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June 16th, 2012, 09:32 GMT · By

Workarounds and Fixes for Flash 11.3 Crashes and Problems in Firefox

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Flash 11.3 is causing problems in Firefox
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It seems that the Flash 11.3 roll out has not gone smooth for Firefox users, quite the opposite. Flash 11.3 introduces the Flash sandbox, or protected mode, to Firefox but it seems that the security feature is causing problems in some cases. Add-ons and other plugins which enable users to record Flash videos are at least part of the problem.

Both Adobe and Mozilla are investigating the issue and there's no proper fix for all the problems just yet, but both companies have released several workarounds. The problem only affects Windows Vista and 7 users.

Upgrade to Firefox 13.0.1

Users are reporting that videos don't play and in some cases that there are even crashes. These should have been fixed with the latest Firefox 13.0.1 update, which you should definitely get, but the rest of the issues are still there.

You can take several steps if you are affected. If video doesn't play, the problem is most likely caused by another plugin or add-on.

RealPlayer Browser Record has been blocked by Mozilla, but there's an alternative solution

Mozilla has already blocked the RealPlayer Browser Record plugin since it interfered with Flash's normal operation. The plugin will be automatically blocked in Firefox, but you can re-enable it if you want to. If you're having problems, it's best to leave it disabled until Mozilla lifts the block.

Alternatively, you can disable the video downloading feature in the RealPlayer plugin. Launch RealPlayer, go to Preferences > Download & Recording and uncheck "Enable Web Download & Recording for these installed browsers" to do this.

Try disabling plugins until you find the culprit

If RealPlayer isn't the cause of your problems, you will have to pinpoint the problematic plugin on your own. You'll have to disable any that you have installed one by one. First, it's a good idea to start Firefox in Safe Mode and see if the problem is still there. Adobe has step-by-step instructions on how to do this.

Disable Protected Mode

If disabling plugins doesn't work, there is one last thing you can do, disable Protected Mode (the sandbox mode) in Flash 11.3. You have to edit a configuration file, mms.cfg, to do this. You'll find it at "C:\windows\system32\macromed\flash" on 32-bit Windows and "C:\windows\syswow64\macromed\flash" on 64-bit versions. Add "ProtectedMode=0" without the quotes in a new line.

Downgrade to Flash 10.3

Alternatively, though it is not recommended, you can downgrade Flash to a previous version. Mozilla points users towards Flash 11.2, but that's an unsupported version with known security vulnerabilities. The alternative is Flash 10.3, which is still supported for enterprise users.



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Firefox
Flash
sandbox
crash


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READER COMMENTS:


Comment #1 by: wessonjoe on 21 Jun 2012, 12:24 UTC reply to this comment

installing the 10.3 plugin worked only after i disabled the 11.3 plugin that firefox automatically updated to. CRAP. then i turned all of the automatic updates off. CRAP. the new firefox browser is worse than IE. now that's a great howdy do. they must have gotten some of the MS programmers that were let go. i hate the new firefox for destroying the old style back and forward buttons. but, go ahead, destroy the interface that people loved for many years just so you can call yourself innovative. real innovation doesn't destroy what works just for aesthetic's sake.


Comment #2 by: abcdefg on 11 Jul 2012, 10:49 UTC reply to this comment

thank you so much for the tip about disabling protected mode: it fixed all of my problems!


Comment #3 by: wimeyl on 14 Aug 2012, 13:57 UTC reply to this comment

Thank you for this video. It fixed my problems I was having in firefox and flash 11.3

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