The adobe flash player plugin could not be launched. Why does the error "Failed to load Shockwave Flash" occur? Method #1: Update your browser

Modern programs are very “smart”, but sometimes they fail, which are preceded by a lot of reasons, ranging from physical to software. The error that most often appears in the Yandex browser is “could not load the plugin,” this indicates the absence or disabled state of a separate module. This problem applies exclusively to Adobe Flash Player, as it occurs when trying to play a video or animation. Various reasons can cause a plugin to fail to load, but they are all fixable. We will tell you how to troubleshoot the problem in the article.

The key reason why the plugin could not be loaded in the Yandex browser is a malfunction of Adobe Flash Player. It is a built-in module in Chromium-based browsers: Opera, Google Chrome, Yandex browser. You can find the plugin in the section browser://plugins called Adobe Flash Player with signature Shockwave Flash. The user himself does not have much influence on the add-on settings; the only thing he can do is turn off or activate the module.

Among the common reasons why Adobe Flash Player malfunctions, we highlight:

  • The plugin is disabled in the settings. This is the simplest and common reason, why the plugin does not load in the Yandex browser. To fix it, just change the launch parameters in the settings;
  • Browser malfunctions due to cluttering with temporary files: cache, cookies, history;
  • Outdated browser. Each program has a lot of shortcomings, which the developers are gradually eliminating. Only in the latest version of the browser are there the least risks of encountering defects;
  • Viral activity in the system. Viruses can damage some of the functions of any program and Yandex browser is no exception;
  • Launching the plugin blocks a third-party extension.

Each problem has its own solution, but some methods are universal and suitable for almost all users. One of the universal methods is system recovery.

How to fix the problem - the plugin could not be loaded

Launching the plugin

If the message “could not launch the plugin” appears in the Yandex browser, the first thing we recommend is to check the activity of the module. Many users disable Shockwave Flash on their own, since with its help sites reveal the location of the computer, bypassing anonymizers. To increase anonymity, it is recommended to disable Adobe Flash Player, but without it, individual videos will stop loading.

Checking the plugin activity:


Clear cookies, cache, history

Before moving on to other methods to restore your browser, you should clear all third-party files. This can be done within the browser itself in one of two ways: using hot keys or through the settings section.

Standard way to clear history:


An alternative way to get to the right place is to click Ctrl + Shift + Del. The next steps are identical.

If extensions in the Yandex browser do not work for this reason, after cleaning and restarting the browser, the videos will start running normally.

Browser update

If Yandex Browser shows an error while viewing media content, there is a possibility that the problem is outdated version programs. The likelihood of this problem is especially high if the Yandex browser stops loading without apparent reason(In this case, you will need to reinstall the browser).

How to update your web browser:

Virus cleaning

It is extremely difficult to manually detect viruses and their consequences, but there are special antivirus programs who will do it for us. The first option for cleaning the system from viruses is to run a deep cleaning procedure in an antivirus: Nod32, Kaspersky, etc.

To avoid installing an antivirus, you can install antivirus scanners, which do not protect your computer in real time, but only scan Windows and remove viruses. They do their job quite well. One of the best options is Dr.Web.

If the video is not shown due to impact malicious code, simply removing viruses turns out to be an insufficient procedure to restore functionality. Often you have to reinstall the Yandex browser completely.

Checking extensions

Certain extensions like “Disable Youtube™ HTML5 Player” can block Adobe work Flash Player, switching to HTML5. If the browser or resource does not work with the HTML5 standard, a characteristic window will appear indicating that the plugin could not be loaded.

You should check for the presence of such extensions:

To shorten the time, you can press Ctrl + Shift + N and try running the video in incognito mode. Add-ons in incognito mode without manual settings inactive.

Additional recovery methods

If the Yandex browser has stopped loading videos and shows an error even now, this is not a reason to refuse to use it, because there are several more proven methods:

Unfortunately, there are still cases where certain browser functions do not work, but now one of the problems – “could not load the plugin” in the Yandex browser – can be considered resolved. The listed methods help in 99% of cases.

Modern browsers designed for viewing Internet pages are quite complex programs that offer the possibility of expanding and supplementing their existing functionality.

