Install Java

From PluginWiki

Second, you need to have Java installed. This is known as a JRE or a JDK to geeks. The JDK stands for Java Developers' Kit for the likes of Edward who's making our plug-in, and JRE stands for Java Runtime Environment which is the one most of us need to just run the plug-in.

You may already have this installed, but you need to check. If you don't know whether you have Java, or which version of Java you have, type about:plugins in the address bar (where you would normally type a url) and hit Enter. The window which comes up will have all sorts of things listed which (if you're not a computer techy) probably won't make much sense. Don't worry - you need to find one of the entries which looks something like this:

If you can't find the Java plugin at all, then you don't have Java, so you need to install it.  If you have an older version installed too, that may stop it working, so remove it.

Versions of Java which work with this plugin are as follows - please update this to add your version if you find out that it works with another.

Contents 1 Windows 7, Vista, XP, and Win 2000 2 Windows 98 3 Macs 4 Ubuntu 5 Other Linux 6 What Next?

Windows 7, Vista, XP, and Win 2000

As of Firefox 3.6, you must use Update 18 or above.

Use JRE 6 Update 18. Click here.

(That's the 32-bit version which you should use on 32-bit Windows or if you're not sure which to use. You only need the 64-bit version if you're using a 64-bit version of Firefox, which is not officially supported yet; if you know for sure you're doing that, then click here.)

• All versions of Java are available to download freely from here as well as the links above.

Once installed, it's a good idea to turn OFF automatic updates. Java Updates often break the plugin. To do this:

• Open Control Panel' from the Start menu.
• Find Java and click to open.
• Select the Update tab.
• Untick Check for Updates Automatically then select Never Check when prompted.

Windows 98

Use JDK v1.4.2_14. See here to download.

Macs

For Mac OS X 10.6.2, use Java for Mac OS X 10.6 Update 1. After you install it, you can open Java preferences (Go-->Utilities) and you should see the following:

If you are using an older Mac OS:
Here is a link to an Apple support page that contains downloads for older Java versions.

If you feel Java is contributing to some problems with the plugin, take a look at this OS X.4.11 Screenshot.

1. Adjust your Java settings to mimic what you see on the left there, or
2. If that fails, try the suggestion in the Mac Help window on the right.
3. Report back to the group if you found this useful (or not).

Ubuntu

8.04 ships the free-software GCJ Java stack and IcedTea plugin for Firefox by default. These do not work with the plugin - you need the full-fat Sun release. Get this as follows:

1. Go to Applications -> Add/Remove, select Show... All available applications and type java in the search box.
2. Put a tick on Sun Java 6 Runtime and Sun Java 6.0 Plugin.
3. Remove the tick from IcedTea Java Plugin (if it is selected)
4. Press Apply Changes.
5. Restart Firefox.

Other Linux

Use Java for Linux; see here to download.

What Next?

Double-check that Firefox has Java enabled.  Go to Tools->Options->Content and make sure Enable Java is selected.

Now Install the Extension.