diff -ur pcmanfm-0.5.2+svn20091029~/src/vfs/vfs-volume-hal.c pcmanfm-0.5.2+svn20091029/src/vfs/vfs-volume-hal.c
--- pcmanfm-0.5.2+svn20091029~/src/vfs/vfs-volume-hal.c	2008-09-06 07:44:58.000000000 +0100
+++ pcmanfm-0.5.2+svn20091029/src/vfs/vfs-volume-hal.c	2010-04-15 12:12:31.000000000 +0100
@@ -1026,9 +1026,10 @@
   libhal_ctx_set_device_property_modified (hal_context, vfs_volume_device_property_modified);
   libhal_ctx_set_device_condition (hal_context, vfs_volume_device_condition);
 
-  /* try to initialize the HAL context */
+  /* try to initialize the HAL context, warn (but don't error out) if hald not running. */
   if (!libhal_ctx_init (hal_context, &error))
-    goto failed;
+    fprintf (stderr, "Could not initialise connection to hald.\n"
+                     "Normally this means the HAL daemon (hald) is not running or not ready.\n");
 
   /* setup the D-BUS connection with the GLib main loop */
   dbus_connection_setup_with_g_main (dbus_connection, NULL);