How to run SWF without a browser (on a Linux server)?
I have a SWF file that connects to a remote flash server and receives some data. For security reasons I can’t make this SWF file web-accessible so I can’t use a browser to run it. Is there a way to run it on the server side from a command prompt (under Linux)?
I’d really like to know if anyone knows of a way to do this, also! I need to connect to it frequently from the server and a browser will never be an option — the server has no GUI and it should be run from cron.
7 Answers 7
You can use Xvfb or Xfake to run a X server that doesn’t interface to real hardware. If they aren’t available as packages for your distribution, you can build them from the Xorg xserver sources.
(Or use MarkR’s Xvnc suggestion.)
The Adobe plugin used to ship with a stand-alone executable named flashplayer or gflashplayer , which was usable outside of the browser. I think it still exists, but is in the developer package, or something like that.
If you’re using a free implementation of Flash, both Gnash and Swfdec come with stand-alone gnash and swfdec executables respectively.
This starts Xvfb on display :20 (just make sure to pick a number that’s not in use; normal displays start at :0 , ssh ‘s X forwarding typically allocates :10 and up, and I’ve seen some Xvnc setups start at :90 ), and runs gnash inside of it:
startx /usr/bin/gnash http://url.to/flash.swf -- /usr/bin/Xvfb :20 Thread: Play .swf File
First Cup of Ubuntu 
Play .swf File
I’m relatively new to Ubuntu and have tried everything to try and play some .swf files that I have. I installed the flash plugin by downloading the .tar.gz file from adobe’s flash site and putting it in firefox’s plugin folder.
is how I was able to write to it. I went to /usr/share/mime/packages and modified the freedesktop.org.xml such that «vnd.adobe.flash.movie» is now «x-shockwave-flash». I cannot seem to find GNU Gnash (or just gnash) in the Ubuntu Software Store.
I changed the .xml file by doing the following:
sudo su cd /usr/share/mime/packages cp freedesktop.org.xml freedesktop.org.xml.old
update-mime-database /usr/share/mime/
After this I still can’t seem to find a way to play my .swf files. I’ve been searching for a solution for about a week now and would appreciate any help.
~~Thanks!
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Re: Play .swf File
You probably should be able to open it from your browser. Of course you need the Flash plugin for Firefox. There is no need to install it from Adobe.
You can install it with this command from the terminal:
sudo apt install flashplugin-installer
Then restart your browser.
If you have Chrome installed you already have working Flash as it comes with its own Pepper Flash plugin.
First Cup of Ubuntu
Re: Play .swf File
I’ve already done this command in the terminal as well. It prompts to use sudo apt-get remove to remove it. I did uninstall and reinstall but nothing seems to have changed. Is there anything else that might make flash files not play?
First Cup of Ubuntu
Re: Play .swf File
Firefox DOES play flash files when it is ON THE WEB like from comdotgame.com etc. It just can’t seem to play the .swf files downloaded on my computer.
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Re: Play .swf File
Or you can install «swfdec-gnome» should work for most .swf files.
I haven’t used this for a couple years now but give it whirl.
This package is a transitional package for upgrading to Gnash
It can be safely removed when Gnash is installed
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Re: Play .swf File
You can play .swf files in Firefox by doing the following(flash plugin has to be installed first of course)
In your home directory create a new document called .mime.types (note the «.» in front, this is a hidden file). In it put only one line
application/x-shockwave-flash swf swfl
(Edited: This is a lot cleaner than messing with freedesktop.org.xml )
Then logout and log back in (may not be necessary)
Next, you need to edit FF’s config for it to play local .swf files. Open firefox, type about :config in the url, when the warning comes up click you accept the risks. Then in the search type plugins
locate the string
click on value and change it to false.
Restart Firefox for it to take effect.
Now right click on your .swf file in Properties > Open with choose Firefox as the default. Now click on it an it would play in Firefox.
Edited: Now setting plugins.http_https_only to be false means disabling a FF security feature, so do it at your own risk. You can mitigate it a bit by going to Tools > plugins and set flash’s setting to «ask to activate» so you have to give it explicit permission to play a file.
How do I play .swf files?
.swf files can be opened with gnash swf viewer. If you don’t have it:
sudo apt-get install gnash I do not know however where the Gnash is officially developed and where one should sent suggestions (like Persian and Arabic language support above). On the github github.com/strk/gnash , or at savannah savannah.gnu.org/projects/gnash ? At the first one there are some commits from 2016, but the second one seems to be outdated. In my Ubuntu LTS there is version 0.8.11alpha while the github has a README of 0.8.8.
But you can also open the file in your Internet browser if you have installed flash plugin.
Ok, I guess I had some sort of configuration problem. When I tried to install the flash plug-in into my browser it said it was already installed, but I still couldn’t play the videos. An uninstall/reinstall fixed my problem.
Adobe Flash Player Support Center adobe.com/support/flashplayer/debug_downloads.html with Adobe Flash Player 32 (Win, Mac & Linux) standalone players for Flex and Flash developers.
What worked for me is going to the adobe site and then selecting
Download the Flash Player Projector (64-bit)
Then extract the contents,inside the extracted folder there is a file called flashplayer open it. Then CTRL + O to open the file locally isntead of typing it as a url.
The download link is broken, showing an end-of-life page. But the site link works, and I could still download the player projector from there.
