Solve ‘Error loading skin: Crossdomain loading denied’ problem

Are you getting “Crossdomain loading denied” message while trying to play a video on Mozilla Firefox? Don’t worry! You are not alone. I got such error message too. The exact error message may look like these: ‘Error loading skin: Crossdomain loading denied‘ or ‘Error loading skin: File not found.’ It was frustrating, as it prevented me from watching some important videos. But I solved the problem. Want to know how? Follow the steps mentioned below and solve the Error loading skin: Crossdomain loading denied problem.

What is Crossdomain loading denied error?

You have probably noticed that this “Error loading skin” problem occurs only on certain websites. The message appears where there is a video (inside the Flash player container). For example: it may appear when you open a page of a video sharing website. But the same error message may not appear when you play Youtube videos. Right?

So, why this problem? Well, this problem or error is associated with the crossdomain security mechanism of Adobe Flash Player. This security measure denies loading of certain files from a different domain name. As video hosting sites deliver their media files through a different domain or server, they use a crossdomain.xml file to lift the Adobe Flash security restrictions. So, the main culprit behind the error is Adobe Flash? Actually, it is not! The Crossdomain loading denied error occurs only when a application such as firewall or security software blocks that specific xml file (crossdomain.xml) from loading on your browser. To solve this video streaming problem, you need to identify that particular application and prevent it from blocking the crossdomain.xml file.

In my case, the error message appeared when I try to play a video that is being delivered through JW Player. For your information JW Player is a popular embeddable media player. It is used by thousands of websites to deliver Flash and HTML5 videos. So, I though it may not be a Adobe Flash problem. After a digging, I found out that AdBlock Plus addon installed on my Firefox browser was the root cause. It was blocking a crossdomain.xml file from jwpcdn.com. When I disabled the Adblock Plus filter ||p.jwpcdn.com^ and the problem is gone!

How to solve Crossdomain loading denied?

Want to solve “Error loading skin: Crossdomain loading denied” or “Error loading skin: File not found” problem. If you are using Mozilla Firefox with Adblock Plus try the following:

• Open Mozilla Firefox.
• Press the ABP button (red color) on your toolbar and select filter preferences from the menu. Alternatively press Ctrl+Shift+F to directly open the Adblock Plus filter preferences.
• Find the filter rule named ||p.jwpcdn.com^ and uncheck it (click on the box before the name) to disable the filter. You may not find this filter under the Filter Subscriptions. So, check the Ad Blocking Rules under the Custom filters tab.

Alternatively.

• Open the webpage where you experienced the problem.
• Press the ABP button and select Open blockable items from the menu. Or use the shortcut Ctrl+Shift+V. The Adblock Plus: Blockable items (detected) window will appear.
• In that window use the search box to find the crossdomain.xml file. Right click on the .xml file file link and select Disable filter ||p.jwcdn.com^ option from the menu.

That’s it. Now open the problematic webpage(s) one again. The “Error loading skin” message will disappear and you’ll be able to enjoy the embedded video.

What if you are not using Firefox or Adblock Plus?

The same problem may occur due to some other applications. It could be your firewall, security software or other browser addons such as NoScript. If you are not using Adblock Plus addon with Mozilla Firefox, the above mentioned steps are useless. In that case, try the following:

• Find the application that is blocking p.jwpcdn.com. It could be your firewall, security software or other browser addons such as NoScript.
• Go to site blocking section of that particular application.
• Whitelist p.jwpcdn.com or remove p.jwpcdn.com from the blocklist.

When everything fails!

If the above mentioned steps didn’t helped you, chances are more that it is an issue related with that particular site. For proper video streaming through JW Player, it is essential to setup a crossdomain.xml file. If the webmaster of that website implements JW Player wrongly, Error loading skin problems are evident. And as an end user, you can do nothing but move on to a different website or report the problem to the webmaster.

Did that helped you in solving the ‘Error loading skin: Crossdomain loading denied’ or ‘Error loading skin: File not found’ problem? Feel free to provide your feedback or suggestion.