youtube won't play?

Caitlin Black

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Okay, so I think this is a problem with the fact that I installed Windows 8 recently, but I can't play youtube videos anymore.

I installed Adobe Flash Player, and then got a message that it was outdated, and I installed an update. Not sure if the update went through, but I think it did...

Checked on youtube, and couldn't see a link to download whatever you need to play videos on their site.

Help?

A link to a safe download would be perfect right about now. Thanks in advance!
 

alleycat

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It probably is your player, but just to be sure: you don't have any script blocking software running do you (such as NoScript)?

For any downloads you need go to the Adobe website.
 

kuwisdelu

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Okay, so I think this is a problem with the fact that I installed Windows 8 recently, but I can't play youtube videos anymore.

I installed Adobe Flash Player, and then got a message that it was outdated, and I installed an update. Not sure if the update went through, but I think it did...

Checked on youtube, and couldn't see a link to download whatever you need to play videos on their site.

Help?

What browser are you using?

Do you know if the videos you're trying to watch are presented in HTML5 or Flash?

(Do NO videos work at all, or only some of them?)

Try using Chrome, which has its own version of Flash built into the browser.
 

Caitlin Black

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It probably is your player, but just to be sure: you don't have any script blocking software running do you (such as NoScript)?

For any downloads you need go to the Adobe website.

How do I check for script blockers?

What browser are you using?

Do you know if the videos you're trying to watch are presented in HTML5 or Flash?

(Do NO videos work at all, or only some of them?)

Try using Chrome, which has its own version of Flash built into the browser.

I'm using the latest Firefox, I think. Definitely Firefox, not sure if it's the latest.

No idea about HTML5 vs. Flash.

One video started to work, but crapped out. The rest just plain wouldn't work - even ones I had watched many times before on XP.

I may try Chrome... That's the Google browser isn't it?

ETA: The one that tried to work was the 2012 Flashback thing.
 

onesecondglance

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CliffFace, I found the same thing recently with my wife's Macbook - for some reason Flash Player had either uninstalled itself or a recent update had uninstalled it. Downloading Flash again sorted the problem. What was confusing was that, even without Flash, I would have expected to see links to play the HTML5 version of the video, but there weren't any.

I seem to recall something about the Metro version of IE10 (the one you launch from the Start Screen and has the better interface for touchscreens) not supporting Adobe Flash, or any plugins for that matter, but having its own native Flash-interpreter or something. I don't know if this is related?
 

Caitlin Black

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Might have to retry Adobe Flash later... I got sidetracked with writerly things yesterday.

As for Metro IE10 - I honestly would have no idea. I don't use the stuff on the Start page of Win8.

But thanks for letting me know it's happened to others as well (and a possible solution). :)
 

Caitlin Black

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Thanks bsb. :)

I'm going to try reinstalling Adobe Flash first, when I get a chance. It's not a huge priority right now - I only go on youtube occasionally, and I don't need it for writing.

Anyway, thanks for the suggestions everyone. :)
 

Caitlin Black

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Reinstalling Adobe Flash did the trick.

Actually, what did the trick was the following:

Download Flash, install it, go on youtube. Youtube tells me I need a plugin, it downloads Flash again, installs, then the videos start to work again.

(I uninstalled Flash before doing any of this, mind.)

So yeah... Not sure why I had to download it twice, but youtube is now working again. Hooray!
 

kenebaker

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Hey, you can also make sure you have the latest version of Firefox installed. Click on Firefox (top left), then Help, and then click on About Firefox. You should see it saying 'checking for updates'. It will tell you if its up to date or not.

I would recommend installing Google Chrome. It's a great browser (better and faster than Firefox in my opinion) but you can also use it to see if Youtube works on it. If it does, then you will know that the issue is browser specific and Firefox is the issue.

Windows 8 shouldn't have any issues with this. I have Win 8 and I use both Firefox and Chrome. The latter is my default though.

Try the solutions and let us know if it helps.