Ubuntu – Cannot start Webex session. Java permission issue

google-chromejavapermissionswebex

My fingers got ahead of me today and I managed to disable Java for Webex on my machine.

(Install details: Ubuntu 12.04 32bit, Chrome 32.0.1700.77, Java v7, update 51, Webex working fine for a year till now. Tried Firefox with same result.)

I hurriedly clicked past a Java dialog box similar to this one and checked the "Do not show this again…" box.

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Note that this is not the exact dialog box, it was the most similar one I could find. I don't remember the yellow box with "This application will be blocked…"

Now when I start my meeting…

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I wind up with just a blank webpage…

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Therefore I think (not sure) that I inadvertently disabled java needed for this app to run. Can anybody tell me how to re-enable it? I've Googled for half an hour and am coming up dry.

Java verified on the machine by Java webpage:

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Thanks in advance for any help!

Best Answer

I encountered the same problem and discovered the solution.

The problem is that the Webex Java applet is incompatible with Java 7 update 51. The java update tightened the security controls on Java web applets and the version of the Webex java applet that both you and I are using isn't yet updated to meet those tightened security controls.

Until the version of the Webex java applet that we are using gets updated, there is a work-around. You can open the "Oracle Java 7 Web Start" control panel that should have gotten installed in Ubuntu with Java 7 and change one or both of the following settings in the "Security" tab: a) Change the Security Setting from High to Medium OR b) Add the https address of your webex server to the "Exception Site List". For example if the URL to your WebEx server is https://foobar.webex.com then put "https://foobar.webex.com" in the "Exception Site List".

Once you do one of those two things Webex should work for you again. It works for me now.