MATLAB: Do I receive a critical tar error when installing Student Version MATLAB R2008b or newer on Mac OS X

MATLAB

When installing MATLAB R2008b or R2009a Student version on Mac OS X, I receive the following error:
Critical error:
Critical error during initialization: could not run command "tar -xf" /Users/<user>/Desktop/MATLAB R2008b/matlab_installer_maci/stu_control_maci.tar" -C /Users/<user>/Desktop/MATLAB R2008b/matlab_installer_maci".
How can I resolve this issue so I can install my MATLAB Student Version?

Best Answer

This bug has been fixed in Release 2009b (R2009b). For previous product releases, read below for any possible workarounds:
This issue is a bug in the MATLAB installer. The installer is unable to extract .tar files in a directory that contains a space. To resolve this issue, rename the download directory to one that does not contain a space anywhere in the path. Once updated, run InstallForMacOSX.app again to restart the installation.