FP 10 ActiveX Failed Install through Group Policy

I receive the same error when updating Flash Player based on the vulnerability. We're trying to upgrade from Adobe Flash Player 10.0.22 to 10.0.32.18. Is there still no help on this issue?

Deploying by GPO is just not working for me either, getting similar results as you are.  Adobe support proving rather painful with no proper help so far.  I think that their MSI is just plain broken and unsure why it's not being fixed.  It might be easier to build our own MSI than rely on the Adobe one?

I get the same error when trying to uninstall that corrupt install.  This must be affecting many many admins?

Morning,

I've have played with this msi so much I'm not sure how it started working. My organization is broken into 3 parts. 2 environments work out of 3. Nothing different performed for the 3rd group.

It's going to take patience.

1). Save the msi to your desktop

2). Create a network share

3). Run the desktop msi with an admin install like this msiexec /a "C:\Documents and Settings\egibson\Desktop\install_flash_player_10_active_x.msi" when the wizard asks store or install to the network share you created

4). From 1 test computer navigate to network share and run the msi manually - if it runs successfully it is good

5). If the msi fails AP_AX_MSI_....exe is not marked for install error returns (I noticed in Add Remove programs the adobe activeX 10 looks like the install icon) upon failure - I ran our old msi Adobe ActiveX version 10.0.22.87 and received a message "There is a more current version of Adobe. Please visit adobe.com for the latest version."

But it reinstalled our old version 10.0.22.87 anyway - if I look in Add Remove programs Adobe is there with the red logo instead of the install icon

Now run the new msi Adobe ActiveX version 10.0.32.18 it ran successfully. I then created my GPO and it appears to be good for now.

If you can test a pc - link it using the GPO you created from command prompt type gpupdate /force

Go to the pc and watch it boot. When mine were successful I saw uninstalling Adobe ActiveX ... then installing Adobe ActiveX ...

I now must try and repair the 1 environment that didn't work.

It took me an entire day to get this working. I'm sure I will have to explain that to Management.

Hope this helps. It is quite frustrating. I contacted Adobe support - they gave me no help. I think to problem has to do with the version of Adobe not successfully uninstalling.

Eleanora

I see this is somewhat old, but I had the same problem in our environment.  Had Flash 10.0 deployed via group policy.

  Removed the policy, but didn't force an unisntall from group policy.  I tried to install v 10.0.42.34 manually and received the same errors as noted above.

The final solution was to manuall install v 10.0 again then uninstall.  Once that was done I could install 10.0.42.34 without errors. No to see if I can get this process to work through group policy.

I think I may have found a solution to this.  It seemed to work on two machines.  I'd like to test it out on more but

I ran out of known bad machines.  Here is what I did.

1) Uninstall flash with the Windows installer cleanup utility.  The cleanup utility can be downloaded from http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301.  I uninstall it this way because, in my situation,  the regular add/remove programs way doesn't work.

2) Delete the C:\Windows\system32\Macromed directory (you might want to back it up before deleting it)

3) Reboot and install the latest version of flash.

I don't make any promises on this but it seemed to work for me.

Curt

"Windows Installer Cleanup  utility" has been removed from site :

"This article previously contained a link to the Windows Installer Cleanup  utility (MSICUU2.exe). If you were directed to this article to solve a problem  installing a product other than Microsoft Office, please contact your software  manufacturer for installation support on the product.

While the Windows  Installer Cleanup utility resolved some installation problems, it sometimes  damaged other components installed on the computer. Because of this, the tool  has been removed from the Microsoft Download Center. The Fix it Solutions in  this article provide the ability to fully remove Office 2003, 2007 and 2010  suites without damaging other Windows components."

The Windows Installer Cleanup Utility can still be obtained from various 3rd-party download sites, such as http://majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=4459

Yes, but Microsoft say :

"While the Windows  Installer Cleanup utility resolved some  installation problems, it sometimes  damaged other components installed  on the computer."

