Plugin-container.exe : what is it, why is it necessary, can I delete it

Continued from the "plugin-container.exe : what is it, why is it necessary, can I delete it" thread:
1) When people say Firefox uses up a lot of CPU/Memory, they are telling the truth. Tools like Task Manager and Process Explorer show you how much CPU/Memory Firefox is using up. Stop calling people liars when they say Firefox is using up X Memory. Stop making baseless accusations like "you're running other programmes that are causing your CPU to skyrocket and Firefox to freeze". Task Manager and Process Explorer don't lie. Take yourself off the thread because you're not helping anyone, you're creating anger and hatred, you're basically trolling. If you have no valid advice to offer, keep your mouth shut and stay away instead of launching into the "you're a liar" nonsense.
2) Stop typing in caps
3) Refrain from using profanity and ad hominem attacks
4) If you claim you're abandoning Firefox for another browser, fine: now get off the board and go away instead of posting inflammatory hatred against Mozilla since you're no longer using Mozilla
5) Stop attacking and/or ignoring the advice of Mozilla representatives like Morbus
6) Morbus: the Firefox Safe-Mode advice you frequently dispense is the most rejected advice because most people do not want to mess with their browsers, especially people who are not not knowledgeable about safe-mode, add-ons, disabling, etc. I fully agree that people must learn how to diagnose the problems on their own and find solutions on their own, but not all people are capable of learning how to do that. Computers are easy for many people, but not all people. The Safe-Mode solution appeals to a '''minority '''of people who are comfortable with picking apart their browser and picking apart other things to find solutions, not the majority, who fear making things worse.
== This happened ==
Every time Firefox opened
== Today 6/22/2010

7) Stop telling people to remove add-ons and plug-ins and scripts. Firefox was made specifically to enable to build their own browsers. Firefox was made for the purpose of allowing people use all the add-ons and plug-ins and scripts they wanted. No other browser offers that range of add-on/plug-in/script support. Removing the add-ons and plug-ins and scripts eliminates the purpose of Firefox. If Mozilla representatives want to insist that removing add-ons and plug-ins and scripts are the solution, then Mozilla is telling us that its browser is no different from IE or Chrome, in which case Mozilla has given us a reason to stop using Mozilla.

Similar Messages

May i know what is plugin-container.exe and why it need internet access , noticed that it started only when i visit any website has Flash containt ? is it adobe flash player plugin ? is it safe to use ?

May i know what is Plugin-container,exe and why it need internet access ? noticed that it starts only when visit any website has flash containt on webpage . is this adobe flash player plugin ? is it safe to use ?

See http://kb.mozillazine.org/Plugin-container_and_out-of-process_plugins

Why does FireFox freeze and the only way to unfreeze it is to open the task manager and close the plugin-container.exe file??? It has been happening more and more often and it is getting VERY AGGRAVATING!!!!!

When Firefox does freeze (not responding appears in parentheses in the page tab) I am not able to access any of the webpages (the entire webpage is hidden behind a vaguely white transparent foreground) and more often than not any files I might be downloading are stopped before the entire file has been transferred - which means that I have to start those downloads from the beginning AGAIN. This has been happening for quite some time and I AM SICK AND TIRED OF IT HAPPENING!!
If it continues to happen for much longer I will swear off FireFox FOREVER!!!!! Either a program works or it does not work and lately Firefox has not worked worth a damn...........
The ONLY way to force Firefox to allow me to access it is for me to end the plugin-container.exe file process using Task Manager. Clearing there is a SERIOUS problem here that has not been resolved - why not???

The pluging container opens up unnecessary copies as the cookies/history are cleared, this is a known issue, it might be what you are seeing, and it is hoped to be fixed in some future release of firerox.
There are some hangs affecting some users, with symptoms being high cpu usage, occurring as bookmark changes or syncing is in progress, there is a work around for that.
Firefox hanging as you close it see:
*[[firefox hangs]]
* [[firefox is already running but is not responding]]

What is, how to fix, stop, small popup window from 'plugin-container.exe' with 3 digit number that won't stop re-appearing???

I get very small windows popping up on the screen on top of anything else I'm doing regardless of what apps I'm running or not running. If I R-click on the icon in the task bar, it's identified as "plugin-container.exe"
The window doesn't say why it's there, but only displays a 3 digit number (for example the on on the screen now says 587) and allows only the usual X to close, or an 'OK' button to close. But a short time later it pops up again.
I'm running Windows 7 64bit MS Security Essentials and Firefox, though it will pop up even if I just booted and haven't started Firefox yet.
It's really (really really) annoying. How can I fix it or disable it or whatever it takes to make it STOP.
Perhaps if I had some idea what it was I could attack it that way, but I haven't a clue. BTW, I've cleaned the registry, and done full scan's for virus and turned up nada.
Thanks.
D.

