Howto install & use Flash, Java, Real Player 32 bit plugins under 64 bit Firefox

Posted by Vivek Gite [Last updated: March 16, 2007]

Recently I found nspluginwrapper which allows to use 32bit plugins on a 64bit Firefox browser using nspluginwrapper.

It is an Open Source compatibility plugin for Netscape 4 (NPAPI) plugins. That is, it enables you to use plugins on platforms they were not built for. For example, you can following plugin on Linux/x86_64 , NetBSD and FreeBSD platforms:
=> Acrobat Reader (v5.0.9, v7.0.1)
=> DejaVu Libre (v3.5.14)
=> Flash Player (v7.0, v9.0)
=> Linux JPEG 2000 (v0.0.2)
=> Mplayerplug-in (v2.80, v3.25)
=> Real Player (v10.0.5)

Note that following instruction are tested on 64 bit Fedora Core and RHEL 5 only. See below for Debian/Ubuntu Linux specific instructions.

Download link

You can download this software from official site.

Installation

Use wget command to download software:
$ wget http://gwenole.beauchesne.info/projects/nspluginwrapper/files/nspluginwrapper-0.9.91.3-1.x86_64.rpm $ wget http://gwenole.beauchesne.info/projects/nspluginwrapper/files/nspluginwrapper-i386-0.9.91.3-1.x86_64.rpm

Requirements

a) Make sure Firefox is not running.
b) Make sure you have downloaded and installed required 32 bit plugins such as Flash, Acrobat etc

You need to install gtk2.i386 using yum command:
# yum gtk2.i386

Use rpm command to install package:
# rpm -ivh nspluginwrapper-i386-0.9.91.3-1.x86_64.rpm nspluginwrapper-0.9.91.3-1.x86_64.rpm

Note that you need to install both the Plugin and the Viewer for correct operation.

How do I use this software?

Once installed simply run nspluginwrapper command. For example install wrapper for Flash player 9:
# nspluginwrapper -i /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/libflashplayer.so

You can remove wrapper using –r switch:
# nspluginwrapper -r /usr/lib64/mozilla/plugins/npwrapper.libflashplayer.so

Under Fedora Core and RHEL 5/Debian/Ubuntu Linux you will find all 64 bit libs under /usr/lib64 and 32 bit under /usr/lib directory.

You can also update all plugins
# nspluginwrapper -v -a -u

Discussion on This Article:

cevo Says: March 17th, 2007 at 11:39 am
….. or install MEPIS 6.5 64 bit and you have it out of the box…..
java Says: March 19th, 2007 at 9:21 pm
And where is java?
mambo Says: March 19th, 2007 at 10:29 pm
Nspluginwrapper doesn’t work with 32 bin java plugin.
Tester Says: March 20th, 2007 at 11:32 am
blackdown has a 64bit jdk
Mikel Says: May 1st, 2007 at 1:07 pm
Great thanks for this post!!!
Bruce !c!+ Says: June 8th, 2007 at 4:09 am
thx so lot!
kuntal saha Says: June 9th, 2007 at 5:18 am
how to configer proxy sever
gaganparoha Says: August 29th, 2007 at 9:24 am
Sir,
I request to you are ethentication for use to realplayer rpm package install for “RHEL 5″.
:D Says: November 4th, 2007 at 2:05 am
This is great. Took like 5 minutes. This guide works well for opensuse, and firefox I just made sure copy libflashplayer.so to /usr/lib64/firefox/plugins since it wasn’t in the directory.
maran Says: November 7th, 2007 at 5:30 am
hi i want to install flash in my machine!
what i have to do!
help me to install…..
Martin Ultima Says: November 12th, 2007 at 10:56 pm
nspluginwrapper’s a great utility… I’ve been using it a while, and it’s in every install of Ultima Linux AMD64
W Hong Says: February 1st, 2008 at 1:10 am
Thanks a lot. I didn’t kill the firefox just because I had to read this instructions
Anyway everything worked like charm. Cool.
roberto Says: February 12th, 2008 at 4:24 am
very nice, congratulations very useful and quickly configuration…

Thxs a lot
dgtlmoon Says: April 18th, 2008 at 4:27 am
heres how i got 64 bit working (very similar) on debian lenny