Installing Flash Player Plugin on Firefox without having Administrator Access or Premissions

Last updated on Mon, 2012-07-16 09:14. Originally submitted by fabio on 2007-02-19 16:32.

UPDATE: The following guide, originally written for Firefox 2, has been used successfully on Firefox 3, 3.5, 3.6, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12. Users of Firefox Portable edition (same versions) also have been successful using this guide.

The Windows computers available at my University permits login only by autenticated users (students) who don't have Administrator access and permissions.

Installing software on those PC is then not possible.

Recently they finally installed Firefox 2 but without the Flash plugins, which is absolutly useful/needed.

I then tryed to install the Flash Player using the "standard" way (click on the missing plugin link then install the plugin..). However without administrator plugins it was not possible to install.

Then I started doing some tests trying to install the plugin manually. Now I have it installed and working perfectly!

This is how I managed to install it without administrator permissions:

  1. Download this ZIP archive to your hard disk.
  2. Extract the file in the archive. You can use any program capable of opening .zip files (WinZip, WinRAR or the free and great 7-zip). There are also websites which can uncompress archives: wobzip.org.
  3. Copy the file NPSWF32.dll to %APPDATA%\Mozilla\Plugins\
    • %APPDATA% is not a real folder. It's an alias. By inserting it in your windows explorer address bar, you'll be redirected to the real folder which holds your applications profiles and settings. The location of this folder depends on various setting that's why we need the alias and not an absolute path.
    • You can open this folder simply choosing "Start → Run → Type in %APPDATA% → OK".
    • In case you don't have a Plugins folder you can create one and place your files there.
  4. Restart Firefox
  5. Enjoy your flash websites!

Reference:
Profile folder on MozillaZine Knowledge Base.
Installing Flash in Portable Firefox with no installer at AcidLabs.org Blog.

Posted in:

If the video you are trying

Submitted by fabio on Wed, 2007-11-14 17:14.

If the video you are trying to play are streaming using Flash, the videos should plays without problems. If the videos are Flash based but you still can't display them it could be a problem on your network or the server (eg: a proxy which restricts loading those videos).

In order to check that the videos are flash based just right click on them.. if you see flash stuff on the menu which will pop up then that is a flash video.

Instead if the video you are trying to display is a quicktime video or a windows media player video you might have a missing codec.

You might post here the link to the video you are trying to play.. I can have a look at it.. just to check it works...

It won't show up. Go to a

Submitted by Jurgen (not verified) on Wed, 2007-11-07 13:53.

It won't show up. Go to a site that uses flash to test it out.

I intsaled the xpi plug in

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 2007-11-06 18:58.

I intsaled the xpi plug in for firefox, but i cant find it on my computer?
Please help

Thanks for the great

Submitted by Tina (not verified) on Wed, 2007-10-24 16:09.

Thanks for the great topic.

Can someone please let me know if there is a way to do the same thing in IE?

Here's my situation:

I have created a Xcelsius application and the data gets imported from Excel and Access DB. I have made all the charts and it works fine, but when I install it on my client machine (government facility), the export as html and powerpoint doesn't let the interactive flash output show up and run because their machine don't have flash player installed. I do not havea dmin previledges, and the only option I am aware of, is to ask their admin to install flash player on every machine there so my application runs. It's a bit of hassle and usually takes a long time for them to do that.

So I was wondering if there is another way around that, like there is some type of code I can add somewhere in my application to embed flash viewer so that my application can pass the firewall.

Thanks in advance!

Can't install Limewire w/o admin priveleges

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 2007-10-02 02:05.

I've been trying to download Limewire but can't because i am not an administrator or a power user. Any suggestions on how to get around this? By the way, i am running XP if that helps any.

Unfortunately I don't have

Submitted by fabio on Tue, 2007-10-02 12:57.

Unfortunately I don't have experience installing LimeWire in a restricted environment.

Btw.. I doubt that once installed it will work.
Usually at University or at Work this kind of programs are disabled by firewalls or proxy. So.. there are good possibilities that, even if you are able to install the program, then you will not be able to download anything.

Thanks !

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 2007-09-20 20:35.

You rock !

Thanks for the info, what

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 2007-08-22 05:37.

Thanks for the info, what about 64bit Vista?

I don't know

Submitted by fabio on Wed, 2007-08-22 08:27.

Unfortunately I don't have 64bit PCs here or at University.. so I'm unable to test with 64bit Vista.

Is there someone who have been successful using a similar procedure like the above on Vista 64 bit ?

Please post it as a comment.

Thanks!

You Rock!!

