Solving sound issues when using WebEx with Linux and Firefox

Hello everybody,

Some of you might use WebEx in their daily life. And some of you might use Linux (as I and many of us do). However, this combination often results in issues with your PC’s sound or microphone use in a WebEx session.

The problem here is that WebEx won’t run as intended with Firefox and JRE x64. But the solution is quite easy! Use the x86-versions of each.

Probably you don’t want to replace your x64 versions of either of them — and neither do I. So I wrote a little script which helps you to quickly switch to the x86 versions, while you still have the x64 versions installed. And here is how to do it:

1. Download Firefox x86 as an archive and unzip it, e.g. in your home folder.
2. Download JRE x86 as an archive and unzip it, e.g. in your home folder. You just need the JRE here.
3. Source the following script, e.g. in your .bashrc. It will provide you with a webex-command. Also change the paths accordingly.
   Edit: find the script in our Github repository.

And that’s it! It will place a link to the x86-plugin into the ~/.mozilla/plugins folder, which will be used over the plugin in the /usr/lib/…. folders. After you exit your Firefox x86 session, it will remove the link again, so everything should be good again. Also please close Firefox before running the script (it will detect it anyway 😉 )

You can test if the plugin is running with the WebEx-Testsession, but unfortunately you can’t test the sound here. For that you have to join a real meeting.

Oh one last thing, unfortunately you have to take care for yourself to update both Firefox x86 and  JRE x86 from time to time.

Hope this helps you!

Have a nice day,
Benjamin

Credits:
http://gazelle.ihe.net/content/using-webex-under-linux
https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-software-2/my-audio-won%27t-work-for-webex-857603/