Just found worked solution to play flash with firefox from ubuntuforums
Create file ~/.mime.types with content:
application/x-shockwave-flash swf swfl Disable setting plugins.http_https_only (make it equal to false) in firefox by typing: about:config in URL box and finding this setting with Ctrl+f .
Now you can open .swf file from file manager by Open With Firefox. Or open it from firefox with Ctrl+o .
PS. you’ll need to accept the warning about accept the risk and restart firefox once setting is set to false.
How to open a .swf-file with Firefox browser
Right-click on the file. Choose Properties > Open With , then click on show other applications . Now you can add firefox in the list. Set it as default. Now double-click on the .swf -file.
It will open in the Firefox and play itself. I assume the flashplayer-plugin is already installed in Firefox, else it will ask you to install flashplayer-plugin. Follow the steps and you are good to go.
Another solution if you do not want to open it in web browser is you can install shockwave player for windows in Ubuntu via wine. I installed it and it’s work fine.
sudo apt-get install swfdec-gnome Use latest Google Chrome (which has inbuilt flash support)
In order to locally open .swf file with more recent Firefox versions ( 78+ ), old methods wouldn’t work, e. g. changing/replacing entries of application/vnd.adobe.flash.movie with appropriate entries for application/x-shockwave-flash (or creating the latter, where the former was missing).
Tried modifications:
- installing flashplayer-mozilla package
- in FF’ about:config , setting plugins.http_https_only to false
- in FF’ Shockwave Flash plugin’s settings, enabling alays ask
- applying the above in FF’ profile folder’s ‘mimeTypes.rdf’
- creating file ~/.mime.types with entry: application/x-shockwave-flash swf swfl
- replacing vnd.adobe.flash.movie with that entry in /etc/mime.types
- replacing/adding an appropriate entry for to /usr/share/mime/packages/freedesktop.org.xml
- executing mandatory update-mime-database /usr/share/mime
So, even with xdg-mime query default application/. pointing to Firefox’ corresponding .desktop starter configuration file, for both mime types, and FF correctly showing a choice to execute ‘*.swf’ with Flash Player, it failed.
As it turned out, the following steps were required, to finally be able to execute local .swf files in Firefox (with some of the above maybe still required beforehand):
- Replace following entry in FF profile folder’s file handlers.json (mind replacing exactly between the correct 2 commata!) application/vnd.adobe.flash.movie with «application/x-shockwave-flash»:<"action":2,"handlers":[<"name":"flashplayer","path":"/usr/lib/flashplayer-mozilla/libflashplayer.so">],»extensions»:[«swf»],»ask»:true>
- Re-install flashplayer-mozilla package
- Disconnect from the network (!)
- Temporarily reset the desktop’s system date, back to before the official EoL date (< December 31, 2020) of FlashPlayer, or else it will attempt redirecting to Adobe’s EoL website (!)
- Now finally ‘enjoy’ playing your favorite local SWF / FlashPlayer files!
- After finished, restore the original system date (!)
NOTE: There might be a problem with all add-on’s disabled after a restart, if restoring the original system date before hasn’t occured before (or while FF trying to update its components, unless disabled before).
To fix this, reset all of Firefox’ registry entries, starting with app.update.lastUpdateTime* .
P.S.: It might be arguably a ‘good idea’, to store away a copy of the last version (32.0 r0 / 32.0.0.465) of Shockwave Flash player’s binary from /usr/lib/flashplayer-mozilla/libflashplayer.so — you never know, it might vanish from the repositories someday. But then, Mozilla could also blacklist the plugin completely.
Also, if somehow it doesn’t work out, you might check for the following registered mime type in the Shockwave Flash plugin’s settings in FF: application/x-shockwave-flash (Shockwave Flash: swf)
And in about:preferences#general Applications, search for ‘Flash’; it should show Flashplayer | always ask .
To execute a local .swf files, you’ll have to click through several security warning popups (2-4), each time, especially, with NoScript .
ATTENTION: Due to the notorious security problems history with Flash Player, use this method at your own risk! It’s generally a bad idea, and most especially, to download new .swf files from dubious websites and executing them. This method should be used with caution, and only if you ‘know what you’re doing’ !
swf в Linux
Есть ли в Linux swf плеер с возможностью прокрутки? Или подскажите каким способом можно переконвертировать swf в любой другой формат.
firefox + adobe flash player?
>firefox + adobe flash player?
Тоже об этом подумал, всегда свф открываю браузером.
Прокрутки там нет. Я уже пробовал.
Большой видео файл просматривать каждый раз сначала? У меня столько времени нет!
В нём вообще какие-то глюки при воспроизведении!
Что ты вообще хочешь-то от него? Какой прокрутки нет?
http://www.unixuser.org/~euske/vnc2swf/pyvnc2swf.html
Еще можешь захватить видео при воспроизведении, скрипт вроде так и делает 🙂
Прокрутки положения воспроизведения!
Мне нужно просматривать локальные swf видео файлы или перегнать их в другой видео формат!
Мне нужно просматривать локальные swf видео файлы
или перегнать их в другой видео формат!
Видео в swf? Мсье знает толк в извращениях!
gnash-dump или dump-gnash а потом перегнать в любой формат (рекомендую VP8) по вкусу.
Видео в swf? Мсье знает толк в извращениях!
Слово «Масяня» вы видите впервые? 🙂
P.S. Тоже искал что-то подобное, буду рад, если подскажут.
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