# Why can't I get Shockwave working on Mozilla 1.5 (Win XP)? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 12, 2003, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-get-shockwave-working-on-mozilla-1-5-win-xp/212901 "2003-11-12T21:00:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-get-shockwave-working-on-mozilla-1-5-win-xp/212901/1 "2003-11-12T21:00:28Z")
Using this test page: [http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/welcome/](http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/welcome/) Flash is working, but Shockwave is not. I get the puzzle piece and “Click here to get the plugin” in the Shockwave area. So, I click the puzzle and the “get the plugin” on the popup, and it takes me to where I can download the plugin. I download it, quit Mozilla (and the “quick start” Mozilla icon in the system tray), and run the installer. It seems to detect properly that I am using Mozilla 1.5, and seems to install normally; even congratulating me on a successful installation. When I go back to the test page, I get a popup message from Macromedia Shockwave saying I need to restart to complete the installation of Shockwave Player. So, I click the Restart Now button and it restarts. When I’m back up, and go to the test page, I have the damn puzzle piece again as if I never installed it!!! Usually when I have these types of problems, when I can’t figure it out myself I can usually find others with the same problem and the solution with Google (searching both the web and groups) but no dice this time. The only thing I can think of that might have changed my system is I had some Macromedia tools like Dreamweaver and Flash MX installed but I uninstalled them (and even unisntalled Mozilla), reinstalled Mozilla and still have the same problem with Shockwave. ---
**Author:** ![Jake4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bc8723/32.png) [@Jake4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake4)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-get-shockwave-working-on-mozilla-1-5-win-xp/212901/2 "2003-11-12T21:24:27Z")
First, visit the forums at [mozillazine.com](http://www.mozillazine.com). There will be more people there who can help. Search the forums there before asking for help. Check to make sure that the plug-in file is going into your Mozilla plug-in directory. ---
**Author:** ![DoubleJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@DoubleJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoubleJ)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-get-shockwave-working-on-mozilla-1-5-win-xp/212901/3 "2003-11-12T21:32:01Z")
[Mozillazine.org](http://www.mozillazine.org) is actually what you want. Aside from that, **Jake4** is on the money: make sure the plugin (usually a DLL file if you’re on Windows) got installed in the correct place. Depending on your OS you may have to set your folder options to let you view hidden/system files to verify it. ---
**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-get-shockwave-working-on-mozilla-1-5-win-xp/212901/4 "2003-11-12T21:59:51Z")
- - - I recently installed the newer versions of Netscape and Mozilla. In the past I had this same problem, and solved it by simply copying all the plugins in Netscape (that install properly!) to teh plugins folder in Mozilla, but not overwriting any already-existing files in Mozilla. That didn’t work last time around however, and I have abandoned Mozilla as anything with Javascript now makes it crash. Netscape (7.1) continues to work as usual, with no problems. ~ ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-get-shockwave-working-on-mozilla-1-5-win-xp/212901/5 "2003-11-13T00:32:03Z")
Thanks **Jake4** and **DoubleJ** , I searched Mozillazine, didn’t find the same problem, so I posted it there. And thanks **DougC** , but I don’t have or want to install Netscape, so I can’t try that. ---
**Author:** ![Jake4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bc8723/32.png) [@Jake4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake4)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-get-shockwave-working-on-mozilla-1-5-win-xp/212901/6 "2003-11-13T00:46:01Z")
:smack: :wally ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2003, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-get-shockwave-working-on-mozilla-1-5-win-xp/212901/7 "2003-12-13T02:57:42Z")
FYI, I stumbled on a strange workaround. I installed Opera, ran the Shockwave installer again, and then Shockwave was working in both Mozilla and Opera. It continued to work in Mozilla, even after uninstalling Opera. ---
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2003, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-get-shockwave-working-on-mozilla-1-5-win-xp/212901/8 "2003-12-13T07:19:47Z")
Right. You need to get the file **np32dsw.dll** , and (conceivably) **ShockwavePlugin.class**. (See [this link](http://www.bahamapress.org/andres/kmeleon/plugins.html) a bit down.) Mozilla uses the Netscape-style Shockwave plugin (of course), but it seems the installer didn’t detect your installation (or mine), so you need to put them there yourself. I found them on on of my other machines and copied them over, as I couldn’t find a place to get these files on the 'net. (Do you download the .zip files like I do? I can see that not using the Mozilla installer could leave some registry stuff undone that Macromedia could be counting on to find it.) Anyhow. After this, about:plugins should contain a “Shockwave for Director” entry like [this page does](http://clctext.tlt.psu.edu/Labs/Windows/Software/About%20Plug-ins.html). That was a bit of work for me to find out, so I hope everyone fully enjoys the floating advertisements now drifting across their web pages.