Windows Media Player

From MozillaZine Knowledge Base
Revision as of 10:50, 28 April 2005 by Vectorspace (talk | contribs) (Added that it works in FF 1.0.3 - meant to do it ages ago... :))
Jump to navigationJump to search
This article applies to Windows users only.

Warnings

  • If you use the Adblock extension, you need to disable the Obj-Tabs setting. Otherwise, the ActiveX plugin will run almost any ActiveX control regardless of how it is configured.
  • Each version of the ActiveX plugin is only compatable with a small number of browser versions. If you install it in a browser that it is not compatable with, the plugin will not function properly and you will likely experience conflicts with the Flash plugin.
  • When you update your browser, the plugin will often remain and will be installed in the updated version too. If you update to a version that is not compatable with the version of the ActiveX plugin you had, the plugin will stop working properly and you will likely experience conflicts with the Flash plugin.

Introduction

Some embedded streaming media (such as those on Launch.com) use ActiveX controls to invoke Windows Media Player. ActiveX is what Internet Explorer uses instead of the plugin system used by Netscape and Mozilla. It is a set of controls that give a website a measure of control over a browser viewing the page, in order to allow for more complex web page content. Some of the ActiveX controls allow websites to (for example) execute code on the user's computer, or to silently install files to it. This can be a big security risk, and is one of the more serious security vulnerabilities in IE. The ActiveX plugin for Mozilla Suite/Firefox almost as functional as IE's ActiveX support, but by the end of the installation section the plugin will have been configured to only run the Windows Media Player controls.

Windows Media Player does provide a plugin for non-IE browsers to use, but apart from not being to play ActiveX-embedded media, it is old and severely limited. Installing the ActiveX plugin will not only add support for ActiveX-embedded media, but will also improve the functioanality of the WMP plugin.

Before You Start

  • You need to have the Windows Media Player plugin files. These should have been installed when Windows Media Player was, but this is not always the case.
  • Type about:plugins into the Location Bar to view the browser's plugin information.
  • If there are entries for the files npdsplay.dll, npwmsdrm.dll, and npdrmv2.dll, then the WMP plugin is fully installed. If not, you may have to re-install Windows Media Player.

Installation

For Firefox 1.0-1.0.3 users

You must be using an official mozilla.org milestone release of Firefox 1.0, 1.0.1, 1.0.2, or 1.0.3. The plugin is only compatible with these builds. Compatibility with 3rd party builds is unknown.

For users running Mozilla Suite and Firefox trunk builds

  • Install the Mozilla ActiveX Plug-in. (More information about the ActiveX control.)
  • Download the browser.xpi file. (Do not click on the link. Instead, right-click it and select "Save Link As...".) Rename it to browser.zip, open the ZIP file, and extract the npmozax.dll file to your Firefox plugins folder (usually C:\Program Files\mozilla.org\Mozilla\plugins). It will be located within the ZIP file under the ZIP's plugin folder. [1]
  • It it also recommended that you edit activex.js and replace it with the text below to enable only Windows Media Player to run (unless you need to run other ActiveX controls). Normally, activex.js is located in C:\Program Files\mozilla.org\Mozilla\defaults\pref\.
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");
  • Download this registry patch.
  • Double-click on the file and click "Yes" to add the information in it to the registry. It solves a problem where Firefox will use version 6.4 of the Windows Media Player plugin instead of the actual version.

Testing the Plugin Installation

  • Once you have installed the ActiveX plugpluginin, you can test it on this site created by Jrzycrim.
  • If you can play both the audio and video players, the ActiveX and WMP plugins are installed and working.

Uninstalling

  • Close all instances of your browser.
  • Go to the program folder (the location you installed your browser to).
Firefox's default location: C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\
Mozilla Suite's default location: C:\Program Files\mozilla.org\Mozilla\
  • Go into the plugins folder and delete the file npmozax.dll.
  • Go back to the program folder, and then go into the components folder, and delete the files nsIMozAxPlugin.xpt and nsAxSecurityPolicy.js.
  • Go back to the program folder, and then go into the \defaults\pref folder mentioned earlier and delete the file activex.js.

Addendums

  • The ActiveX Plug-in for Firefox 1.0 is pre-configured to only run the Windows Media Player controls. To make it run other controls, you will need to edit activex.js. Normally, activex.js is located in C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\defaults\pref\.
  • To get Yahoo! Launch to work, you need to spoof your user agent as a Netscape 4.x or a Netscape 7.1 browser.
  • For some versions of the ActiveX plugin, the Flash plugin will not load unless it was already loaded after you install the ActiveX plugin. You will need to reload the plugins by typing about:plugins into your Location Bar upon starting Firefox.
  • The Mozilla ActiveX Plug-in comes with a npmozax.dll plugin, but if you use Mozilla Suite, it is recommended that you use Netscape's browser.xpi.
  • The version in Netscape's browser.xpi is not compatable with Firefox versions 1.0 PR and newer.

External Links