Submitted by Amanda (not verified) on Tue, 2007-08-14 21:08.

Thank you. I love you.

Amanda

Super

Submitted by Suresh S (not verified) on Tue, 2007-07-31 07:12.

Thanks for the hack.

How to install Shockwave without administrator rights

Submitted by Mikael (not verified) on Fri, 2007-07-06 10:08.

* Download the install .exe
* Extract it using unpacking software i.e WinRar(Shareware) or TugZIP (freeware).
* copy files to firefox plugin-directory, no subdir just dump them in the plugin-dir.
* restart firefox

I tried it with a random shockwavegame from:
http://www.shockwavegames.ch/
and it worked.

I had problems with my favorite, Iron Stomach, though:
http://www.heavy.com/current/games/sushi/index.html

maybe that it is a question of explorer vs. firefox issue in the code of the Iron Stomach page since it is quite old (that is in the days when explorer ruled!)

/Mikael

Shockwave

Submitted by Grant (not verified) on Thu, 2007-06-28 07:33.

I was able to get Flash working fine in Firefox Portable on my work PC with no admin access.
Can the same be done with shockwave?

well its harder with opera

Submitted by v12 (not verified) on Fri, 2007-06-01 15:23.

Download this file from here (http://www.wikiupload.com/download_page.php?id=152351)
place the file in this path-
C:\Documents and Settings\(youraccount)\My Documents\Opera\program\plugins , if you have opera running close it down and restart it and you will have flash working :D

The link provided above

Submitted by Ian (not verified) on Mon, 2007-11-05 20:29.

The link provided above (http://www.wikiupload.com/download_page.php?id=152351) appears broken. Suggestions?

Hi, thanks a lot it worked

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 2007-06-01 08:23.

Hi, thanks a lot
it worked with mozilla. I tried doing the same with opera, but was unable to. Can you tell me the path where operan looks for flash, so that i can copy the files there and get flash working in opera also.

thanks

theres an easier way

Submitted by V12 (not verified) on Wed, 2007-05-23 15:16.

I currently have opera, winrar, firefox, and a burning sand game installed on my limited account at the school.

What you need to do is when the program asks you for a customized install path , install the program to C:\Documents and Settings\(your account)\My Documents

afterwards the program works just great :D

probably not so easy

Submitted by fabio on Thu, 2007-05-24 00:18.

I think that there could be some scenarios where your solutions will not work.

My approach is actually a bit cleaner as some organizations explicitly says that it's forbidden to install applications on the personal space.

i tried to download the xpi

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 2007-05-20 22:38.

i tried to download the xpi thing and it said script error, what do i do?

you should click on the

Submitted by fabio on Mon, 2007-05-21 13:46.

you should click on the download link using the right button of your mouse ... then choose save file as.

Once you have the archive on the computer just follow the guide.

Worked!

Submitted by Adam (not verified) on Tue, 2007-05-08 16:31.

I have write access, so it was as simple as dragging the XPI into firefox, which prompted to install. Flash controls work beautifully, but for some reason it doesn't show up in the Add-Ons control.

Also, you wouldn't happen to know if there's a way to install java in a similar manner (either XPI or copying plugins, as that worked too)? Thanks again.

I can't help you

Submitted by fabio on Sun, 2007-05-13 14:16.

Unfortunately in my University, where I tried the process I described in this page, we already have Java installed... Then testing is not possible for me.

I think that in your

Submitted by fabio on Mon, 2007-05-07 22:22.

I think that in your situation portable Firefox is probably the best solution.

However, if you are able to define settings on your Firefox install (e.g. you are able to define bookmarks and homepage), then you probably have read and write access to your Profile folder. It's just a matter of finding it and put the files in it.

I'm sorry that I can't help you more.

What if no Appdata?

Submitted by Adam (not verified) on Mon, 2007-05-07 17:27.

On the computers here, attempting to bring up the run dialogue (which has been blanked from the start menu and task manager, and the Windows Key-R combo doesn't work) brings up an error about "restrictions placed on this computer"....

Opening My Computer shows no local drive (we're all on roaming profiles). Do you suggest I use portable Firefox to install Flash, or is there some other way? Thanks.

thanks worked

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 2007-05-02 21:00.

thanks worked

Questo si' che e' utile!

Submitted by d1s4st3r (not verified) on Tue, 2007-03-06 08:53.

Ciao maestro, questo post si' che e' utile!
Era ora che mettessi a posto il tuo sito!
Hola chico! :D

Thanks. That was really

Submitted by Otto (not verified) on Tue, 2007-03-06 22:59.

Thanks. That was really useful, worked great for me.

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