# Unable to open or view swf files



## justagirl (Apr 23, 2003)

Hi, i am still unable to associate my swf files with my flash player. When i right click them it doesnt say open at the top and when i go into view,filetypes and try to associate with macromedia flashplayer it keeps saying file not found although macromedia flash player is installed on my computer. Could anypne help me please as i make flash's and use them on a site i freguent and about a month ago I am not sure why, they all turnd into windows icons and i have not been able to view or open them.Thanks


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## dr20 (Apr 11, 2003)

Here is a suggestion you could try:

Do you have jv16 Power Tools installed? There's a link below if you don't. With that program you can go into Registry Tools > Registry File Types and disassociate .swf files with Windows by removing it.

http://www.oldversion.com/program.php?n=jv16

You should uninstall Flash Player, they have a utility for that here:

http://www.macromedia.com/support/flash/ts/documents/playerfaq.htm

Reinstall the latest version of Flash Player and hopefully it will automatically reassociate itself with .swf files.


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## justagirl (Apr 23, 2003)

no they didnt, i was going to but It isnt in my add remove, so do i just delete the macromedia folders. Thanks


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## justagirl (Apr 23, 2003)

Oh kewl ok i will do all that now and let you know what happens thank you


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## justagirl (Apr 23, 2003)

umm i downloaded the registry tool, but am not sure how i dissocaiate the swf file from Shockwaveflash.  sorry. do i just put a tick in it and remove it.


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## dr20 (Apr 11, 2003)

Hi,

Yes just put a tick there and remove it. A backup is created so you can reverse it if you need to.


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## justagirl (Apr 23, 2003)

ok i did all that ticked then removed, uninstalled flash player and then reinstalled it, but they are still windows icons and dont have open on them when i right click them.


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## justagirl (Apr 23, 2003)

I went back to view files and got the open back, but nothing is coming up that i can open them with,when i right click now it sais open with and i have to choose but flash player isnt in the list of options.


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

Don't know if this will help or not because you have to have "* Macromedia Flash Player installed"

Swiff Player

http://www.globfx.com/products/swfplayer/


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

QuickTime can also play flash.


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## justagirl (Apr 23, 2003)

oh wow thank you so much, I did have macromedia flash player but it wasnt opening them, i also had qicktime it didnt either, but yayyyy the swiff player is, fixed my problem


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

Good to hear justagirl. 

Does it work on flash games? I got the chasm game and I did get it to open in QT but had a very hard time playing it. But in the game you control things but I was trying to see if I could play it all so I could find other places in the game.


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## justagirl (Apr 23, 2003)

I looked but i dont seem to have any games that are swf files, Am sorry. thank you again for your help. In macromedia i could turn my swf files into projects and send them to friends, but that feature isnt in the swiff player, i still would like to know why i cant open them in macromedia anymore they are assdcociated with it but they are windows icons not swf icons now, its weird.I make flash animations with a program called coffee cup firestarter and i have a lot of fun making them for a site i frequent called cybertown its a virtual community.If i find out that games do play in the swiff player i will let you know


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

I always associate swf with Internet Explorer. They take on an IE icon and it opens when I click them. I have plenty of room for games. You also get the full-screen option that way. (Of course, it's really the Macromedia plugin that is running the game.)


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## justagirl (Apr 23, 2003)

My flash maker program saves them as html pages which open in internet explorer and also as swf files that open in the swiff player now.


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

Thanks justgirl. 

I also save flash files of games and have them play back in netscape and they play full screen so you can see a lot better and also I can sometimes do away with the added ads etc that were on the page I got the flash from.


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

You should still be able to open the files in Macromedia if you want. The file association only determines what program opens them if you click an swf file. But you can still open Macromedia, click File, then Open and choose an swf file to open with it.


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## justagirl (Apr 23, 2003)

oh ok i will try that, not sure i understand tho lol  do you mean i open macromedia folder and click file then open.I opened the folder it has other folders in it and there is no open in file when i click it.


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## justagirl (Apr 23, 2003)

before i downlaoded the swiff player i couldnt open the swf files at all, they didnt have open at the top on the right click, and where windows icons,I got the open back by associating them with a macromedia get flash exe, but that didnt open them it was the only program it aloud me to associate them with in folder opyions view files. the only thing that has changed after i uninstalled macromedia and reinstalled it the open came back but they where still windows icons and it asked me what i wanted to open them with, but macromedia flash wasnt in the list and there was nothing that worked. but now that i have downlaoded the swiff player they are swiff player icons and i can open them in it,I would much rather be able to open them with macromedia as i can create projects out of them with that and thats what i want to do. So what i am trying to do is get them back to macromedia icons that will open in macro flash player. Thanks


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

What I was thinking was when you wanted to edit or work on an swf that you had used with FireStarter. I thought you may also have had a Macromedia program for editing and creating Flash projects. So, if you wanted to use those programs, even if swf wasn't associated with them, you still could by opening the swf files from the program itself.

