macromedia players flash: I've looked at everything and have done everything. I have read all the
threads and have looked at all those problems and I have NEVER been able to see
Flash Macromedia on my computer. I have had XP Home for about 3 years old.
Everything else has always worked but Macromedia has never worked. I have
Microsoft Media Center on my computer if that makes any difference. I use
Firefox as my browser and from what I've seen, it does not look like I have a
problem with "Windows System Registry". All I get is a big Q in the middle of
the page with a question mark. I've installed and uninstalled etc. , multiple
times and nothing makes it work. This is seriously frustrating. I'm looking
for a miracle, I'm going overseas soon and I need this capability in order to
view videos and pictures of my family, time is of the essence.

The big 'Q' indicates that QuickTime has taken over the Flash file type (SWF).

We've seen this happen a few times now, and I should work on getting this
documented.

I think the fix is to manually reassociate the SWF file type either in FireFox
or in Windows itself. For the time being let's try FireFox and see what
happens..

In Firefox, choose:
-- Tools: Options
-- Select Content tab
-- Bottom of pane choose File Type "Manage" button
-- Scroll down the list until you find 'SWF'. It -should- be managed by
Shockwave Flash. But it sounds like on your machine it might have been taken
over by QuickTime. Reply back with what it says there..

Find that out and we'll pick it up from there..

okay, I think you might be right about Quicktime taking over. While I was
looking for the SWF after the "Manage" button, I noticed that everything,
except for a few Acrobat files have an action of "Open with QuickTime Plug-in
7.1.3". There is no "SWF" and I have no Shockwave Flash within the options.
I think we might be getting close though. I'm eagerly waiting for a solution,
thanks for your help.

OK I don't have XP home handy, so I'm going to have to give you the steps I see
for XP Enterprise.

-- First, you need to find a SWF on your hard drive using Windows Explorer or
my computer.
-- Right click that SWF. Choose "Properties"
-- At the top it should say "Type of File", which should be Flash Movie
-- Beneath that "Opens With". That should say Flash Player and a version
number, but I'm guessing it says QuickTime.
-- Should be a big 'Change' button to the right of that. Click it, find Adobe
Flash Player in the list and approve that change.

I thinkthat'll fix it but let me know how it goes.. I've been hearing a lot of
this lately and we need to get it technoted...

okay, I tried to do what you said, however, anything with an SWF in it ended in
either ".ocx" or ".dll". I don't know if that helps. I checked all of them
and most of them had a type of file of "ActiveX Control" with an Opens With
"Unknown Application". I went to SWFLASH.OCX, went to properties and then to
change, the Open With box only has Adobe Reader 7.0 as an option with others,
no Adobe Flash Player or Quicktime within the options. In all of these areas
you had me look, I never say Quicktime in any of the properties. I've
downloaded Adobe Flash Player multiple times, each time it claims it was
successful but it still does not come up on the list nor does it work. Every
time I've downloaded it, it took less than a second to claim that it was
successful, if that gives any clue. This is really frustrating.

Ok. Bentley. I have been surfing similiar threads on this forum regarding
issues with the flash player.

Here is my experience with trying to add flash player to my browser.

When I was browsing the web, websites that allowed video such as ABC.com would
give me this message.

"In order to view this video you must have Macromedia Flash Player." This text
was a link to the adobe download area for the Flash Player. So I would follow
the link to the Adobe site. Then when I would accept the user terms and click
on the Install Now button on the page. The page would just refresh and not
install anything.

So I searched the web for a different site to download the player. I was able
to find one and downloaded the player and installed it. I restarted my PC and
went back to ABC.com and it gave me the same message i mentioned before. So I
came on these forums and I followed every possible solution mentioned and still
no luck.
I have downloaded the uninstaller. Uninstalled and reinstalled. Nothing
I checked my registry and my registry matches exactly what the screen shot
shows for Windows XP Pro
Active X controls are fine.
When I went to the test page at adobe.com it read that I have Version 9,0,45,0
Installed Successfully but, still can not get any video.


Please help! Thanks.

