Cannot Play Flash Files Under Windows XP Home

[Richard Alexander]

I have collected a number of Flash media files over the last few years
that I have often viewed, but ever since I installed Windows XP Home,
I have been unable to launch the Flash files. Nothing happens when I
double-click on any file ending in .swf. I have installed Macromedia
Flash and Macromedia Shockwave players from the Macromedia site
several times over the last several months, and Macromedia's Website
says that installations complete, but I am still unable to play .swf
files saved on my computer. I am able to view .swf files loaded over
the Web.

I am using a FIC AU13 motherboard, an Athlon 2200+ XP Thunderbird uP,
1 Gig of RAM and several hard drives, parallel and serial, by various
manufacturers.

I would appreciate suggestions of resolving this problem.

 

[Thane of Lochaber]

Right click and select Open; a dialog should come up asking you what program
you wish to open the file with. You can choose your web browser or the
standalone flash player if you have that. Check the box marked always open
with this program. That should work; if nothing at all happens when you
click open, I'm afraid I don't know what would be causing that.

 

[Adam Albright]

I have collected a number of Flash media files over the last few years
that I have often viewed, but ever since I installed Windows XP Home,
I have been unable to launch the Flash files. Nothing happens when I
double-click on any file ending in .swf. I have installed Macromedia
Flash and Macromedia Shockwave players from the Macromedia site
several times over the last several months, and Macromedia's Website
says that installations complete, but I am still unable to play .swf
files saved on my computer. I am able to view .swf files loaded over
the Web.

I am using a FIC AU13 motherboard, an Athlon 2200+ XP Thunderbird uP,
1 Gig of RAM and several hard drives, parallel and serial, by various
manufacturers.

I would appreciate suggestions of resolving this problem.

Maybe a file association problem.

Go to Windows Explorer, click on Tools, folder options, file types.
You should see a list of REGISTERED file types in a alphabetical list.
If your find SWF double click on the icon which should be a gray
circle with a dark 'f' in the middle of it.

It should say opens with Macromedia Player 7 (or some other version if
you have a older install). Try clicking the restore button.

Now locate any Flash file in Explorer with the extension .swf. Does it
have the same icon you saw in the previous step? It should. Pick a swf
file in Windows Explorer. Right click. Pick open with. Does the Flash
player show as a option? It should.

Still don't work?

Go to Windows Explorer. Under your C drive locate the folder called
Program Files. Find a folder named Macromedia then a sub folder called
players. There should be three files. A Flash application file, a data
file and a RSRC file. There should also be a detailed HTML page.

Installing Macromedia Flash Player 7
To install Macromedia Flash Player 7 for Internet Explorer or AOL
(ActiveX Control) on Windows:


1.Quit your browser before installing the new ActiveX control.


2. Remove any old versions of the ActiveX control. See Removing
Macromedia Flash Player for detailed information that applies to
removing both old and new versions of the Flash Player ActiveX
control.


3. Double-click the "Install Flash Player 7 AX.exe" file to begin
installation.


4. Open the browser. Flash Player 7 should be installed and working.

To install Macromedia Flash Player 7 for Netscape, CompuServe, or
Opera on Windows:


1. Quit your browser before installing the new plug-in.

2. Remove any old versions of Flash Player. See Removing Macromedia
Flash Player for detailed information that applies to removing both
old and new versions of the plug-in.

3. Double-click the "Install Flash Player 7.exe" file to begin
installation.

4.Open the browser. Flash Player 7 should be installed and working.
To verify on Netscape, choose Help > About Plug-ins from the browser's
menu.

To install Macromedia Flash Player 7 for Netscape, Internet Explorer
for Macintosh, or Opera on Macintosh:


1. Quit your browser before installing the new plug-in.

2. Remove any old versions of Flash Player. See Removing Macromedia
Flash Player for detailed information that applies to removing both
old and new versions of the plug-in.

3. Double-click the "Flash Player 7 Installer" or the "Flash Player 7
Installer OSX" file, as appropriate, to begin installation.

