Firefox 11 Not Reporting Correct Version of Flash v. 11.2.202.233

[Evan__from_Manhattan_]

Today (April 14, 2012) I installed the new Adobe Flash v. 11.2.202.233 on four computers (several Mac and several PC/Windows).

Eveything went fine except that Firefox does not seem to have the new Flash on any of the Windows PC's (it worked fine on Mac). That is, when I go to the Adobe test page (http://www.adobe.com/software/flash/about/), it is reporting that Firefox is using the immediately prior version 11.2.202.228. However, all other Windows browsers (e.g., Opera, IE, etc.) all report the correct version on that test page.

And I checked Windows Programs and Updates and it shows version 11.2.202.233 installed.

So, why is Firefox 11 showing the old version? Anyone have any ideas and hopefully a fix?

Adobe, you should fix this.

Evan Katz (EKatz at CrawfordVentures.com)

[Steve876 · Accepted solution]

Reboot your machine!

The new version shows in IE straight away. Strangely, if you check your installed add-ons in Firefox immediately after installing a new version, it shows both the old and new versions. A reboot removes the old version, leaving the newest one to take precedence!

Exactly the same thing happened to me. It even showed the latest version in 'uninstall programs', so I knew it was properly installed and a reboot was probably required.

[Evan__from_Manhattan_]

Unbelievable!  Even after 30+ years using computers, and having once been a Contributing Editor of Personal Computing magazine, it never even occurred to me to reboot the PC!

Although, who would ever imagine that a browser plug-in would require a system-wide reboot!  Indeed, with Opera and IE showing the new Flash version -- and with prior Flash updates showing the correct version right away on Firefox -- it never crossed my mind to reboot today.

Also, hey Adobe, why not advise users, when they install Flash, that they will need to do a reboot before Firefox uses and/or shows the correct new version!

Thank you, Steve, for solving this mystery and taking the time to post the answer!  

[pwillener]

I didn't need to reboot my computer, but I see in the FlashInstall.log file that the ActiveX and the plugin did not update at the same time.  It is possible that the plugin waited with the update until I closed Firefox?