Which brings up a related subject--the Open With menu.

This free little program called OpenExpert puts an Open With entry in your context menu and it has an option to disable the one that comes with XP. With OpenExpert, you can add or remove any program to a file type's OpenWith list, so you can have multiple choices of what program you want to use to open a file.

http://www.baxbex.com/openexpert.html

The part about playing swf's in FlashPlayer is the part that has me puzzled. There is really no such thing as a "Flash Player", in the sense of an executable program that plays Flash files, that I am aware of. I thought it was just a plugin in the form of a dll or ocx that allowed other applications to open these Macromedia files.

So, what I am wondering is whether you have other Macromedia software installed, like DreamWeaver, that is designed to open and use Flash files?


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## justagirl (Apr 23, 2003)

yes i meant the plugin that comes with macromedia its called flash.ocx i think when i went to look at what that was called just now i noticed that its also a windows icon when i try to associate that with my swf files to open them it said file can not be found..but its there in the macromedia folder, maybe thats why they wont open in macromedia anymore ? When i want to look at flash online it works fine and when i open my html files that coffeecup has created it works fine , its just the swf files that wont open anymore..I dont have a program called DreamWeaver installed, the only program i had was macromedia until i just got swiff player.I was able to open them using macromedia a couple of weeks ago and for some unknown reason they turned into windows icons and i havtn been able to since.


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## justagirl (Apr 23, 2003)

When i went into , my computer, folder options, view files. I looked to find my swf files in the list, i found them under shockwave flash and they didnt have anything to open them with, so i tried to associate them with macromedia flash player but there isnt an exe file or program in that folder except a getflash.exe and that didnt work. i couldnt find anything to associate them with so i coudnt open them, until i downloaded swiff player then it automaticly associated itself with my swf files and i could open them in it.All i want is to be able to open them again with macromedia and find out why they stopped working. I am downlaoding the openexpert now and will see what happens. thanks


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

You see that's my point. You can't associate swf files with the Flash Player. There is no exe, so the association had to have been with something else. That's why I thought you may have had some other Macromedia software. 

Is there any way you can post a pic of the icon that swf files used to have? That might give a clue, even though you may not be able to locate the icon now. Maybe there is something at the Macromedia site that resembles the icon.


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## justagirl (Apr 23, 2003)

Ive looked and i cant find the icon that the swf files use to be, All i remember it was a pinky colour, i dont remember ever having another program that played flash except macromedia and qicktime. I will keep looking tho.


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## Rollin' Rog (Dec 9, 2000)

Spywareblaster and possibly some other programs have options to block Macromedia flash. You might want to post a HijackThis Scanlog here and folks can review it for possibilities...

http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/downloads.html


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## justagirl (Apr 23, 2003)

Logfile of HijackThis v1.95.1
Scan saved at 6:20:30 PM, on 5/30/04
Platform: Windows 98 SE (Win9x 4.10.2222A)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v6.00 SP1 (6.00.2800.1106)

Running processes:
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\KERNEL32.DLL
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSGSRV32.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MPREXE.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\mmtask.tsk
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\ZONELABS\VSMON.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSTASK.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\EXPLORER.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\TASKMON.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\SYSTRAY.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\LOADQM.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\PDESK\PDESK.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\STIMON.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\ZONE LABS\ZONEALARM\ZLCLIENT.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\WMIEXE.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\RNAAPP.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\TAPISRV.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\PSTORES.EXE
C:\UNZIPPED\HIJACKTHIS\HIJACKTHIS.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\OUTLOOK EXPRESS\MSIMN.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\INTERNET EXPLORER\IEXPLORE.EXE