Works for me the solution xrjj3322 :

"The final solution was to manuall install v 10.0 again then uninstall."....

For each computer (200).... 

I have been seeing this same issue on several PCs in my domain. I think the issue is occurring because those PCs may have been installed or manually updated and then when we push out a new update it breaks it completely.

The steps I have done to resolve this were mentioned a previous post:

Step 1: remove the flash group from the computer object
Step 2: reboot and  manually uninstall Flash
Step 3: use cleanup util to remove Flash  completely
Step 4: add the Flash group to computer object
Step 5: reboot  for flash to install

Just want to add one thing to this old thread. I'm seeing the same problem where I work. Steps that I did were:

• Move the problem PC from one OU to another OU that doesn't have Flash Player GPO package
  
• Restart the PC - at this time all packages deployed thru GPO are automatically removed/uninstalled from the PC
  
• Login to PC (or login to domain) and manually remove or uninstall Flash Player. This steps fails to complete. I still get the same error that says Flash Player can't be uninstalled so I continue to the next step.
  
• Manually install Flash Player (any version will do). This is successful.
• Manually uninstall Flash Player. This is also successful.
• Move PC back to the OU that has Flash Player package.
• Restart PC and let it install Flash Player automatically.

After a great deal of frustration.

To solve the issue. I installed Windows Clean up utility and removed flash player or any unwanted item.

From the command prompt type gpupdate /force and respond yes

The current/new gpo for flash player installed.

I'm sorry to be posting to an old post, but we are also running into this issue. From my testing it would seem the only way to get it to work is the following:

- Uninstall from Program and Features

- Install Windows Cleanup Util and remove Flash

- Reinstall Flash using the MSI package

The difference between my installation and many of yours is that I didn't use a GP to install it. Can anyone help me in being able to accomplish steps 1 and 2 above using a script or batch file? I have 200 machines and to have to do it manually would be gruesome!

Any help anyone is willing to give is GREATLY appreciated!

Hello,

I uninstall Flash with the following batch skript:

set PROGDIR=%ProgramFiles%\Adobe

set INSTDIR=%FILES%\Tools\Adobe Flash Player_UI

set INDIKATOR=%PROGDIR%\FlashUninstall.txt

if exist "%INDIKATOR%" goto end

"%INSTDIR%\uninstall_flash_player.exe" -uninstall

reg.exe DELETE HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Installer\Products\00AB3E66D3B6B66469AF36907A4FB20B                   /f

reg.exe DELETE HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Installer\Products\690EC210AB6064f4E898B0F409E04797                   /f

reg.exe DELETE HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Installer\Products\30D9D84132D5F4D45B0DAB06034CD5FC                   /f

reg.exe DELETE HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Installer\Products\FB0D7F53BA803E244A30FA7927CA12A6                   /f

reg.exe DELETE HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Products\00AB3E66D3B6B66469AF36907A4FB20B /f

reg.exe DELETE HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Products\690EC210AB6064f4E898B0F409E04797 /f

reg.exe DELETE HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Products\30D9D84132D5F4D45B0DAB06034CD5FC /f

reg.exe DELETE HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Products\FB0D7F53BA803E244A30FA7927CA12A6 /f

echo >"%INDIKATOR%"

:end

After the next reboot the actual version of flash will be installed through group policy.

I hope this helps :-)

Joachim Emde

Replying to an old topic, I've just tried Eleanora's suggestions it seemed to work. But while I was writing here on this forum, something happened. I had tried to run the about page, it had worked. I removed the flash and the removal worked. Now I went to try to remove it again and it didn't work anymore.

Too weird.

I'll try to figure out and get back to you.

Thank you,

Jose Fehse

MCSE,MCITP

Toronto, ON

In the next chapter of the Soap Opera, I removed everything from the machine (very painfully, since I had to install the applications manually to be able to remove them) and then removed the computer from the OU, put it back there, redeployed adobe flash activeX and adobe reader X(which by the way,had disappeared from the machine even it was showing on add/remove programs) and Alakazam! Everything works. The question is: for how long?

