Help with Windows Media Player

User Help for Mozilla Firefox
Judoplaya87
Posts: 3
Joined: April 1st, 2004, 4:41 am

Help with Windows Media Player

Post by Judoplaya87 »

I think this problem has been solved but it doesn't seem to work for me. I have Windows Media 9 and whenever i try to stream video the browser asks me for a plugin that i can't find. what should i do?
User avatar
Vectorspace
Moderator
Posts: 14455
Joined: November 27th, 2003, 4:50 am
Location: Warwickshire, UK
Contact:

Post by Vectorspace »

Some streaming media uses an ActiveX control to invoke WMP. ActiveX is not included with Firefox because it can be a big security hole. There is a downloadable plugin, and if you configure it right it will be fine.

You can get the plugin from here: http://plugindoc.mozdev.org/en-AU/windows.html.
N.B. there is no plugin for Firefox 0.8, but the one for Mozilla 1.6 will work. However, if you leave it with the default settings (i.e. you do not edit 'activex.js') it will conflict with Flash, and stop Flash buttons from working.
After installing it, go here: <Firefox install folder>\defaults\pref and open 'activex.js' for editing.

Delete or comment out any code already in it, then copy the following code into it:

Code: Select all

pref("general.useragent.vendorComment", "ax");
pref("security.xpconnect.activex.global.hosting_flags", 9);
pref("security.classID.allowByDefault", false);
pref("capability.policy.default.ClassID.CID6BF52A52-394A-11D3-B153-00C04F79FAA6", "AllAccess");
pref("capability.policy.default.ClassID.CID22D6F312-B0F6-11D0-94AB-0080C74C7E95", "AllAccess");

This code must be the only active code in the file. It will configure ActiveX to run only WMP.

In addition, you may need to add some registry entries to let WMP know that Firefox is allowed to activate it. try this registry file:
http://plugindoc.mozdev.org/resources/wmp9.reg
Last edited by Vectorspace on April 4th, 2004, 6:25 am, edited 2 times in total.
"All things being equal, the simplest answer is usually the correct one" - Occam's Razor
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:5.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/5.0
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:5.0) Gecko/20110624 Thunderbird/5.0
Judoplaya87
Posts: 3
Joined: April 1st, 2004, 4:41 am

Post by Judoplaya87 »

Thanx, it works perfectly!
old Neil Parks
Moderator
Posts: 0
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 5:00 pm

Post by old Neil Parks »

n addition, you may need to add some registry entries to let WMP know that Firefox is allowed to activate it. try this registry file:
http://plugindoc.mozdev.org/resources/wmp9.reg


This reg entry solves the problem of an old WMP plugin appearing instead of the WMP 9 plugin.
AnonEmoose
Posts: 2031
Joined: February 6th, 2004, 11:59 am

Post by AnonEmoose »

following links are for web page builders to show how to stream/embed sound files so they will work with mozilla/Firefox

http://nunzioweb.com/streaming_audio-example.htm
using an m3u to stream a file
http://home.att.net/~wymette/files/m3Utest.html
using an embedded mp3
http://home.att.net/~wymette/files/mp3test.html
BachDK
Guest

Post by BachDK »

when I go to this page http://plugindoc.mozdev.org/en-AU/windows.html, which version of the activeX shall i choose? There is nothing for Firefox 0.8!
User avatar
Vectorspace
Moderator
Posts: 14455
Joined: November 27th, 2003, 4:50 am
Location: Warwickshire, UK
Contact:

Post by Vectorspace »

Whoops, forgot to mention: there is no plugin for Firefox 0.8, but the one for Mozilla 1.6 will work. However, if you leave it with the default settings (i.e. you do not edit 'activex.js') it will conflict with Flash, and stop Flash buttons from working.

Cool, my post is in a Sticky!
Last edited by Vectorspace on April 5th, 2004, 12:57 am, edited 1 time in total.
"All things being equal, the simplest answer is usually the correct one" - Occam's Razor
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:5.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/5.0
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:5.0) Gecko/20110624 Thunderbird/5.0
gids
Posts: 546
Joined: March 28th, 2003, 6:59 am
Location: Falmouth, UK

Post by gids »

It would be cool if a stable, tested version of this plugin could ship with Firefox as it does with Netscape, it would help the push for support from sites such as launch.com
Hendikins
Posts: 26
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 5:00 pm
Location: On a train

Post by Hendikins »

I'll disagree with that. Shipping with the ActiveX plugin enabled is even less likely than hell freezing over.