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R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://www.yahoo.com/
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://www.yahoo.com
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Bar = http://rd.yahoo.com/customize/ymsgr/defaults/sb/*http://www.yahoo.com/ext/search/search.html
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Window Title = Telstra Big Pond Home Internet Explorer
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Local Page = 
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Local Page = 
O1 - Hosts: 64.70350.199 cybertown.com
O1 - Hosts: 64.70350.199 www.cybertown.com
O1 - Hosts: 64.70350.199 www1.cybertown.com
O1 - Hosts: 64.70350.200 cyber.cybertown.com
O1 - Hosts: 64.70350.200 www2.cybertown.com
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O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [LoadQM] loadqm.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [LoadPowerProfile] Rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,LoadCurrentPwrScheme
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O4 - HKLM\..\RunServices: [LoadPowerProfile] Rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,LoadCurrentPwrScheme
O4 - HKLM\..\RunServices: [SchedulingAgent] mstask.exe
O4 - Startup: BitDefender for MSN Messenger.lnk = C:\Program Files\Softwin\BitDefender for MSN Messenger\msnmon.exe
O4 - Startup: BitDefender_P2P_Startup.lnk = C:\WINDOWS\BitDefender_P2P_Startup.exe
O6 - HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Restrictions present
O6 - HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Control Panel present
O8 - Extra context menu item: &Add animation to IncrediMail Style Box - C:\PROGRA~1\INCRED~1\bin\resources\WebMenuImg.htm
O9 - Extra button: Yahoo! Messenger (HKLM)
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Yahoo! Messenger (HKLM)
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Sun Java Console (HKLM)
O12 - Plugin for .mov: C:\PROGRA~1\INTERN~1\PLUGINS\npqtplugin.dll
O15 - Trusted Zone: http://www.cybertown.com
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O16 - DPF: Yahoo! Chat (CV3 Class) - http://cs8.chat.yahoo.com/c381/chat.cab
O16 - DPF: Yahoo! Pool 2 (CV3 Class) - http://download.games.yahoo.com/games/clients/y/pot0_x.cab
O16 - DPF: {7D1E9C49-BD6A-11D3-87A8-009027A35D73} (Yahoo! Audio UI1) - http://chat.yahoo.com/cab/yacsui.cab
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O16 - DPF: {166B1BCA-3F9C-11CF-8075-444553540000} (Shockwave ActiveX Control) - http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/get/shockwave/cabs/director/sw.cab
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O16 - DPF: {AE9DCB17-F804-11D2-A44A-0020182C1446} (IntraLaunch.MainControl) - file://E:\system\IntraLaunch.CAB
O16 - DPF: {D27CDB6E-AE6D-11CF-96B8-444553540000} (Shockwave Flash Object) - http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/get/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab
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O16 - DPF: {1D4DB7D2-6EC9-47A3-BD87-1E41684E07BB} - http://imgfarm.com/images/nocache/funwebproducts/SmileyCentralInitialSetup1.0.0.5.cab
O16 - DPF: {A3009861-330C-4E10-822B-39D16EC8829D} (CRAVOnline Object) - http://www.ravantivirus.com/scan/ravonline.cab
O16 - DPF: {B942A249-D1E7-4C11-98AE-FCB76B08747F} (RealArcadeRdxIE Class) - http://games-dl.real.com/gameconsole/Bundler/CAB/RealArcadeRdxIE.cab
O16 - DPF: {0C3F7D74-ADA5-4976-8908-A8189590DAFA} (3DGreetings.com Player 2.0) - http://expressit.broderbund.com/Plugin/3DGreetings/vroom.CAB
O16 - DPF: {F58E1CEF-A068-4C15-BA5E-587CAF3EE8C6} (MSN Chat Control 4.5) - http://chat.msn.com/bin/msnchat45.cab
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O16 - DPF: {1DA3C4AB-E6B6-47A6-B0F3-1BD81524B51B} (ActiveWorldsDownload Control) - http://www.activeworlds.com/products/ActiveWorldsDownload.cab


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## Rollin' Rog (Dec 9, 2000)

As near as I can tell these files are not intended to be opened individually by the flash player but must be called by the actual application that created them, either web based or installed, which uses flash player to run them. None of the .swf files I find on my XP system open with a double click. You get the "what do you want" to open these dialog.

However you CAN play them through a utility like Irfanview. Do you have it? If not, download it and install the full set of plugins. You can then play swf files through it. It's handy to put a shortcut to Irfanview in your Sendto folder and you can right click on any extension Irfanview plays and just "send" it to Irfanview.

http://www.irfanview.com/

You can even make the Irfanview association permanent through its Options > extensions page if you like.

Also, I don't know if you have seen this page, but it will fully explain the difference between flash and shockwave flash and provide a test page for you as well as reinstall and troubleshooting advice if necessary:

http://www.macromedia.com/support/shockwave/ts/documents/playerfaq.htm#min_req


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

Here's yet another swf player:

http://www.unhsolutions.net/SWF-Opener/index.shtml

There's also a Flash saving plugin for IE on their download page.