As per the web site:
There will be no update to Waterfox 25.0 as a bug causes Adobe Flash to crash on 64-Bit Windows 7 systems. Bug here. Although Firefox 25.0.1 is now available and we could build it, there would be no point of releasing a new version of Waterfox for only two weeks.
I mostly only use Waterfox and had no problem in the past. I suspect a flash problem may be at the root of my problem however.
As stated, I've performed (full) virus scans with MS Security Essentials. Also with Housecall, and also with HiJackThis. No problems detected.
Screen shot of popup window attached.

Firefox locks up and runs plugin-container.exe -- I don't start it and can't stop it. What does it do and can I stop it?

On some irregular intervals, plugin-container.exe suddenly starts, and takes command. Task Manager suddenly goes to 100% CPU usage and I am blocked from continuing. i.e., dead in the water for a few minutes.
Questions:
What does it do?
Why does it start?
Can I remove it?
Can I stop it?

Plugin_container.exe is an integral part of Firefox and acts like a kind of sandbox to isolate plugins which have crashed. See [[What is plugin-container]]
You mentioned in your system details that you're running Windows XP SP2. I'd recommend you install Service Pack 3 since Microsoft addressed a large number of issues in that service pack. You'll also need to have it installed to obtain current patches and Windows Silverlight which is similar to Flash. You can get SP3 from the Microsoft Windows Update site, link on your Start menu.

What is the plugin-container.exe file? How do I get rid of it?I keep getting a 70% usage message about this plugin. I tried to delete it but then Firefox won't work.

What is the plugin-container.exe file? It seems to be using 70% of usage of my computer's memory. How do I get rid of it?

Plugin-container is an "out-of-process plugins" crash protection, see for more info the link, and if you want to disable try the analytical info :
[http://kb.mozillazine.org/Plugin-container_and_out-of-process_plugins Plugin-container and out-of-process plugins]
thank you
Please mark "Solved" the answer that really solve the problem, to help others with a similar problem.

Why does plugin-container.exe not start up with Firefox 3.6.15 anymore?

I have Firefox 3.6.15, Firefox 4.0 RC1 and Pale Moon 3.6.15 on my PC. Even though each .exe file is in a separate folder, if I start up say, Firefox 4.0 RC1 for awhile and then close it and start up Firefox 3.6.15 my settings are messed up and I have to fix some of them. I just noticed in Task Manager that plugin-container.exe does not start up with FF 3.6.15 and FF 4.0 RC1 and Pale Moon 3.6.15 anymore. I'm not sure what I did to cause this. I even went into Mozilla's folder and tried to start up plugin-container manually, but it does not start up. I'm at a loss, do I have to do a clean install of three browsers to fix this?

It is caused by Firefox asking plugins like Flash to remove their cookies and other locally stored data.
Flash Local storage settings Help:
* http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/help02.html

When i try to attach files in hotmail, i get a message that silverlight plugin has crashed and error report indicates error about plugin-container.exe ; ihave the latest silverlight plugin. what to do?

* I work on windows XP
I have latest fire fox and silver light plugin
* "silver light plugin has crashed" is what i get when i try to attach files in hotmail
* error report indicates about plugin-container.exe.
* where to find plugin-container.exe. to install and try

Hi,
Please also try to '''Disable''' the Silverlight add-on in '''Tools '''('''Alt '''+ '''T''') > '''Add-on''' > '''Plugins''' before opening Hotmail. You may still be able to attach files.

What are the ff preferences associated with plugin-container.exe in the newest version of ff? Specifically I would like to edit them in about:config to disable plugin-container.exe

I've done this with a previous version of ff by editing the values of these preferences: dom.ipc.plugins.enabled true
dom.ipc.plugins.enabled.npctrl.dll false
dom.ipc.plugins.enabled.npqtplugin.dll false
dom.ipc.plugins.enabled.npswf32.dll false
dom.ipc.plugins.enabled.nptest.dll true
dom.ipc.plugins.timeoutSecs 45
after I installed ff on my laptop today I cannot find the .dll preferences. And plugin-container.exe continues to plague me. For me this is the one issue with ff since updating from 7. It boggles me as to why you haven't gotten rid of this thing.

To disable crash protection, go to about:config and set to false all preferences starting with dom.ipc.plugins.enabled. '''(It is possible that your browser has only that preference entry without any addition.) '''This will prevent the "plugin-container" process from running and all plugins will run within the Firefox browser process. (from [http://kb.mozillazine.org/Plugin-container_and_out-of-process_plugins#Disabling_crash_protection Disabling_crash_protection] )
thank you
Please mark "Solved" the answer that really solve the problem, to help others with a similar problem.

