That is very unusual. Could you link to some of those other discussions? It might save repeating steps you've already done.

Absent more background information, could you:

Check for the Plugin DLL in the Usual Location

On 64-bit Windows 7 you would do that here:

C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash

and the file would be named NPSWF32_24_0_0_194.dll (unless there is a newer version with something different instead of 194).

If you do not have that file: Something removed the DLL. I think this would be caused by something external to Firefox, but I don't know what would be.

If you have the correct physical file in the usual location, but Firefox does not discover it or has lost track of it:

Firefox discovers the location of the Flash plugin from an entry in the Windows Registry. (I'm going to assume that entry still exists...)

One possible reason for an installed plugin not to appear on the Add-ons page is if Firefox has been set NOT to scan the registry for plugins. Another is that Firefox's settings file storing plugin data has become corrupted. Here are the steps to check those possibilities:

Confirm that Firefox is scanning the registry for plugins

Firefox finds the Flash plugin from a registry entry. Some users have the scanning turned off for some reason. Here's how to check and fix that:

(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter. Click the button promising to be careful.

(2) In the filter box, type or paste scan and pause while the list is filtered

(3) If plugin.scan.plid.all is not set to its default value of true, double-click it to toggle it back to the default.

If you changed this setting, exit and restart Firefox to trigger another scan.

If you check the Add-ons page, Plugins section again, can you find "Shockwave Flash" there with the current version number?

If Firefox is set to scan but still does not find Flash and list it on the Add-ons page...

Remove Firefox's plugin registry file

Sometimes the pluginreg.dat file becomes corrupted. You can remove it and have Firefox re-scan for plugins.

Open your current Firefox settings (AKA Firefox profile) folder using either

• "3-bar" menu button > "?" button > Troubleshooting Information
• Help menu > Troubleshooting Information
• type or paste about:support in the address bar and press Enter

In the first table on the page, click the "Show Folder" button to launch a new Windows Explorer window showing your settings files.

Leaving that window open, switch back to Firefox and Exit, either:

• "3-bar" menu button > "power" button
• File menu > Exit

Pause while Firefox finishes its cleanup, then rename pluginreg.dat to something like pluginreg.old

Start Firefox back up again.

When you return to the Add-ons page, is "Shockwave Flash" finally listed?

Thank you for the guidance, Your advice was helpful and I followed the steps you suggested exactly. Unfortunately it didn't solve my problem. After following your instructions, I reinstalled Adobe Flash and Adobe Shockwave. I went to a flash game and it played fine. I looked in the Add-on section and both Flash and Shockwave were displayed. I quit Firefox and logged of of Windows. I logged back on Windows and opened Firefox. Looked in the add-ons section and neither are there. I followed your steps and located the plug in .dll and the scan .dll and the .dat file. I re-installed flash and shockwave and the game worked fine....Quit Firefox and logged off Windows, logged back on . opened Firefox and ...well you know whats next...no flash or shockwave...Is there some kind of report I can generate for you that might help in solving this...It got to be something stupid that I am missing or not doing correctly. Thanks again for the assistance.

When you say "both Flash and Shockwave" do you mean both of these:

• Shockwave Flash
• Shockwave for Director

Most sites only require Flash; very few sites use the older format. But that's neither here nor there. If there is any other add-on claiming to be Flash -- on either the Plugins list or on the Extensions list -- I would be concerned.

After you exit and restart Firefox and Shockwave Flash is gone, is the file still physically present on disk in the Windows folder? So Flash itself is not getting deleted?

If at that point you skip to the step to remove pluginreg.dat -- without reinstalling Flash -- what happens?

• Firefox IS able to find Flash: something may be rolling back your pluginreg.dat file to an earlier version between sessions. I haven't heard of any software doing that. There are some utility programs like Advanced SystemCare that roll back other Firefox settings files between sessions, so maybe there is one that does it?

• Firefox still doesn't find Flash: something may be cleaning out the regular Windows registry entry for Flash in a way that requires the installer to add it back. If you are familar with the RegEdit.exe utility, you could investigate this key:
  
  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\MozillaPlugins\@adobe.com/FlashPlayer
  
  That should be there immediately after installation, and the question is how soon it disappears, if it disappears?

Im sorry , only Shockwave Flash appears (I disabled Shockwave for Director and it was gone after I used Adobe uninstaller)...After re-intstalling Adobe Flash everything was found in the places you asked me to look. When exiting Firefox and re-opening Firefox, the plugin is still there,,,it seems to be only when I log off of my windows account and then log back and open Firefox....then it is missing from the Firefox plug in list. I did as advised and removed the plugin.dat file without re-instlling flash. When I started Firefox again the file reappeared.After restarting Firefox, Flash is still present on the disk in the Windows folder. RegEdit shows the path "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\MozillaPlugins\@adobe.com/FlashPlayer" Firefox still didnt load/find the Flash plugin. But Flash is no longer present on the plugin list.

Plugins such as Flash Player (old name Shockwave Flash), Java, Silverlight, Shockwave for director Player and the like are not installed in Firefox but are on system whether on Windows, Mac OSX or Linux.

A way to get Firefox to scan system for compatible Plugins is to type about:plugins in Location (address) bar.

You sure you do not have something that is reverting your Windows setup to a earlier state after you logout of Windows?

Hi BeauFish, it's puzzling. When Firefox rebuilds the missing pluginreg.dat file, it should be consistent in finding Flash every time as long as it's on disk and in the registry. I don't understand why that would change after logging off and logging back on to Windows. Some users run cleaning software at startup, such as Ccleaner, but I haven't heard of that affecting Flash. Hopefully I or someone else will have a brainwave about what's going on.

Well thanks so much for trying to figure out the issue... I do know Ccleaner is installed on the problem computer, I will check the settings in the morning and see if anything is amiss..Again , thanks for you help and time...

@James

(Quote)"You sure you do not have something that is reverting your Windows setup to a earlier state after you logout of Windows?"....What would I look for other than possibly Ccleaner settings? What type of program would I need to search for that would do that

Hey guys..It turns out it was a permissions problem. I found this while searching for possible fixes... https://forums.adobe.com/thread/987370 this worked to fix my problem...I followed the instructions and now all is well....Thank you again for your help.