Having ActiveX support - except when restricted to a whitelist of allowed controls - is quite problematic, to be honest. You get conflicts between plugins and ActiveX controls, and it isn't cross-platform either. Even if we did ship with it, you wouldn't be able to assume Mozilla users had ActiveX support. Mozilla does have a lot of users who don't use Windows as their primary operating system. I'm one of them.

My recommendation is that anyone who uses the ActiveX plugin also uses the activex.js that shipped with Netscape 7.1 to restrict it to only being able to use the Windows Media Player control. This can actually be preferable to using the Windows Media 9 Plugin under certain circumstances. [<a href="http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=201843" title="Crash on exit after using WMP 9.0 control">Bug 201843</a>]

Generally, however, there is no need for using the ActiveX plugin. The world as we know it won't end if you don't have ActiveX support, and you'll be browsing more securely without it.

<strong>Michael Hendy</strong> - <a href="http://plugindoc.mozdev.org/">PluginDoc</a> maintainer.
Popen_sarp
Posts: 8
Joined: April 2nd, 2004, 6:14 am
Location: Tehran, IR
Contact:

Post by Popen_sarp »

I first installed Flash player 7 on Firefox 0.8 which led to the unfunctionality of Flash buttons and link, but after the installation of the Macromedia Shockwave for director player this was solved but whenever I tried to view a flash film a warning message was shoed stating that the Plugin has performed an illegal action and you must restart you Navigator. But After I deleted npmozax.dll from the plugin folder all was solved

Bug 231272 comment 6
bvliegen
Posts: 11
Joined: February 5th, 2004, 1:05 pm
Contact:

Post by bvliegen »

I keep getting the problem i mentioned earlier at http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=65225
It's about the WMP plugin showing only about half of the control bar.

I have a screenshot of it here: http://bvliegen.fastmail.fm/firefox_wmp9.jpg

Can anyone reproduce this? Can and will it be fixed?

General note:
I think WMP support on Firefox should be seamless and painless, if not installed by default. I know it's M$ and all, but if you want to win over more users this should simply work. Not everyone is comfortable adding things to their registries.
Hendikins
Posts: 26
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 5:00 pm
Location: On a train

Post by Hendikins »

Last I checked, the installer for post-0.8 Firefox builds added this registry information. [Bug 193883]

This concerns me, however, because of the crash on exit under Win2k bug, which appears to be a WMP issue not a Mozilla issue. [Bug 201843]

The problem we have here is that there is no "right" solution to the problem, <abbr title="In My Humble Opinion">IMHO</abbr>.
derodra
Posts: 27
Joined: November 13th, 2003, 6:09 am

Post by derodra »

How big a security hole is ActiveX? Is it really worth the hassle if it keeps conflicting with plugins? What tips would you give developers (apart from the links provided by AnonEmoose above) for streaming audio and video to make it completely compatible with all the browsers on all the platforms?
Guest
Guest

Post by Guest »

Got it. Deleted my profile + program folder, installed the latest official nightly build, and it works just like it should. Control bar and all. Thanks!
AnonEmoose
Posts: 2031
Joined: February 6th, 2004, 11:59 am

Post by AnonEmoose »

derodra :

It is safe PROVIDED that u edit the activex.js like Vectorspace (among others & myself) have pointed out in many threads...... The conflicts with other plugins (mostly flash) are minimal if u use the correct ActiveX plugin (not saying 100% conflict free). If you are somewaht tech minded even running it without the edited activex.js should be ok. As for the hassle, everyone needs to judge for themselves and of course it depends on the various extensions/plugins you have installed..... You will never make everyone happy as some use WMP others use Winamp still othere Foobar2000 still others REAL, even other MusicMatch or Media Player Classic.... best bet IMO is to stream as everyone (well mostly) has WMP on thier system (bless Microsoft's "charitable" heart....lol ) . That will even allow ppl who don't have the ActiveX plugin but have the regular ndsplay.dll WMP plugin to hear the audio/video. (note: when both ndsplay.dll & npmozax.dll are present, the last plugin added to the plugins folder will get first crack at playing the file [ie. the plugin that is listed/loaded latest when u type about:plugins has priority over a plugin listed/loaded first ])
Locked