You'll need to associate your swf files with a player or with IE. There is no Macromrdia player to associate it with if you have no Macromedia products installed. You can't open or play anything in the Flash or Macromedia "players". They aren't really "players" at all, but just plugins for Internet Explorer.


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## justagirl (Apr 23, 2003)

Oh ok its confusing because My swf files where i think macromedia shockwave icons and use to open with macromedia, now there windows icons and wont open , I didnt have any other flash player installed and i still have macromedia products installed on my computer. I was able to open them just by double clicking them and was also able to create projects and save them and send to friends with whatever was opeing them. I will try what you have suggested and see what happens Thank you, so sorry for the delay in replying but it was 1.am here when you replied i am also sorry about the double thread.


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

Well, you see that is the whole problem. No one can open an swf file with the Macromedia Flash or Shockwave "players" because they don't really exist. What is referred to as a "player" is just an add-on for IE. And the "pink" icon you mentioned doesn't seem to resemble any that I know of from Macromedia.

If there were some way of finding out what your old association was, we could rebuild it.

Just why do you need it to open in that other application instead of one of the players?

Maybe Windows remembers the old association. Go to Control Panel, Folder Options, File Types tab. Scroll down to swf and see if there is a "Restore" button available.

Maybe it was associated with another Flash-enabled browser. Do you have Opera or any other browsers installed?


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

I setup netscape so if I click on any .swf file it opens in netcape but you have to have the plugin.

Elvandil, I will check out that player. Have you used SWF Opener?


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

Yes. I've installed the Opener and the Swiff player as a result of this thread. I used to have swf associated with IE so it would open them. But these 2 players are very similar and have control buttons for starting nad stopping, something IE doesn't have.

There's another called "Free Flash" here:

http://www.cequal2000.com/freeflash/index.htm

It is a little flashier (haha), and has a few ads in the menus (they deserve it if it's free otherwise) and allows you to organize your Flash movies or games by category:

http://www.cequal2000.com/freeflash/index.htm

And here's a Flash Saving Plugin for IE that let's you save Flash games, ads, presentations, whatever, that appear in a web page:

http://www.unhsolutions.com/downloads/FlashSavingPlugin.exe


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

It says "SWF Opener comes with SWF Cach Viewer - a program that lets you conveniently view and save cached swf files"
But I can not get anything to show up in the " SWF Cach Viewer ". There is no help with the program or at the website either. Maybe it is made to work with IE or your need the "Flash Saving Plugin" and that is only for IE. It lets you save the flash so I guess it uses the " SWF Cach Viewer "

You know years ago when flash came out I had a flash player on my PC that let you do things like save etc but you can't get that anymore. I guess they did away with it because that was also about the time we started seeing flash ads.

So the freeflash has ads? It does seem nice. Site is so very slow I will have to go back later to check it out. 

I have netscape and IE but use netscape. 
FreeFlash could find out all flash files that had been downloaded by Internet Explorer.

There again why only IE for flash? 

I think IE caches the flash as a flash file and netscpe does not because of the way it changes all the cache file in netscape 7. Netscape 4 may work ok but I am not going to use it because it is slower but netscape 4.x keeps that files it caches under what ever file type it is where netscape 7 give all file a long name and everything is a "file" type. So the flash program would not be able to see the file.


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

I have FlashCapture installed as a plugin to IE. It saves swf just like they were simple pictures. Rarely use it, though, unless some especially funny card or a good game come along. But I used to just remove them from the net cache to save them.

I didn't know where to go with that Cache Viewer because I don't really have any flash things to look at right now. It seems it should be independent of IE, though. It may be nothing more than a file browser to help you locate them and maybe doesn't play them at all.

The plugin folder for Netscape has a Flash ActiveX object, too, if I remember right. I used to use both and put any plugins in the folders for both IE and Netscape. Most worked in both, but not all.


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

Thanks I guess I am ok keeping things as they are. I know how to save flash from Netscape 7 and it works 99% of the time. 
The times it does not work is because the website is keeping it from working by java or something. Where there is no link to find to download it from, the save-as does not show it or if you think you have it download it is only a shortcut. 
Now I was hoping to use the Swiff player to play tru a game but it will not work. But I can see that because it is not a movie where nothing ever changes on you. 
You use netscape 7?


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## MozzyBulb (May 17, 2005)

justagirl said:


> Hi, i am still unable to associate my swf files with my flash player


sencesa.com/Sencesa-Flash-Player.htm


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