Dual-Monitors Full Screen Flash

April 18, 2009 – 4:06 pm

UPDATE: These instructions only work on older versions (10.0.22.87) of the Flash Player – there is an updated, easier solution here (via Lifehacker).

If you have two monitors like I do, you may like to have full-screen flash videos playing in your second monitor. There is a problem, though, that as soon as you click in a different window, the Flash goes to non-full screen. In other words, you can’t browse and have full screen flash on your second monitor.

There is a fix for this “security feature,” though. (Disclaimer: Adobe claims that this feature of auto-minimizing is integral to computer security, so proceed with caution)

  1. Make sure you have Flash player version 10.0.22.87 (you can see this version information here).
  2. Open NPSWF32.dll (probably located at c:\Windows\system32\Macromed\flash\npswf32.dll) in a hex editor.
  3. Go to address 0×136340 and change byte 74 to EB.

I have tried this, and it works great. Original source here.

  1. 15 Responses to “Dual-Monitors Full Screen Flash”

  2. Works great. Thanks.

    By David Moore on Apr 19, 2009

  3. Shouuld mention that in Windows Vista npswf32.dll is located in windows\sysWOW64\macromed\flash

    By Andrew on May 1, 2009

  4. Thank you so much for this! I have been trying to figure this out forever now!

    By kit on May 23, 2009

  5. Thanks, this worked for me.

    Not sure what security feature this would be for… frankly, i don’t care.

    If it requires a manual hex edit to trigger this security lapse, I’m sure that it is not a wide attack in the wild.

    By Kevin on May 28, 2009

  6. That is awesome.

    I was suffering from this feature for some time. I have a 22″ LCD that I work on normally, and for watching films I have a 42″ Toshiba screen.

    You have just made my day :) Thanks

    By cbn_2_8 on Jun 20, 2009

  7. Thank you so much, this has been driving me crazy for years. I live in China so I watch all my TV streaming from the web.

    By James on Jul 19, 2009

  8. Nice tip, thank you!

    By Francesco Stano on Aug 10, 2009

  9. When I tried it, it said: Cannot open file …. for write access. Access is denied. Does anyone know how to get around this?

    By Jei on Oct 20, 2009

  10. Hmm I finally was able to change the file, but it didn’t change anything…when I am gaming, and I try to watch anime on my second monitor using Veoh, it still minimizes one of them.

    By Jei on Oct 20, 2009

  11. Jei, please try the updated link here: http://my.opera.com/d.i.z./blog/2009/04/22/watch-fullscreen-flash-while-working-on-another-screen

    I hope that helps.

    By Gavin R on Jan 4, 2010

  12. I love this hack. Have been searching for a way to do it for a while.

    Created the following tool which will perform the ‘hack’ for you. No hex editor needed.
    Enjoy!
    http://jmaxxz.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=89:flashhacker&catid=16:downloads&Itemid=32

    By Jmaxxz on Feb 24, 2010

  13. I have released version 1.0.0 of an automated patcher for Firefox, Opera and Internet Explorer:

    http://deve.loping.net/projects/ignoflash/

    Source code can be found here:

    http://deve.loping.net/svn/ignoflash/trunk/

    I will also open a dedicated forum for the patch, but for now you can report problems in the general section of the forum or via email.

    By Ago on May 12, 2010

  1. 3 Trackback(s)

  2. May 9, 2009: Dan Herbert » Fullscreen YouTube with Dual-Monitors
  3. Jul 4, 2009: Gavin News » Blog Archive » Dual-Monitors Full Screen Flash - Spandex Boy
  4. Jul 29, 2009: Six screens Flash animation | [mck]

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