Why FF plugin-container.exe trying to capture my screen?

While I was using FF I got a warning message from my anti-logger saying that plugin-container.exe trying to capture my screen.(This happened more than 3 times in 1 week) and when I deny the process from capturing my screen, the flash player crashes. I'm using Win 7 starter, FF 24.0.
Is this should happened and why?

In order to be able to find the correct solution to your problem, we require some more non-personal information from you. Please do the following:
*Click the Firefox button at the top left, then click the ''Help'' menu and select ''Troubleshooting Information'' from the submenu. If you don't have a Firefox button, click the Help menu at the top and select ''Troubleshooting Information'' from the menu.
Now, a new tab containing your troubleshooting information should open.
*At the top of the page, you should see a button that says "Copy text to clipboard". Click it.
*Now, go back to your forum post and click inside the reply box. Press Ctrl+V to paste all the information you copied into the forum post.
If you need further information about the Troubleshooting information page, please read the article [[Use the Troubleshooting Information page to help fix Firefox issues]].
Thanks in advance for your help!

Plugin-container.exe loading in Gmail, what if I shut it down?

Whenever I open my Gmail (Google mail), plugin-container.exe loads into memory. What happens if I shut down plugin-container.exe via task manager while the Gmail tab is still open? Will that crash my browser? (what happens to the Gmail tab in that case?) would that be safe?
Thanks

Firefox will probably crash. For disabling plugin-container.exe, see my suggestion in this post:
https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/forum/1/712353?
Read the warning at the bottom of my answer in that post.
'''''Other Issues''''': ~~red:You have installed plug-ins with known security issues. You should update them immediately.~~
'''Install/Update Adobe Flash Player for Firefox (aka Shockwave Flash)''': your ver. 10.0 r42; current ver. 10.1 r53 ('''important security update 2010-06-10''')
~~red:Check your version here~~: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/plugincheck/
See: '''[http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Managing+the+Flash+plugin#Updating_Flash Updating Flash]'''
-'''use Firefox to download''' and '''SAVE to your hard drive''' (save to Desktop for easy access)
-exit Firefox (File > Exit)
-check to see that Firefox is completely closed (''Ctrl+Alt+Del, choose Task Manager, click Processes tab, if "firefox.exe" is on the list, right-click "firefox.exe" and choose End process, close the Task Manager window'')
-double-click on the Adobe Flash installer you just downloaded to install/update Adobe Flash
-when the Flash installation is complete, start Firefox, and test the Flash installation here: http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=tn_15507&sliceId=1
*'''NOTE: On Vista and Windows 7''' you may need to run the plugin installer as Administrator by starting the installer via the right-click context menu if you do not get an UAC prompt to ask for permission to continue (i.e nothing seems to happen). See this: http://vistasupport.mvps.org/run_as_administrator.htm
*'''NOTE for IE:''' Firefox and most other browsers use a Plugin. IE uses an ActiveX version of Flash. To install/update the IE ActiveX Adobe Flash Player, same instructions as above, except use IE to download the ActiveX Flash installer.
*Also see: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Flash ~~red:'''''AND'''''~~ [[How do I edit options to add Adobe to the list of allowed sites]]
'''You''' ~~red:'''MAY'''~~ '''need to Update Adobe Reader for Firefox''': your ver. N/A; current ver. 9.3.2
~~red:Check your version here~~: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/plugincheck/
See: http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Using+the+Adobe+Reader+plugin+with+Firefox#Installing_and_updating_Adobe_Reader
''You may be able to update from the Adobe Reader installed on your system'' instead of going to the Adobe site and downloading. Start > Program Files, find and click Adobe Reader to open, click Help, click Check for Updates.
''If you go to the Adobe site to download the current Adobe Reader:''
-'''use Firefox to download''' and '''SAVE to your hard drive''' (save to Desktop for easy access)
~~red:-See the images at the bottom left of this post to see the steps to take on the Adobe site~~
-exit Firefox (File > Exit)
-check to see that Firefox is completely closed (''Ctrl+Alt+Del, choose Task Manager, click Processes tab, if "firefox.exe" is on the list, right-click "firefox.exe" and choose End process, close the Task Manager window'')
-double-click on the Adobe Reader installer you just downloaded to install/update Adobe Reader
*'''NOTE: On Vista and Windows 7''' you may need to run the plugin installer as Administrator by starting the installer via the right-click context menu if you do not get an UAC prompt to ask for permission to continue (i.e nothing seems to happen). See this: http://vistasupport.mvps.org/run_as_administrator.htm
*'''NOTE for IE:''' Firefox and most other browsers use a Plugin. IE uses an ActiveX version. To install/update the IE ActiveX version, same instructions as above, except use IE to download the ActiveX installer.
*Also see: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Adobe_Reader ~~red:'''''AND'''''~~ [[How do I edit options to add Adobe to the list of allowed sites]]

What causes multiple "plugin-container.exe" to run simultaneously?

