I think your Flash plugin has become disabled for some reason. This can happen if it gets severely out of date.

Could you start by checking the Add-ons page using either:

• Ctrl+Shift+a
• "3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons

In the left column, click Plugins. On the right, look at the bottom for "Shockwave Flash".

=> If it's there and set to "Never Activate", try setting it to "Always Activate" or "Ask to Activate".

=> If it can't be changed or is completely missing, you need to run the Flash installer again.

You can install Flash for Firefox from the following page. Please uncheck the boxes for extra programs if you aren't interested in them.

https://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/

Does that work?

thanks so much for quick reply.. did all that, including go to file location to install AND the darn thing just sits there.,, several attempts

does not show up as add on.. restart firefox?

wow.. since restart..it's on now !! thanks so much

whoops... something about DEP ?? those settings are beyond me.. darn I just did windows update earlier today ...gggrrrr

good thing you wait for a final answer LOL NOW.. since I clicked 'ask to activate' it works !! so far :+)

The "your browser does not currently recognize...." message is about the HTML5 media player that YouTube currently serves to Firefox users. You are on Windows XP and unfortunately this operating system lacks native support to play MP4 file natively.

If you have the Shockwave Flash plugin installed then you can try to use an extension to force YT to send a Flash based player.

• https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/youtube-flash-video-player/

You can find the latest Flash player versions for Firefox on this page:

• https://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/distribution3.html
• https://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/otherversions/

tiaCya: Is your YouTube issue solved ? If so, can you mark the answer that solved the problem or let us know what fixed it?

(For the record) Related bug report: Bug 1258220 - Youtube videos not working on Windows XP _{Read Bugzilla Etiquette before commenting in bug reports.}