[q][i]Originally posted by: [b][b]ncolestock[/b][/b][/i]
okay, I tried to do what you said, however, anything with an SWF in it ended
in either ".ocx" or ".dll". I don't know if that helps. I checked all of
them and most of them had a type of file of "ActiveX Control" with an Opens
With "Unknown Application". I went to SWFLASH.OCX, went to properties and then
to change, the Open With box only has Adobe Reader 7.0 as an option with
others, no Adobe Flash Player or Quicktime within the options. In all of these
areas you had me look, I never say Quicktime in any of the properties. I've
downloaded Adobe Flash Player multiple times, each time it claims it was
successful but it still does not come up on the list nor does it work. Every
time I've downloaded it, it took less than a second to claim that it was
successful, if that gives any clue. This is really frustrating.
[/q]

Sorry my steps should have been more clear. What we need is a file that has
the SWF file EXTENSION. Since those are all cached as temp files by your
browser you may not have one easily findable.

So let me find one you can grab.. you can have one of my test files from here:
http://www.wisconsintrials.org/bent/ (just right-click on 'stub.swf' and save
it to your drive..)

Then repeat these steps using stub.swf....
-- First, you need to find a SWF on your hard drive using Windows Explorer or
my computer.
-- Right click that SWF. Choose "Properties"
-- At the top it should say "Type of File", which should be Flash Movie
-- Beneath that "Opens With". That should say Flash Player and a version
number, but I'm guessing it says QuickTime.
-- Should be a big 'Change' button to the right of that. Click it, find Adobe
Flash Player in the list and approve that change.

[q][i]Originally posted by: [b][b]vmontes16[/b][/b][/i]
Ok. Bentley. I have been surfing similiar threads on this forum regarding
issues with the flash player.

Here is my experience with trying to add flash player to my browser.
[/q]

I dislike doing this, but your issue is completely different than the
Quicktime/SWF problem we're discussing on this thread. To avoid thread
hijacking and maintain some degree of focus, would you mind copying this to a
new thread? I'd really appreciate it..

okay, I downloaded what you gave me and it said that the type of file was
"ShockwaveFlash.ShockwaveFlash" and that it opens with "Unknown Application".
When I went to change it I still only get Adobe Reader 7.0 as the only Adobe
product available, no Adobe Flash Player. I've tried to download many many
times, it futile!! How do I get Adobe Flash Player as an option so I can
complete the steps you are asking me to perform? If I can't, what other
options do I have?

I know it's now late in the day but, unfortunately, I'm running out of time to
be able to fix this. I'd like to reiterate that I only have Adobe Reader 7.0
as an option when I try to do the "Opens With". Thanks for your help.

I was having the exact same problems - uninstalled/installed Flash and
Shockwave. Used the appropriate uninstaller, searched for rogue .dll extension
files, cleaned out the C:\Windows\System32\Macromedia\Flash files, looked at
the manage add-ons, posted on this forum, e-mailed Adobe, spoke with them on
the phone and even uninstalled IE7 and went back to IE 6. None of that helped.

Reading through some of the responses on various posts, I found the following:

Uninstall flash with the latest Adobe stand alone uninstaller

Download Complete Standalone installer Flash Player 9 earlier version from
http://www.softwarepatch.com/internet/flash.html

Uninstall shockwave with the latest Adobe stand alone uninstaller

Download Stand-alone installers for Shockwave Player: previous versions only
http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/knowledgebase/index.cfm?id=tn_18629

Note: Users of Windows XP operating system must use the 8.5.1 Shockwave player
or higher. For more information, please seeInstalling the Shockwave Player on
Microsoft Windows XP (TechNote tn_15924).
Windows Shockwave Player 9.0.0.434

I tried this last night - one and then the other one - and they both are
running fine.

I've tried it, didn't work . . . .whatever happened to my Adobe guy. I've
been forgotten about. I'm not getting any more replies or help from Adobe. I
could sure use a solution. Can any Adobe guy or girl give me some help?

I came to this forum in despiration--I had Flash Player working for years, but
think clicked on an suggested upgrade. It would not load--days and days of
frustration--trying this and that-loading and deleting-- But I did just now
load Flash Player 9 and Shockwave 8.5. as suggested by sheppardwk (in this
forum)--and all seems ok--at least I can get to my crosswords again! thanks
sheppardwk! I have Windows XP home.