Flash plugin enables users to use other multimedia and RIA (Rich Internet Applications) files on web pages. It plays a central role in the adoption of animation, gaming and video on the web. Although Flash is losing its popularity to the likes of HTML5, you may need to load pages that use the plugin. Have you ever encountered the problem that Chrome shows, “Flash plugin cannot be loaded”? Flash errors can be frustrating and inconveniencing, as you may not able to get the information from other web pages. For example, you can’t play your favorite Flash game on other sites. This post will focus on how to fix Flash errors in Chrome.
What Causes Flash Errors in Chrome?
There are various reasons behind Flash errors in Chrome including;
- Disabled Flash Player in Chrome or PC.
- Site blocking Flash from running.
- Problems with your graphics card.
- Conflict Flash installations.
Whichever the case, you may try one of the following solutions:
1. Check and Enable Flash in Chrome
When you encounter a Flash error, first you should confirm that Flash player is enabled in Chrome.
- Click the Chrome customization menu (three dots icon on top right corner) and select “Settings” near the bottom of the menu items.
- On settings page, select “Privacy and security” section.
- Look for and click “Content settings”.
- Scroll down to find and expand the “Flash” settings.
- Toggle on the “Flash” switch and confirm that the site you are trying to load is not listed under the “Blocked sites”.
- Restart the browser to see if the Flash plugin will work.
2. Allow Flash on the Site
You can allow Flash to run on a specific website from Chrome site settings.
- Open the website that displays the Flash error in Chrome browser.
- Click the padlock icon on the left of the address bar (just before the URL) and go to “Site settings”.
- Expand the “Flash” option by clicking the down-facing arrow and select “Allow”.
- Exit and re-open the browser to see if the error has been fixed.
3. Update Flash Player Plugin in Chrome
An outdated Flash player may fail to load on a specific site. Fortunately, you can easily update the Flash Player plugin in Chrome.
- Type the URL, “chrome://components/” in the address bar and hit Enter.
- Search for “Adobe Flash Player” and click the “Check for updates” button.
- Chrome will check for available updates for you to install. Install the updates and restart Chrome.
4. Clear Browser Cache
You can resolve the Flash problem by clearing your Chrome browser cache.
- Open the Chrome settings and expand the “Advanced” settings at the bottom of the settings page.
- Scroll to the bottom of the “Privacy and security” segment and click the “Clear browsing data” arrow.
- Check the box beside “Cached images and files” and then click the blue “clear data” button at the bottom.
5. Update Chrome Browser
Updating your browser can resolve various errors including Flash Player issues. To update Chrome:
- Go to the Chrome menu, hover the mouse over “Help” and select “About Google Chrome”.
- Chrome will automatically check for available updates and install them.
6. Rename “Pepflashplayer.dll” or Delete the “PepperFlash” Folder in Windows
The flashplayer.dll file can at times be the cause of the Flash problem in Chrome and renaming the file could resolve the issue.
- First, close all the open Chrome Windows or applications.
- Press the “Win + R” keys on your keyboard and type “%localappdata%” and hit Enter to open the user local AppData folder.
- Navigate through “Google > Chrome > Userdata” and open the “PepperFlash” folder.
- Open the numbered folder and click the “pepflashplayer” twice to rename.
- You can rename to something like “pepflashplayerX.dll” and then close the file explorer.
- Open Chrome and test whether Flash will work on the website.
- If this option fails, you may have to delete the “Pepperflash” folder. Just right-click the folder and select delete on the context menu.
Conclusion
While the Flash player is being replaced with other technologies in Chrome, some sites require loading the plugin. Since Chrome no longer relies on Flash as was few years ago, users may not enable Flash to keep running at all times. Fortunately, in case of Flash error when using Chrome, you can try one of the above options to resolve the issue. If one solution fails, you may have to try a combination of several tests and fixes. Other Flash fixes involve reinstalling Chrome and update the graphics card drivers.