Implemented this task through plugins available for download in special services. However, there are also problems with their operation that lead to error messages when loading extensions.

Phenomenon and reasons

A similar situation occurs at the most different browsers, which makes this problem extremely common. If the user receives a message stating that the plugin could not be loaded in the Yandex browser, it is necessary to determine the reasons for this non-standard behavior of the program. In the vast majority of cases, such problems can be observed when working with the .

A feature of the Yandex browser and any other browser developed on the basis of Chromium is the presence of a built-in Shockwave Flash extension. In view of this, manual updating of this component most often does not produce results. This is due to the complete automation of work between the program and the component, which eliminates the need for user intervention.

There may be several reasons for this problem:

  • The required plugin is disabled;
  • Errors in cache and cookies;
  • Outdated browser version.

Accordingly, the method that will have to be used to eliminate it will directly depend on what is identified.

Problem solving

The first thing you should take care of is to enable the desired plugin in the list of add-ons. Since it has a navigation system, finding the desired item will not be a problem. After enabling the required component, you must restart the browser or reload the page so that its content is recognized with the participation of the desired extension.

If you suspect that the error lies in the program cache, you can go to the Settings tab and select Tools to completely clear the history, including cache files, cookies and other data. After this, you need to reload the page, which will allow you to check if the problem is resolved.

If the browser has not been updated for a long time, then most likely it has an outdated version. To solve such problems it is provided manual update, which can be quickly launched by going to the Help tab in the About section. After installing and applying the changes, the content should display correctly.

Some users who choose the Opera web browser may encounter problems playing videos and music online. If your video does not start playing, your browser stops working, or pop-up windows pop up with error warnings, it means your system was unable to download for some reason Flash plugin-Player in Opera.

There are many possible reasons associated with this error. Using an outdated version of the program, a frozen plugin, system malfunctions, malware actions - all this can disrupt the correct operation of the online player. This article discusses what to do if you are faced with similar problem at the Opera.

The first thing to do if you are unable to load the Flash plugin is to restart your browser. It is quite possible that some program tool malfunctioned, as a result of which the usual work was disrupted. If the problem persists after restarting, proceed to the next step.

IN search bar Opera, type “opera://plugins” and press Enter. You will be taken to the connected plugins configuration page. Here you need to check if several Flash players are running at the same time. They can conflict with each other, causing periodic failures.

If you have more than one extension working, click on the “Show details” button. You only need to leave one active plugin ( latest version and preferably without the “NPAPI” mark). The object is disabled using the “Disable” button.

Updating and reinstalling Opera

If previous methods did not have a positive effect, you should try updating your browser. Typically it updates itself, but this setting could have been deactivated. In addition, downloading new updates may be prevented installed antivirus or firewall.

In order to check current version Opera browser, do the following:

If you are using an outdated application and for some reason automatic download the update does not start - you need to reinstall the program:


Reinstalling Flash

If all of the above did not help, then the reason lies in problems with Adobe Flash.

  1. Open Uninstall Programs again as described above.
  2. Find all the Flash files (there may be several of them) and delete one by one.
  3. Now go to the official plugin download site https://get.adobe.com/ru/flashplayer/.
  4. Click on the “Download system module” hyperlink.
  5. You will be prompted to additionally install some free application eg Google Chrome. If you don’t need it, uncheck the box next to the offer.
  6. Click "Install Now".
  7. Wait for the process to complete and restart your browser.

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The modern Internet is used for more than just searching. text information. Here you can view various images as well as video materials. Quite often a situation arises that, having decided to watch a movie, a person stumbles upon strange problems.

What is a plugin?

It is quite difficult to understand the essence of such an issue if you do not understand what a plugin is, that is, you do not realize what exactly has stopped working.

Plugin is a word borrowed from in English. There it is the verb plug in, which can be translated as “connect”. Plugins are software modules, which are connected to some main program.

Most often, people come across "could not load plugin" when they try play some video, audio track or some application, like games in social network In contact with. The operation of all such programs depends on plugins that become part of browsers.

What is the cause of the problem?

