Troubleshooting plugins
If you are having problems with pages that use plugins (such as Flash, Windows Media Player, Java, and more) to display content, you may need to check to see whether a plugin is causing the problem.
Common problems caused by plugins include:
- Crashing or Hanging
- Images or multimedia items do not load
- Problems downloading
This article describes how to troubleshoot plugins. If you are having a problem with an extension or theme, see Troubleshooting extensions and themes.
Table des matières
- Determining if a plugin is the problem
- Updating or re-installing your plugins
- Manually uninstalling a plugin
- Re-initializing the plugins database
- More information
Determining if a plugin is the problem
You can selectively disable plugins while Firefox is running. If you suspect a certain plugin, disable it first, then test for your problem. If you don't know which plugin to disable:
- Open the Add-ons Window by clicking the Tools menu and selecting Add-ons.
- In the Add-ons window, select the Plugins panel.
- Select a plugin in the list and then click its button. Repeat this step for each plugin in the list. You do not need to restart Firefox for the changes to take effect.
- Test for your problem. If it does not occur, go back to the Add-ons window and re-enable plugins one-by-one with the button until you find which one causes your problem to occur.
If you find that disabling a plugin fixes your problem, continue following the steps in this article.
Updating or re-installing your plugins
Many problems with plugins can be solved by updating to the latest version of the plugin. To check if any of your installed plugins are out of date, visit the Mozilla Plugin Check page.
If updating to the newest version of the plugin or reinstalling it does not fix the problem, you can leave it disabled.
Manually uninstalling a plugin
If you can't use an uninstaller program to remove a plugin, you can remove it manually:
- In the Location bar, type about:config and press EnterReturn.
- The about:config "This might void your warranty!" warning page may appear. Click , to continue to the about:config page.
- Search for the preference: plugin.expose_full_path.
- Double-click on the plugin.expose_full_path preference in the list to change the value to true.
- Enter about:plugins into the Location bar to display the About Plugins page.
- Each entry in the About Plugins page will have "File name:" followed by a path. Use Windows Explorer to navigateNavigate to the folder shown for the plugin you want to remove.
- Rename the file to something other than its normal name - e.g. npswf32 becomes Xnpswf32
The plugin will be removed.
Re-initializing the plugins database
In some cases, you may not be able to install or re-install a plugin. Re-initializing the plugins database may fix this problem:
- Open your profile folder:
- (Firefox 3.0 and 3.5): See How to find your profile
- (Firefox 3.6): At the top of the Firefox windowOn the menu bar, click on the Help menu and select Troubleshooting Information.... The Troubleshooting Information tab will open.
- Under Application Basics, click on .
- From the menu at the top of the Firefox windowbar, select FileFirefox and then select the ExitQuit FirefoxQuit menu item.
- Delete the pluginreg.dat file.
- Open Firefox
- In the Location bar type about:plugins and press EnterReturn, to bring up the Firefox plugins list.
More information
For more information about troubleshooting plugins, see:
- The Popular plugins article for information about reinstalling various plugins.
- PluginDoc
- Issues related to plugins (MozillaZine KB)
Did this article solve a problem you had with Firefox?
Was this article easy to understand?
Still need help? Ask a support question.
Help us improve this article. Submit additional feedback.
