app" and enter (the whole line should read like: "ln -s /Volumes/path/to/iDVD.app /Applications/iDVD.app").
After that the updater should find it.

-

Now that is SO cool!

Worked a treat - thank you so much!

Best wishes,

Mike.