4. Open the browser. Flash Player 7 should be installed and working.
To verify on Netscape, choose Help > About Plug-ins from the browser's
menu.

Removing Macromedia Flash Player
The instructions for removing the plug-in and/or ActiveX control are
posted on the Flash Player Support website:
http://www.macromedia.com/go/flashplayer_uninstall_en.

 

[Richard Alexander]

[snip]

Go to Windows Explorer, click on Tools, folder options, file types.
You should see a list of REGISTERED file types in a alphabetical list.
If your find SWF double click on the icon which should be a gray
circle with a dark 'f' in the middle of it.

I forgot to mention that even though SWF is on the list of registered
file types, it is not correctly displayed. For example, the icon on
the list is the default Windows icon for an unrecognized file (a
rectangular Windows window with three small objects in it). Extension
is SWF, File Type is listed as "Shockwave Flash Object." Nothing
happens when I double-click on that highlighted item.

When I attempt to associate the SWF extension, I am unable to find
Macromedia or Flash on the list of programs for association.

It should say opens with Macromedia Player 7 (or some other version if
you have a older install). Try clicking the restore button.

I cannot get to this point.

Now locate any Flash file in Explorer with the extension .swf. Does it
have the same icon you saw in the previous step? It should. Pick a swf
file in Windows Explorer. Right click. Pick open with. Does the Flash
player show as a option? It should.

Still don't work?

Go to Windows Explorer. Under your C drive locate the folder called
Program Files. Find a folder named Macromedia then a sub folder called
players. There should be three files. A Flash application file, a data
file and a RSRC file. There should also be a detailed HTML page.

There is no Macromedia folder on my boot directory. I once (months
ago) did a search on all my drives and directories for Macromedia
folder, and I found an old one that I used for an older version of
Windows. When I attempted to associate SWF files with the Macromedia
files, Windows indicated the operation was succesful, but none of my
SWF files ever associated with anything.

 

[Thane of Lochaber]

Associate them with Internet Explorer

[snip]

Go to Windows Explorer, click on Tools, folder options, file types.
You should see a list of REGISTERED file types in a alphabetical list.
If your find SWF double click on the icon which should be a gray
circle with a dark 'f' in the middle of it.

I forgot to mention that even though SWF is on the list of registered
file types, it is not correctly displayed. For example, the icon on
the list is the default Windows icon for an unrecognized file (a
rectangular Windows window with three small objects in it). Extension
is SWF, File Type is listed as "Shockwave Flash Object." Nothing
happens when I double-click on that highlighted item.

When I attempt to associate the SWF extension, I am unable to find
Macromedia or Flash on the list of programs for association.

It should say opens with Macromedia Player 7 (or some other version if
you have a older install). Try clicking the restore button.

I cannot get to this point.

Now locate any Flash file in Explorer with the extension .swf. Does it
have the same icon you saw in the previous step? It should. Pick a swf
file in Windows Explorer. Right click. Pick open with. Does the Flash
player show as a option? It should.

Still don't work?

Go to Windows Explorer. Under your C drive locate the folder called
Program Files. Find a folder named Macromedia then a sub folder called
players. There should be three files. A Flash application file, a data
file and a RSRC file. There should also be a detailed HTML page.

There is no Macromedia folder on my boot directory. I once (months
ago) did a search on all my drives and directories for Macromedia
folder, and I found an old one that I used for an older version of
Windows. When I attempted to associate SWF files with the Macromedia
files, Windows indicated the operation was succesful, but none of my
SWF files ever associated with anything.

 

[Richard Alexander]

Associate them with Internet Explorer

Well, that works, anyway. But, inasmuch as IE has persistent security
issues, I would like to be able to do without it.

 

[Thane of Lochaber]

If you are using an alternate browser such as Firefox and you have the flash
plugin installed for it, you could use it instead of IE. I have the
standalone version of Flash Player (they call it Projector) so I use it for
viewing flash files. It's kind of hard to track down though and I don't have
a link at the moment. All I could find on their site was the version for
Macintosh and Linux.