Firefox generally discovers your Flash plugin by checking the Windows Registry. Maybe some other software is changing the registry data in between? Firefox also has local folders it will check for plugins, so the old one might be in one of those.

To track it down, I would try starting with the about:plugins page. Type or paste about:plugins in the address bar and press Enter. This should load a page where each plugin is listed along with its precise location on your hard drive. The normal location of the Flash plugin on 64-bit Windows is here:

C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash

Do you find any other locations?

You also can check that standard folder for older DLLs and delete them. In particular, the plugin used by Firefox is named with this pattern:

NPSWF32_16_0_0_305.dll

Anything turn up so far?

Another thought is;

Grab the uninstaller from here: Uninstall Flash Player | Windows Uninstall Flash Player | Mac Then reinstall the latest version.

Flash Player Version 16.0.0.305
https://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/distribution3.html

Thanks jscher2000,

While looking at the info on about:plugins, I noticed that you had 16_0_0_305 and my mother's machine had 16_0_0_265.

It seems that Flash does not update itself automatically on my mother's machine. It just needed to be updated.

Hi clemrick, I'm glad to hear you solved it with an update.

I don't know whether the newer Flash installer allowed you to select automatic updates but, if not, I think there may be a checkbox in the Control Panel to turn that on.

In "about:plugins" I have only: OpenH264, Cisco Systems, Inc.

In Win7 x64 I have only "Adobe Flash Player 17 NPAPI". Installed from here - https://www.adobe.com/ru/products/flashplayer/distribution3.html

Here - https://helpx.adobe.com/ru/flash-player/kb/installation-problems-flash-player-windows.html

I can see that: Flash ver. - Not installed Browser - Firefox OS - Windows (Windows 7)

Before I removed FLASH completely and the forlder "C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash" was empty.

Hi booya, if the Flash installer did not drop the DLL into the usual location on disk, you may need to reinstall again. For example, if you tried the EXE installer from that page before, try the MSI installer this time.

jscher2000 said

Hi booya, if the Flash installer did not drop the DLL into the usual location on disk, you may need to reinstall again. For example, if you tried the EXE installer from that page before, try the MSI installer this time.

Thank you for the answer.

Before installation, I searched on system disk by symbols "NPSWF32". And it was only Adobe AIR. But I will try MSI at this time. Thank you.

Hi booya, in your search settings, make sure "system files" are included, otherwise Windows might hide them.

Try to delete the pluginreg.dat file in the Firefox Profile Folder and maybe addons.sqlite as well to reset the plugin registry databases.

See Re-initializing the plugins database:

• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/troubleshoot-issues-with-plugins-fix-problems

You can use this button to go to the currently used Firefox profile folder:

• Help > Troubleshooting Information > Profile Directory: Show Folder (Linux: Open Directory; Mac: Show in Finder)
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox

jscher2000 said

Hi booya, in your search settings, make sure "system files" are included, otherwise Windows might hide them.

Of course. Also I tried to install MSI ver. It did not help. This plug-in is not mentioned anywhere in Firefox.

cor-el said

Try to delete the pluginreg.dat file in the Firefox Profile Folder and maybe addons.sqlite as well to reset the plugin registry databases. See Re-initializing the plugins database:

• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/troubleshoot-issues-with-plugins-fix-problems

You can use this button to go to the currently used Firefox profile folder:

• Help > Troubleshooting Information > Profile Directory: Show Folder (Linux: Open Directory; Mac: Show in Finder)
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox

I deleted those files (there were three) and installed MSI. Nothing :(

about:plugins looks like this Plugins tab like this And in Windows I have this this

Hi booya, it seems the Adobe installer is not working correctly if you do not have the NPSWF32...DLL file. I can't explain it. But Firefox can't run Flash without that file.

jscher2000 said

Hi booya, it seems the Adobe installer is not working correctly if you do not have the NPSWF32...DLL file. I can't explain it. But Firefox can't run Flash without that file.

Hello.

I can find NPSWF32.dll, but only in Adobe AIR folder:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe AIR\Versions\1.0\Resources\NPSWF32.dll

Hi booya, that likely is a very old version. For quite a while now, there is a version number embedded in the file name. For example:

NPSWF32_17_0_0_134.dll

That's why I had ... in there as a shorthand, but for searching, you might need to use something like this:

NPSWF32_*.dll

Still, if it isn't showing up in

C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash

then something definitely seems to be going wrong with the installer.

Hello jscher2000!

I looked in another computer (my parents). They have:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe AIR\Versions\1.0\Resources\NPSWF32.dll C:\Windows\System32\Macromed\Flash\NPSWF32_17_0_0_169.dll C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash\NPSWF32_17_0_0_169.dll

Also they have shockwave flash in FF like:

Shockwave Flash 17.0.0.169 Shockwave Flash 17.0. r0 file NPSWF32_17_0_0_169.dll MIME application/x-shockwave-flash (Adobe Flash movie: swf), application/futuresplash (FutureSplash movie: spl)

On my PC now I have: C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe AIR\Versions\1.0\Resources\NPSWF32.dll C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash\NPSWF32_17_0_0_169.dll

And there is still no any flash in FF :( I really don't know how to install 32-bit ver. Both Adobe installers have reported that all installed, but...

Youtube I watch via HTML5 or, if I need flash, I run IE11 :(

The Flash version in SysWOW64 is the 32 bit version that Firefox should find and use.

• C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash\NPSWF32_17_0_0_169.dll

You can find the installation path of all plugins on the about:plugins page.

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Issues_related_to_plugins#Identifying_installed_plugins

booya said

On my PC now I have: C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe AIR\Versions\1.0\Resources\NPSWF32.dll C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash\NPSWF32_17_0_0_169.dll

The installer should have created registry entries that Firefox uses to discover the location of the Flash plugin. Could you check this old post on the bits and pieces of that process: https://support.mozilla.org/questions/1054053#answer-709185

cor-el said

The Flash version in SysWOW64 is the 32 bit version that Firefox should find and use.

• C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash\NPSWF32_17_0_0_169.dll

You can find the installation path of all plugins on the about:plugins page.

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Issues_related_to_plugins#Identifying_installed_plugins

In c:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash\ I have:

activex.vch Flash32_17_0_0_188.ocx FlashInstall.log flashplayer.xpt FlashPlayerPlugin_17_0_0_188.exe FlashPlayerUpdateService.exe FlashUtil32_17_0_0_188_ActiveX.dll FlashUtil32_17_0_0_188_ActiveX.exe FlashUtil32_17_0_0_188_Plugin.exe mms.cfg NPSWF32_17_0_0_188.dll plugin.vch

jscher2000 said

booya said

On my PC now I have: C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe AIR\Versions\1.0\Resources\NPSWF32.dll C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash\NPSWF32_17_0_0_169.dll

The installer should have created registry entries that Firefox uses to discover the location of the Flash plugin. Could you check this old post on the bits and pieces of that process: https://support.mozilla.org/questions/1054053#answer-709185

Done :) In about:config "plugin.scan.plid.all" was disabled. I don't remember that I disabled it... But now this thing is working.

Thank you!