Using the Flash plugin with Firefox

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The Flash plugin lets you view video and animated content through the browser.

Table Of Contents

Installing Flash

Flash is not included with Firefox. If you don't have Flash installed, when you visit a web site that requires Flash, the following bar may appear at the top of the main browser window:



To install the Flash plugin:

  1. Using Firefox, go to the Adobe Flash Player download page.
  2. Click the Agree and install now button, to download the installer.
  3. After you've downloaded the installer file, double-click it and then follow the on-screen instructions.
  4. Restart Firefox.

In many modern Linux distribution, the plugin can be usually installed as a package for the current Linux distro used (for example in Ubuntu it is named flashplugin-nonfree).

Testing Flash

Adobe provides a web page to test your Flash plugin.

Upgrading Flash

To find out which version you have installed and how to update to the latest version, go to the Flash test page.

Uninstalling Flash

For instructions on how to uninstall Flash, read this article on Adobe's website.

Troubleshooting

Flash-based video or audio does not play or stops after a few seconds

Please see: Flash-based videos and sound do not play correctly

Windows:

Flash does not work properly and/or will not update

Sometimes it is possible for Firefox to have two different version of Flash installed. This can cause the following types of problem:

  • Flash content does not work, acts strangely, or causes errors. (This is due to an old version of Flash being used to play content that requires the latest version of Flash.)
  • Installation of the latest version of Flash apparently fails, even though the Flash installer returned no errors and seemed to work fine. (The old version of Flash has priority over the new version, and the Flash installer failed to remove the old version.)

To find out how many versions of Flash you have installed:

Firefox 3:
  1. At the top of the Firefox window, click the Tools menu and select Add-ons. The Add-ons window will open.
  2. In the Add-ons window, select the Plugins panel to display a list of installed plugins.
  3. Count how many times the "Shockwave Flash" heading appears.
Firefox 2:
  1. In the Location Bar at the top of the Firefox window, type about:plugins and press Enter. The about:plugins page is displayed.
  2. Count how many times the "Shockwave Flash" heading appears.

If the "Shockwave Flash" heading appears more than once, then you have more than one version of the Flash plugin installed. In this case you must remove one copy of the Flash plugin, and perhaps reinstall the latest version. To do this:

Firefox 3:
  1. Exit Firefox. From the menu at the top of the Firefox window, select File and then select the Exit menu item.
  2. Find your Firefox installation folder. (Typically C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\)
  3. Navigate into the \plugins\ folder.
  4. Delete the file called NPSWF32.dll.
  5. Start Firefox.
  6. Open the Add-ons window, and select the Plugins panel.
  7. Ensure only one “Shockwave Flash” heading appears.
  8. Visit the Flash Test Page to ensure you are on the latest version. See the Testing Flash section above.
Firefox 2:
  1. Exit Firefox. From the menu at the top of the Firefox window, select File and then select the Exit menu item.
  2. Find your Firefox installation folder. (Typically C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\)
  3. Navigate into the \plugins\ folder.
  4. Delete the file called NPSWF32.dll.
  5. Start Firefox.
  6. In the Location Bar at the top of the Firefox window, type about:plugins and press Enter. The about:plugins page is displayed.
  7. Ensure only one “Shockwave Flash” heading appears.
  8. Visit the Flash Test Page to ensure you are on the latest version. See the Testing Flash section above.

Flash content shows as question mark

See Flash content shows as question mark.




Based on information from Flash (mozillaZine KB)


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Page last modified on Thursday 02 of October, 2008 15:23:49 PST.
Contributors to this page: Cww , underpass , Tony-Mechelynck , AliceWyman , stevee , djstsys , np , Chris_Ilias , skulvis , Vectorspace and Thomas .
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