I sometimes have up to four "plugin-containers" running simultaneously. What causes that AND what are the possible ramifications of that?

plugins like flash & java etc that are currently running on sites are outsourced into the plugin-container.exe-process that you've discovered for performance and stability reasons - you can have a look at your currently installed plugins in tools > addons > plugins & disable those you don't need.
in one of the upcoming releases firefox will ship with a feature that allows you to enable plugins on vistited sites on a per-demand basis, [https://wiki.mozilla.org/Opt-in_activation_for_plugins]
''edit - also see [[What is plugin-container]]''

Why is plugin-container.exe involved in receiving email?

Why is plugin-container.exe involved in receiving email? The plugin-container.exe is activated and uses abut 20% of CPU while receiving email into my Outlook Express. I use Windows XP Pro on a desktop PC.

Plugin-container.exe is part of Firefox, not Outlook Express. If you are trying to fetch an embedded video in a message, that might use the plugin container if Firefox is your default browser, but for links and images I would not expect that to be used.

Why does plugin-container.exe start 15 times (and then stop) during shutdown (taking MINUTES to shut down)?

FF takes forever to close (minutes). When using process explorer I see that as many as 15 instances of plugin-container.exe will be opened during the shut down process. I think this means that a plugin is crashing. I disabled all of the plugins and it still happened (but maybe not so many times). An obvious answer is to leave FF open but that seems kinda dumb. I haven't seemed to be able to find this addressed anywhere. I am using updated Xp, on a many year old machine. Please help.
Thanks, John Rooks
(also, my submit button doesn't work when I try to send this in via the feedback form. (happy, sad and idea page)

It is caused by Firefox asking plugins like Flash to remove their cookies and other locally stored data.
Flash Local storage settings Help:
* http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/help02.html

Why does plugin-container.exe so often crash when closing PDF files?

When I load multiple PDFs in Firefox to check their content for errors one by one, closing one PDF tab to reveal another PDF tab very often causes plugin-container.exe to crash, which means I have to reload each remaining PDF tab to view the remaining files. This of course defeats the purpose of opening more than one at a time, and actually adds about 5 times as many clicks to the whole process because I have to clear the error and reload each page, then it might happen again or might not. It doesn't happen every time I close a PDF, but about 1 in 4 times.
I realize I have two versions of Acrobat installed (Acrobat 9.5.5 and Reader 11.0.10), and thus two Firefox plugins, but for the record this same thing happens on other computers that just have Reader or just have Acrobat, so it's not an issue of conflicting plugins. Though I did notice you aren't allowed to disable just one or the other -- deactivating one deactivates both. At first it seems not to, but if you reload the plugins page, you'll see both are actually off.
Windows coughs up the following error report when plugin-container.exe crashes, but Firefox says nothing, I guess because the plugin-container is a standalone app:
Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: plugin-container.exe
Application Version: 36.0.4.5557
Application Timestamp: 550d0883
Fault Module Name: xul.dll
Fault Module Version: 36.0.4.5557
Fault Module Timestamp: 550d07d2
Exception Code: c0000005
Exception Offset: 011f734a
OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.48
Locale ID: 1033
Additional Information 1: 0a9e
Additional Information 2: 0a9e372d3b4ad19135b953a78882e789
Additional Information 3: 0a9e
Additional Information 4: 0a9e372d3b4ad19135b953a78882e789
Appreciate any help available in resolving this crash.

Somehow this bug came up on my radar yesterday later in the day: the first two comments indicate different plugins, and the third refers to the Acrobat plugin:
<blockquote>This seems to happen if Adobe Reader is used for displaying PDF documents (pdfjs.disabled set to true and Preferences > Applications > PDF to "Adobe Reader (in Firefox)"). Opening two tabs displaying PDFs and closing one crashes the other one. Was able to reproduce with Firefox 36.0.1 and Adobe Reader plugin "Adobe Acrobat 11.0.10.32". When I tried to reproduce it later again in the same profile (or on Nightly and Beta), the tab didn't crash.</blockquote>
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1113190
Sounds like your issue, but it's puzzling that they got a tab to crash and in your case only plugin-container.exe crashed.

Plugin-container.exe : what is it, why is it necessary, can I delete it

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