Some flash videos don't show except as admin

[Tcantcan]

Flash used to work fine. Now some flash videos work fine and some don't show up at all. If I switch to an admin logon or run IE as admin then it works on all sites.

Details:

Win7 32-bit, IE8, everything up to date, current flash (did an uninstall and download a fresh copy).

Used to work fine on logon "A" (non-admin). I'm not sure if this started failing right with some change. Only change I've made recently is installing Office 2010 (had 2007 installed before). The videos that don't show up just show as an empty box and a placeholder icon like a missing graphic. It doesn't even seem to know it's a missing flash item. About half the videos work fine and the other half are missing. If I right click on it it's like right clicking on empty space, just defalt context menu, no flash menu. If I logon as admin or run IE8 as admin then all flash videos show up okay. Kind of defeats the improvement of Win7 generally running as non-admin. Widows firewall is set to defaults for a work network. The list of allowed programs doesn't show IE8 or Flash so they are not either explicitly blocked or allowed. Internet security settings at default. No third party security other than AVG free just doing local virus monitoring. I don't want to run IE8 in admin mode all the time. Why has this changed and how do I fix it?

Thanks

[richiebrewer1]

I'm sorry I dont have anything to contribute, but I am having the same problem.  Were you (or anyone for that matter) able to find a solution to this issue?  Thanks.

[Tcantcan]

No, never did. I just live with about 25% of the video windows being blank and if it's something I really want to see I run a new copy of IE using the "run as administrator" option and then they work. If you find an answer reply back to me here so I'll get an email that something new is added. Thanks.

[richiebrewer1 · Accepted solution]

Actually, I found a solution to this shortly after I posted.  The first symptom we saw was that png files would not display correctly in IE7.  For example, google's image on google.com is a png and it would just have an image place holder.  Upgrading to IE8 patched that problem, and it wasn't until after IE8 that we noticed the Flash issue.  Anyway, long story short, run Microsoft FixIt 50198 - security editor for Windows/IE7/IE8

http://blogs.technet.com/b/fixit4me/archive/2009/01/30/reset-security-settings-back-to-the-defaults-...

Let me know how that works for you.  I beat myself up for 2 weeks looking for a solution and this fixed it!  Hope it works for you, too.

[Tcantcan]

That worked. The FixIt didn't apply to win7 but I found a manual description of how to do the same. Actually there were two descriptions and one mentioned that non-admin users may not show up as available logons after this. Glad I noticed so I could do the extra step of re-enabling those accounts. Thanks for the tip. I have no idea what put the security settings off from default in the first place.

Here is a link for how to manually reset security settings in Win 7. It actually gives the same instructions as the next one for Vista but that one didn't say it was for win 7 so I didn't use it till I found this one

http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7repair/thread/cd0f1e1e-739e-427e-baad-d2a744e6100...

This one is for Vista but also describes re-enabling the users

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/313222

[hansrich-16B4g3]

I went to the link and tried the fix. It hasn't solved my problem which is:

I cannot access any page that requires Adobe Flash player (This includes any

web page that requires me to log in) unless I run IE8 as Admin. My OS is

Windows 7 Ultimate 32 bit, Browser is IE8, Flash player is Adobe Flash

Player 10 Active X.

I do not have any problem with Firefox, but I don't like it as much as IE.

I don't know if the bug is in IE8, Windows 7 or Adobe Flash Player, but I

did not have the problem until I updated to the latest flash player.

I have two other computers that are 64 bit and they have no problems. I

also have another user account on this computer that has no problem. I

tried to create a new user account profile, but it has the problem as well.

Go figure.

[richiebrewer1]

Did you try using the Vista/7 fix the original poster responded? It's a

little more manual process, but that should fix it in your environment.

[hansrich-16B4g3]

Actually, I did and it did not work. I even tried reinstalling Windows and

that did not fix it. I turned IE8 off, rebooted and turned back on. No

help. I have reset defaults in IE8 and Windows 7. No Help. It will not

run Active X controls but when I went to Tools-Options-Security-Custom and

scrolled down, the "Run active X controls and plugins" box was enabled. It

just won't do it. I have removed and reinstalled Adobe Flash Player 10 at

least a dozen times. I don't know what else to do. It is really annoying

to have to run IE8 as an Admin every time and I don't care much for Firefox

although I have no problem with it. I tried creating a new user profile to

which I know how to copy all my files and programs, but first I check to see

if that solved the problem. it didn't. What really upsets me is that

Microsoft and Adobe won't help you. We are all beating our heads together

trying to help each other out and the people who developed the programs

don't even know these problems exist and are unwilling to provide support.

[ZoltanK-P8gZow]

I found a quick workaround for running IE8 as administrator quickly and easly. Create a shortcut to it on your desktop and right click on it, select "Properties" then the "Shortcut" tab and then the "Advanced" button. In the dialog box that pops up select the "Run as administratory" checkbox. Now select OK for that dialog and the properties dialog. Now whenever you double click the shortcut it will ask if you want to allow the program to make changes, just click "Yes" and you're off and running.

ZK

[hansrich-16B4g3]

Thank you ZK. Actually I am already doing that, but I find it annoying to

always have to " allow the program to make changes". I don't need to do

that on my other computers. I will admit that it's less annoying than

getting the "Windows cannot open this page" message. I appreciate your

response. It is disappointing that Microsoft and Adobe don't want to help

anyone and we're beating our heads together. I thank God for my Norton

products. When I need help, they are always there, especially in the chat

mode. If I wasn't such a loyal PC guy, I'd try a Mac. Don't know if they’re

any better.

What is comforting is finding out I'm not the only one experiencing this

issue and maybe someone at MS or Adobe will develop a patch to fix this once

and for all.

[Ndrei-AWq3IN]

Perhaps you can assist me.  I realize I am cross-posting, however, I posted my issues with the flash player but have not received a response.  I am having the same problem on 3 browsers: ff, IE and Chrome. The flash player works on some websites, but it will not on others, i.e., Justin.tv and Cnettv.com.

I ran the Adobe uninstaller and tried a reinstall to no avail.  The download button either would not appear or would not work on both IE and FF (Chrome comes loaded with its own flash player, which is not working also). I finally restored to an earlier date to get the player back.

I  am using the latest versions of the flash player, ff and IE 8.  The player was working fine after the update over a week ago, but suddenly stopped.  It is very strange.  Using an earlier version of fp is not an option due to security concerns.

I thank you for any suggestions you can offer.

[hansrich-16B4g3]

I am having the same problem and it's driving me crazy.  I just learned today that I could run IE8 as an Admin and everything worked but it is annoying and it won't work when you click on an email link so I have to use a different defaulot browser.  Everything runs perfectly with Firefox.  It is only IE8 on my Windows 7 32 bit that I have the problem and I have tried reseting my defaults, turning IE8 off and back on, & I even tried reinstalling Windows 7.  I have currently set Firefox as my default browser and run IE8 as an Administrator until a solution is found.  Now that I know I'm not the only one with this problem, I would think there is a glitch in the Adobe program.  Of course you can never get any help from any of these developers anymore.  At first I though my Norton 360 was causing the problem and spent almost 4 hours with their techs before we found out that wasn't the case.  I have been on a forum with Microsoft and they keep coming up with suggestions I have already tried.  It just recently happenned after updating to Adobe Flash 10.