Of course, if a person is not a highly qualified computer specialist (and even if he is), it is unlikely that it will be possible to find out the exact reason why the plugin could not load. However, you can consider the most common options.

Usually, if when you try to turn on a movie a similar message appears, then this means that The browser software has not been updated for a long time. As a rule, such updates occur independently, but only if this function has not been disabled manually. Thus, if there have been no updates for a very long time, the plugin may become too old to work with modern programs.

This doesn't mean at all that software for several years now. Plugins and other similar components can become outdated in just two to three months. However, this is far from the only reason for the problems. Sometimes they do not depend on the user at all, especially when it comes to the Opera browser. It is known for its instability in relation to the functioning of plugins.

Also, the root of the problem may be in clogging random access memory and deterioration of computer performance.


What to do if the plugin failed to load?

Based on the possible causes of problems, you can understand what actions need to be taken to resolve the problem.

First of all, you can just try use another browser. For example, if the video does not turn on in Opera, then you should work in Google Chrome, but this will not solve the problem of the broken plugin itself.

  • You need to go to the settings of your browser, in this case Opera.
  • There you need to select the “About the program” item.
  • This field will indicate which version of the browser is currently used. If it is not the latest, you will be prompted to install the update.
  • All you have to do is agree to the installation and everything will be ready.

If you cannot find the settings, you can download the latest version from the official website of the browser. To do this, just dial in any search engine browser name, and the first link will lead to the official website.


Working with the plugin

If new browser did not help, or it was originally the latest version, then you can try to make the plugin work.

  • To do this, you need to find the “Plugins” item in your browser settings.
  • There will be a “Show Details” button at the top right.
  • By clicking on it, you need to find the Flash Player plugin, which is of the PPAPI type.
  • The plugin must be turned off, and then the browser itself must be turned off and turned on again.

An important factor is where exactly the plugin stopped working. If this is only happening on one specific site, then clearing the cache may help.

How to clear the cache? The easiest way to do this is with a special free program CCleaner, which will not only clear the cache, but also delete cookies and others unnecessary files. As a rule, one cleaning of the computer with this program is enough to restore the functionality of the plugins.


What to do if nothing helps?

There are the most critical situations when none of the above methods have been able to solve the problem. In this case you will have to reinstallAdobe Flash Player.

First of all, you need to remove it from your computer. old version programs. This is done using the Control Panel. After that all you have to do is download latest version from the developer's official website. To find it, just write the name of Adobe Flash Player in the search field.

At the end of the installation, the program will prompt automatic updates. You can choose the option with a preliminary warning about the need for an update, but you should not disable them completely, otherwise the problem will quickly return.


Quite often users different browsers can see the message "Failed to load plugin" when trying to play some flash game or video using this very browser. Usually this message pops up when there is a problem with the Adobe Flash Player plugin, and if you encounter this, now we will help you fix this error.

Method 1: Updating your browser

Let's start with the fastest and simple way, How to solve this problem. We will show the whole process using the Chrome browser as an example (in other browsers everything is done similarly).


To update your browser, you need to open the browser menu and select Help - About Google browser Chrome.

On the page that appears, click on the button Update to update your browser to the latest version. Chrome checks for updates automatically when you go to this page.

Method 2: Disabling the plugin

If the first method did not help, move on to this one.

Open the list page installed plugins. If it's Chrome, then enter in address bar chrome://plugins and click Enter.

For Opera browser should be entered opera://plugins


For Yandex browser should be entered browser://plugins


For Firefox browser should be entered about:plugins

In the list provided, see if there is more than one Flash Player plugin. If yes, then disable the one that has type PPAPI, then restart your browser.

Method 3. Clear history

If this problem appears only on some sites, then you should clear the cookies and cache files.

Cookies- These are files that contain information about previously visited sites. On subsequent visits to a site, the settings that were previously applied to this site by the user will be loaded using cookies.

Cache- these are files that store copies of previously visited pages (the pages themselves, pictures and other viewing components). These files help the website display faster the next time you visit it.

To delete these files, you need to go to the settings to clear your browser history. To do this in Chrome browser, press the key combination Ctrl+H or select item from the menu Story.