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:

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:
  1. At the top of the Firefox window, click on the Firefox button (Tools menu in Windows XP), and then clickAdd-ons. The Add-ons Manager tab will open.
  2. In the Add-ons Manager tab, select the Plugins panel.
  3. Select a plugin in the list and then click its Disable button. Repeat this step for each plugin in the list. You do not need to restart Firefox for the changes to take effect.
  4. Test for your problem. If it does not occur, go back to the Add-ons Manager tab and re-enable plugins one-by-one with the Enable 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 To check if any of your installed plugins are out of date, visit the Mozilla Plugin Check page.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:
  1. In the Location bar, type about:config and press Enter.
    • The about:config "This might void your warranty!" warning page may appear. ClickI'll be careful, I promise!, to continue to the about:config page.
  2. Search for the preference: plugin.expose_full_path.
  3. Double-click on the plugin.expose_full_path preference in the list to change the value to true.
  4. Enter about:plugins into the Location bar to display the About Plugins page.
  5. Each entry in the About Plugins page will have "File name:" followed by a path. Use Windows Explorer to navigate to the folder shown for the plugin you want to remove.
  6. 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:
  1. Open your profile folder:
    1. At the top of the Firefox window, click on the Firefox menu, go over to the Help menu (on Windows XP, click on the Help menu) and select Troubleshooting Information. The Troubleshooting Information tab will open.
    2. Under the Application Basics section, click on Open Containing Folder. A window with your profilefiles will open.
  2. At the top of the Firefox window, click on the Firefox button (File menu in Windows XP) and then clickExit.
  3. Delete the pluginreg.dat file.
  4. Open Firefox
  5. In the Location bar type about:plugins and press Enter to bring up the Firefox plugins list.
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