Flash 11.3 doesn't load video in Firefox

Revision Information
  • Revision id: 25709
  • Created:
  • Creator: Michael Verdi
  • Comment: New revision combinind Matt's and Alice's. Put disabling via realplayer first as requested by Adobe. Made realplayer section windows and mac only (no realplayer on linux)
  • Reviewed: Yes
  • Reviewed:
  • Reviewed by: Verdi
  • Is approved? Yes
  • Is current revision? No
  • Ready for localization: Yes
  • Readied for localization:
  • Readied for localization by: Verdi
Revision Source
Revision Content

Flash has recently updated to version 11.3. Some users are reporting issues with this version of Flash and Firefox. Flash may be crashing frequently or not loading videos at all. The video may appear black, white or grey and never play. In some cases, Firefox may crash as well. This article has a few solutions that have been reported to work.

There are several steps that you can try to remedy this situation. Each step is valuable in troubleshooting this issue.

Please try these steps in order.

If RealPlayer is installed, try this first

Turn off Web Download & Recording in RealPlayer

  1. Launch RealPlayer
  2. Click the RealPlayer icon in the upper left corner of the window and choose Preferences.
  3. Choose Download & Recording from the left hand panel
  4. Uncheck "Enable Web Download & Recording for these installed browsers"
  5. Click OK and close RealPlayer
  6. Restart Firefox
Note: This will remove the RealPlayer Browser Record extension from the Firefox Add-ons Manager.

Disable the RealPlayer Browser Record extension in Firefox

Note: Some versions of the RealPlayer Browser Record extension have been blocklisted. If your version wasn't disabled or if you re-enabled it afterwards, you can use the following steps to disable it again.
  1. Click the menu button Fx89menuButton, click Add-ons and themesExtensions and themes and select Extensions.
  2. Select the RealPlayer Browser Record extension.
  3. Click the Disable button.
  4. Click Restart now. Your tabs will be saved and restored after the restart.

Uninstall RealPlayer

If disabling or turning off the Browser Record feature did not resolve the issue, please try uninstalling RealPlayer from your computer: Uninstalling RealPlayer on Windows

Uninstall RealPlayer

If disabling or turning off the Browser Record feature did not resolve the issue, please try uninstalling RealPlayer from your computer: Uninstalling RealPlayer on Mac

Disable Protected Mode in Flash

If you do not have RealPlayer installed on your computer, you may want to try disabling Protected Mode in Flash. You find steps for disabling Protected Mode on the Adobe support forum. For more information on this feature, please see Inside Flash Player Protected Mode for Firefox.

Enable out of process plugin protection if it has been disabled

Some users may have disabled out of process plugin protection (OOPP) in earlier builds of Firefox. If you are still experiencing Flash crashes after performing the previous steps, you should enable OOPP protection if it has been disabled.

  1. Type about:config in the address bar and press EnterReturn.
    A warning page may appear. Click Accept the Risk and Continue to go to the about:config page.
  2. Type dom.ipc in the search box. You should see several items returned.
  3. Set dom.ipc.plugins.enabled.i386.flash player.plugin and dom.ipc.plugins.enabled.x86_64dom.ipc.plugins.enabled and dom.ipc.plugins.enabled.npswf32.dll (if it exists) to true.
  4. Restart Firefox