Flash Plugin - Keep it up to date and troubleshoot problems
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- Revision id: 85830
- Created:
- Creator: ideato
- Comment: correct my previous fx35 win 7 + 8
- Reviewed: Yes
- Reviewed:
- Reviewed by: AliceWyman
- Is approved? Yes
- Is current revision? No
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Revision Content
The Adobe Flash Player browser plugin lets you view video and animated content in Firefox. This article has information about testing, updating, uninstalling and troubleshooting the Adobe Flash plugin.
- For instructions on how to install the Flash plugin for Firefox, see Install the Flash plugin to view videos, animations and games.
Table of Contents
- 1 Testing Flash
- 2 Updating Flash
- 3 Uninstalling Flash
- 4 Troubleshooting
- 4.1 Flash plugin not working
- 4.2 The Adobe Flash plugin has crashed
- 4.3 Unresponsive plugin warning
- 4.4 Playing Flash videos makes Firefox hang
- 4.5 Cannot view full screen Flash videos
- 4.6 Flash does not work properly and/or will not update
- 4.7 Flash doesn't load video
- 4.8 Flash works in Internet Explorer or Chrome but not in Firefox
Testing Flash
Visit Adobe's Test Page to see if the Flash plugin is installed and working properly. If it tells you that Flash is not installed, see the article Install the Flash plugin to view videos, animations and games or follow the instructions in the Updating Flash section below to install the Flash plugin.
Updating Flash
The Flash plugin automatically updates itself by default. If Mozilla's Plugin Check page says that Flash is outdated and you don't want to wait for the automatic update, you can update Flash manually by downloading and installing the latest version from Adobe.
To check if your installation of Flash is up to date, visit Mozilla's Plugin Check page. If it says that Flash is outdated, you can update Flash by downloading and installing the latest version from Adobe.
- Go to Adobe's Flash Player download page and download the Flash installer. Caution: Adobe's download page may include a checkbox for optional software (such as Google Chrome or McAfee Security Scan) that is selected by default. If you do not clear the checkbox before downloading, that software will be installed on your computer when you open the Flash installer.
- When the download has finished, close Firefox. Click the Firefox menu and select .Click the Firefox menu at the top of the screen and select .Click the Firefox menu and select .
- Open the Flash installer file you downloaded and follow the instructions.
- Go to Adobe's Flash Player download page and download the Flash installer.
- Click the Firefox menu and select .Click the Firefox menu at the top of the screen and select .Click the Firefox menu and select .
- Open the file you downloaded (i.e. install_flash_player_osx_intel.dmg).
- In the Finder, open the Install Adobe Flash Player.app to run the installer, then follow the installer's instructions.
- Go to Adobe's Flash Player download page.
- When prompted, save the file (i.e. install_flash_player_"version"_linux."processor".tar.gz).
- Click the Firefox menu and select .Click the Firefox menu at the top of the screen and select .Click the Firefox menu and select .
- Open a Terminal window (in Gnome, click on the menu, select , and then select .)
- In the Terminal window, change to the directory where you saved the file you downloaded (e.g. cd /home/user/Downloads).
- Extract libflashplayer.so from the file you downloaded with the command tar -zxvf install_flash_player_"version"_linux."processor".tar.gz.
- As the super user, copy the extracted file, libflashplayer.so, to your Firefox installation directory's plugins sub-directory. For example, if Firefox is installed in /usr/lib/mozilla, use the command sudo cp libflashplayer.so /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins and then enter your super user password when prompted.
Uninstalling Flash
For instructions on uninstalling Flash, see Uninstall Flash Player - WindowsUninstall Flash Player - Mac OS at Adobe.com.
Troubleshooting
Flash plugin not working
If Adobe's Test Page does not show that Flash is working even though you have installed the latest version, your Flash plugin may be disabled. To make sure that Flash is enabled,
- Click the menu button , click and select .
If the Flash plugin is disabled, click
.If the Flash plugin is disabled, select
in its drop-down menu.The Adobe Flash plugin has crashed
If you see this message instead of Flash content, see Adobe Flash plugin has crashed - Prevent it from happening again.
Unresponsive plugin warning
Firefox will show you a warning dialog if the Flash plugin is taking longer then expected:
See the article Warning Unresponsive plugin - What it means and how to fix it for solutions and workarounds.
Playing Flash videos makes Firefox hang
If Firefox stops responding or if the Flash plugin hangs or stops working when playing Flash videos or games, try these solutions:
- Pause or stop Flash in other tabs. You may need to close those tabs.
- Update Flash. See the Updating Flash section above for instructions.
- Update your graphics drivers. See Upgrade your graphics drivers to use hardware acceleration and WebGL for details.
- You can disable Flash protected mode. See Adobe's instructions under the heading "Last Resort": Adobe Forums: How do I troubleshoot Flash Player's protected mode for Firefox?
- You can disable Flash protected mode with the next instructions:
- Type about:config in the address bar and press EnterReturn.
A warning page may appear. Click to go to the about:config page. - Type dom.ipc.plugins.flash.disable-protected-mode in the Search field.
- Double click on it and toggle to True.
- Exit the about:config page.
- Restart the browser.
- You can disable Flash protected mode. See Adobe's instructions under the heading "Last Resort": Adobe Forums: How do I troubleshoot Flash Player's protected mode for Firefox?
- Disable hardware acceleration in Flash:
- Go to this Adobe Flash Player Help page.
- Right-clickHold down the control key while you click on the Flash Player logo on that page, then click on in the context menu. The Adobe Flash Player Settings screen will open.
- Click on the icon at the bottom-left of the Adobe Flash Player Settings window to open the Display panel.
- Remove the check mark from Enable hardware acceleration.
The image "fpSettings1.PNG" does not exist.
- Click to close the Adobe Flash Player Settings Window.
- Restart Firefox.
Cannot view full screen Flash videos
See Flash videos won't play full screen.
Flash does not work properly and/or will not update
If Flash content does not work, acts strangely, or causes errors, or if you see a notice that you need to update Flash (for instance, at Mozilla's Plugin Check) even after installing the latest Flash version, uninstall and reinstall Flash.
Flash doesn't load video
If Flash videos or games may appear, black, white or grey and never play, see Flash 11.3 doesn't load video in Firefox.
Flash works in Internet Explorer or Chrome but not in Firefox
There are three different types of Flash Players: an ActiveX version for Internet Explorer, a Chrome version built-in the browser and a plugin version for Firefox and some other browsers. If you want Flash to work in Firefox you must install the plugin version, as explained above.
Based on information from Flash (mozillaZine KB)