# Windows Media Player and Firefox **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 14, 2006, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-media-player-and-firefox/344395 "2006-02-14T02:49:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Spongemom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Spongemom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spongemom)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2006, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-media-player-and-firefox/344395/1 "2006-02-14T02:49:03Z")
I’m trying to figure out why videos on webpages that use WMP won’t play. The status bar for the video itself will say “Ready”, but when I click Play, it says “Opening media”, then “Connecting to media”, then back to “Ready” without playing. Meanwhile, the status bar for the browser says “Done”. I have WMP installed on my computer. I have the WMP extension for Firefox installed too. Anyone know what setting I need to mess with to make it work? If you need more info, just ask. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2006, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-media-player-and-firefox/344395/2 "2006-02-14T02:52:44Z")
Are you using the Media Player Connectivity extention? ---
**Author:** ![Spongemom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Spongemom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spongemom)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2006, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-media-player-and-firefox/344395/3 "2006-02-14T03:02:49Z")
No. I’ll try that now. ---
**Author:** ![Spongemom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Spongemom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spongemom)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2006, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-media-player-and-firefox/344395/4 "2006-02-14T03:23:46Z")
Got a little farther…now I can open the movie in WMP itself and watch it not play. I get a popup that says it cannot find the file. I’ve done everything it says to do in the WMP help box about that problem, to no avail. ---
**Author:** ![Scruloose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@Scruloose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scruloose)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2006, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-media-player-and-firefox/344395/5 "2006-02-14T03:27:34Z")
I had a similiar problem when I upgraded Firefox to 1.5. [This page took care of it for me.](http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=206213) ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2006, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-media-player-and-firefox/344395/6 "2006-02-14T06:58:53Z")
I can’t change my default video plugin for Firefox, and I don’t have a listing for .wmv files. I can’t seem to add that either. Any ideas, anyone? ---
**Author:** ![Spongemom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Spongemom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spongemom)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-media-player-and-firefox/344395/7 "2006-02-15T00:32:26Z")
> [@Scruloose](#): > > I had a similiar problem when I upgraded Firefox to 1.5. [This page took care of it for me.](http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=206213) I added the ActiveX thing on that page, and now when I open a page with an embedded WMP video on it, WMP pops up and tells me it cannot find the file. Technology be damned… ---
**Author:** ![Scruloose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@Scruloose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scruloose)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-media-player-and-firefox/344395/8 "2006-02-15T00:48:28Z")
From the page I linked to earlier, did you try the Windows Media Player Plug-in for Netscape Navigator? ([http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/download/plugin.aspx](http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/download/plugin.aspx)) IIRC, that’s what did the trick for me. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-media-player-and-firefox/344395/9 "2006-02-15T00:57:35Z")
A related question: what causes WMP to “stutter” and re-buffer over and over again? I’ve messed with all the options that I can think of. Is it possible that the source ( **Astream** ) server is overloaded, or is my connection just not fast enough? ---
**Author:** ![Spongemom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Spongemom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spongemom)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2006, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-media-player-and-firefox/344395/10 "2006-02-16T00:09:13Z")
> [@Scruloose](#): > > From the page I linked to earlier, did you try the Windows Media Player Plug-in for Netscape Navigator? ([http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/download/plugin.aspx](http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/download/plugin.aspx)) IIRC, that’s what did the trick for me. No, I didn’t, I removed Netscape from my computer a long time ago. > [@blondebear](#): > > A related question: what causes WMP to “stutter” and re-buffer over and over again? I’ve messed with all the options that I can think of. Is it possible that the source (Astream) server is overloaded, or is my connection just not fast enough? Back in the day when I used I.E., every video I found on the web would play for me. Some sites’ videos would stutter like that constantly, and some would never do it. I think it depends on the individual site. ---
**Author:** ![Scruloose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@Scruloose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scruloose)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2006, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-media-player-and-firefox/344395/11 "2006-02-16T00:20:11Z")
> [@Spongemom](#): > > No, I didn’t, I removed Netscape from my computer a long time ago. I don’t use, or have, Netscape either. But I believe that Firefox is related in some way to Netscape, and that’s why that particular fix is located on the Mozilla/Firefox troubleshooting page that I linked to earlier. As I said, that’s what fixed my Firefox/WMP problem.