Mac OS 8: Cannot Launch Apple Video Player or FM Radio

This article explains an error message that may appear when trying to use Apple Video Player or Apple FM Radio after upgrading to Mac OS 8.x.

Symptom

After upgrading to Mac OS 8.x, some users of Apple Video Player or Apple FM Radio will receive an error message saying they need the proper version of these applications or that the Video Startup extension did not load.

Solution

Background

Prior to Mac OS 8, the Apple Video Player and the Apple FM Radio programs were stored in the "Apple Extras Folder" which is at the root level of the hard drive. However, Mac OS 8 installs both of those applications in the "Applications" folder (also at the root level of the hard drive). Either way, there are aliases to those programs stored in the "Apple Menu Items" folder (which resides in the System Folder) and that is how they are displayed under the Apple Menu.

How The Situation Can Occur

If you have a version of the Mac OS prior to 8.0, and then you install Mac OS 8.x on top of that, the Mac OS 8.x Installer will add the updated FM Radio and Apple Video Player applications, but it may not update those aliases in the Apple Menu Items. So, after installing Mac OS 8.x, you will have the older versions of those applications in the "Apple Extras" folder and you will have the new Mac OS 8.x compatible versions of those applications in the "Applications" folder. However, since the aliases under the Apple Menu are pointing to the old versions of those programs, it tries to launch those and you get the error messages.

To resolve this issue, perform the following steps:


At this point you should be able to launch both applications from the Apple Menu.


Please note that the Mac OS 8.1 Installer will not install the updated versions of these applications if the older versions are not already installed. For more on this issue, please see the following article:


Article 22141: "Mac OS 8.1: FM Radio Installation Issues & Version Error"

For information on what versions of Apple Video Player and FM Radio are installed by the various different versions of the OS, please see the following article:

Article 30342: "Apple TV/Video System: Not Recognizing The TV Tuner"

Published Date: Feb 17, 2012