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How to Restore Missing Flash Files in the Tmp Folder on Ubuntu Lucid

Ubuntu users can directly copy flash videos from the web with Firefox. There's no need to install software such as a YouTube downloader, which are available in abundance throughout the web. First, you need to know where to find the temporary flash file in Ubuntu (see my other post for that).

If you were unable to find the flash video file in your tmp folder, here's a simple way to restore it.

The problem lies on your installed version of Adobe Flash. Current versions now store them on your computer's cache memory.

Note

Keep your current version installed. We only need to change one file.

Here's how you do it:

Get Adobe Flash for Linux

Download an old version of Flash. Get Adobe Flash Player 10.1 for Linux (81.7 MB).

Extract the Zip File

Once downloaded, extract the archive Zip file.

Choose

There will be two folders inside. Use the 10_1r82_76 folder.

Extract the Tar

Now un-zip the flashplayer_10_1r82_76_linux.tar.gz file.

Open Terminal

Copy the libflashplayer.so and paste it on the current one at /usr/lib/flashplugin-installer. To do that, you need to use the command terminal. Type gksudo nautilus (to get root privileges).

Computer screen displaying a terminal window and file manager.

A computer screen displaying a terminal window and a file browser interface.

Two computer windows displaying file directories, one showing a warning message.

Now, close the terminal and start up Firefox. Load a flash video from the web. Then, see if you can find the flash file in the tmp folder.

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