[MacTUG] Flash (YouTube, etc.) broken under Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5): Fixes

[Marlon A. Griffith]

MacFixit, http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20071101152707293
Thursday, November 01 2007 @ 03:20 PM PDT


Several users have reported loss of Flash functionality under Mac OS X 10.5. This issue is sometimes exemplified by a QuickTime logo with a question mark overlaid (as shown at below).

MacFixIt reader Mitch writes:

    "After upgrading to Leopard, and reinstalling Flash, Safari no longer displays movies properly, and I get the QT logo covered by a question mark. I've repaired permissions, deleted prefs, even deleted (temporarily) the QuickTime Plugin.webplugin) but nothing at this point appears to correct the problem. Apple' support line is, as one might imagine, overloaded today."

We've noted this problem several times in the past. It has to do with a conflict between QuickTime Player attempting to playback Flash content, and Adobe's own Flash plug-in attempting to playback the same content. Apple's QuickTime has the ability to play Flash content embedded in QuickTime movies and in Web pages via the QuickTime plug-in but this option turned off by default, as it is not compatible with as many embedded Flash media types as the true Adobe plug-in. However, it may be inadvertently turned back on by the upgrade process.

The fix is generally to open the QuickTime pane in System Preferences, click on the Advanced tab, then click the MIME button and deselect "Flash" under "Miscellaneous File Formats." However, this option has been removed in Leopard. As such, the preference must be changed by manually modifying the file ~/Library/com.apple.quicktime.plugin.preferences.plist (this refers to the Library folder inside your user folder).

This fix was first posted to the Apple Discussion Boards by Andrea Turriziani, and is adapted below:

(Note: Before going through the process below, try simply deleting the file ~/Library/com.apple.quicktime.plugin.preferences.plist then restarting your browser).

If you have Apple's Developer Tools installed, use this process:

   1. Open the folder ~/Library/Preferences
   2. Control-click (or right-click) the file com.apple.quicktime.plugin.preferences.plist and open it with Property Lit Editor
   3. Click on the triangle near "root"
   4. Click on the triangle near "WebPluginMIMETypes"
   5. Click on the triangle near "application/x-shockwave-flash"
   6. In "WebPluginTypeEnabled" change the Value from "Yes" to "No"
   7. Save and close Property List Editor
   8. Relaunch Safari

If you don't have the Developer Tools installed, you can perform the same process with the shareware tool PlistEditPro (just open com.apple.quicktime.plugin.preferences.plist with PlistEditPro instead of Property List Editor in step 2).

You may have to download and install the latest version of the Adobe Flash plug-in, available from the Flash Player download center after performing the aformentioned steps.

Feedback? Late-breakers at macfixit.com.

For further coverage, see our Leopard product page and the Leopard Hot Topic Page.



Flash (YouTube, etc.) broken under Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5): Fixes | 3 comments

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Flash (YouTube, etc.) broken under Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5): Fixes
Authored by: David Dixon on Thursday, November 01 2007 @ 04:49 PM PDT

You state...."The fix is generally to open the QuickTime pane in System Preferences, click on the Advanced tab, then click the MIME button and deselect "Flash" under "Miscellaneous File Formats." However, this option has been removed in Leopard."

It's still there, but in a different place...

It's on the Advanced pane BEFORE you click into MIME settings


Flash (YouTube, etc.) broken under Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5): Fixes
Authored by: jbmelby on Thursday, November 01 2007 @ 05:24 PM PDT

I use Perian instead. That way, I avoid the inevitable QuickTime/Flash problems that occur every time the Flash Player is updated.


Flash (YouTube, etc.) broken under Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5): Fixes
Authored by: cge88 on Friday, November 02 2007 @ 01:35 AM PDT

I was having this problem, the Fix worked perfectly for me.