Since I don't like myself, I tried to remove the flash plugin...and it seemed to work. No complains...but...a F5 on the Add/Remove programs screen and...there is the freaking Plugin now with the weird default installation Icon (not the adobe one...) .Adobe reader is still there. Was not affected.

Now I tried a lot of things, since removing using adobe's uninstaller (didn't work, I could still see the entry in ARP (Add/Remove programs).

Tried to remove manually, looking for pieces and bits in the registry. It disappeared from ARP but forcing the policy didn't install it again.

Well, I'll keep trying will let you all know.

Thank you,

Jose Fehse

Well, it seems to come down to a few points:

- If you use msi after the administrative installation, it installs right and flash works inside the browser;

- If you try to remove manually on Add/Remove programs, it will remove most of the files but the entry will remain there (with a default computer icon, not the adobe one);

- You can remove it by manually reinstalling the Active Plugin and then removing it.

- The policy won't reinstall it correctly again unless you remove the computer from the OU, refresh the policy, put the computer back in the OU that has the policy and then refresh it (reboot). Then you get your flash plugin working again.

I believe it's not right and is related to the GPO itself, since removing the policy completely was the only thing that worked in the end,but Adobe's uninstallation procedure is also not right (the uninstaller won't work either).

Hope it helps somebody.

Thank you,

Jose Fehse

Instead of removing it from the OU does it work to do a

gpupdate /force

Curt

Nope. Gpupdate /force only worked after I removed the computer. And then run GPupdate, then put it back, and then another GPUpdate /force. Unless I remove it, it will install a crippled version of the player.

Thank you,

Jose Fehse

what I have found to be the most effective solution to deploying flash via group policy is to NOT use the MSIs as the source for the installations.  No matter how diligent you are to remove the problematic version and get a successful install working based on an MSI, you will eventually run into the same problems after a few upgrades.

The solution I have been using for a while now, is to deploy the EXE through a computer startup script in AD.  The script will check the registry for the installed version, and if it is not the desired version, the script will silently install flash.  I tried this method after dealing with several frustrating 10.0.x upgrades deployed with the msi.  I have not had a single upgrade issue using this method.

the one caviat - to getting this to work, you have to ensure that you completely remove any existing problematic installs.

Here is the script.  Place this script in the Computer/statup scripts.  This runs as the system, so user rights are not an issue.

REM Modify these parameters for most recent versions
REM ----------------------------------------------------
set DesiredVersion="10,1,102,64"     <-- upgrade 1 client manually and check the reg path for flash player to get the version number and update it here.
Set InstallDirectory=<\\pathf to file share where the install is located at>

Set InstallFileName=flashplayer_10.1.102.64.exe

:CurrentVersionCheck
REM Check for existance of Version
REM -----------------------------------------
echo performcing new version check
reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Macromedia\FlashPlayer" | findstr %DesiredVersion%

if %errorlevel%==1 (goto InstallNewVersion) else (goto End)

:InstallNewVersion
REM --------------
echo installing new vesrion

start /wait %InstallDirectory%%InstallFileName% -install

GOTO End

:End

Hey,tks a lot for the advice. I will certainly try that. It may be the best option. The MSI's are pretty frustrating to work with.

You also do that for the Reader? The reader seemed to work much better with the native MSIs...maybe it's another subject and also another topic...

Thank you,

Jose Fehse

I have had no problems deploying reader with an msi admin install source. I also use the tuning wizard adobe provides to manage the transform files.  New installs, upgrades, and removals have never been a problem.  Which begs the question, why are the msi installs of flash so terrible?

Hope that script works out for you, it saved me a ton headaches. I got the idea after upgrading our citrix client to version 11.  Our choice was to deploy the exe install via a similar script, or install 6 individual msis in a specific order.