Must an Update from 10.3 to 11 Be Performed Manually?

[JAllegheny]

Hi!  I've been reading up on the new version of Flash which came out last week and have been waiting for an automated update notification for it, but no such notification has come yet.  Will versions of Flash 10.3 give you a notification to take care of the update to 11, or will I have to remove 10.3 myself and then download a fresh copy of 11 from Adobe's download site?  By the way, I'm running Windows 7 64-bit Service Pack 1 and have the ActiveX edition of the last release of 10.3, which I run in Internet Explorer 9.

If it's the case that I'll have to do this update manually, I'd like to be clear on the exact procedure of performing a manual update so that I can ensure that I prevent any problems.  I'm a little confused about what the proper procedure is for cleanly uninstalling 10.3 so as to prevent any chance of conflict between the two different versions.  I have read in some places that it is perfectly acceptable to uninstall 10.3 by simply running the entry for it in Programs and Features in the Control Panel and then rebooting the machine, but in others, I have heard people recommend that you uninstall flash with the standalone uninstaller that can be downloaded from an article on the Adobe site.  Does this standalone uninstaller actually perform any operations which the entry in Programs and Features will not?  I have read over this article about uninstalling Flash in Windows, and the puzzling thing about it is that it says it applies to 10.2 instead of 10.3, and that makes me concerned about whether or not the standalone uninstaller on this page will be capable of properly removing 10.3 from my machine.  I am furthermore confused about the difference between the 32-bit standalone uninstaller and the 64-bit standalone uninstaller: Do you use the 64-bit standalone uninstaller for all versions of Flash as long as you have a 64-bit operating system, or do you only use it when the version of Flash is itself 64-bit (i.e. the 64-bit Flash 11)?  In other words, the confusion arises from the fact that 10.3 is 32-bit while my operating system is 64-bit.  To put it as a simple question, which version of the standalone uninstlaler is appropriate for removing Flash 10.3 from Windows 7 64-bit?

Any clarification in regard to these issues would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you.

[pwillener · Accepted solution]

Nice set of questions!  I will try to answer all or most of them, and perhaps put the whole conversation into the FAQ section.

If you have set AutoUpdate, then it should check if updates are available within the n days you have specified to check.  Did that not happen in your case?  If so, we may need to file a bug report about this.

When the installer runs, it should automatically remove all previous Flash Player versions in the process.  However, it has sometimes happened in the past that some parts of older Flash Player versions were left behind; this is why you sometimes see the recommendation to uninstall before installing a new version - especially a new major version, i.e. from 10 to 11.  But in most cases there is no need for that.

If you are in doubt, check C:\Windows\syswow64\Macromed\Flash if there are any older than the latest 10.3.183.10 modules present.

As for 32-bit vs. 64-bit:

• users with a 32-bit OS should use the 32-bit installers and uninstallers;
• users with a 64-bit OS should use the 64-bit installers and uninstallers; note that the 64-bit installer will automatically install the 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Flash Player.

I think that the current way of providing separate 32-bit and 64-bit installers is a bit confusing.  In my opinion Adobe should provide only one installer that automatically detects the OS version, and install the Flash Player edition(s) accordingly.  I also think that the separate Flash Players for Internet Explorer (ActiveX) and other browsers (plugin) should be combined into one installer.

Please let me know if there is anything that I have not covered above.

[JAllegheny]

Thank you so much for your helpful answer!

I am figuring that I might just not have waited long enough for my notification.  It's always easier to let the automated processes take care of all this stuff for you, so I'll try and wait a little more before I take action myself to update to Flash 11.

There are still a few points I just want to make clear.  Is the 64-bit standalone uninstaller from http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/141/tn_14157.html in any way actually different from the Flash ActiveX uninstaller listed in my Programs and Features in my Control Panel, or is it the exact same uninstaller and you guys are simply offering it to the public by itself in the event that the uninstaller from Programs and Features messes up and leaves a bunch of garbage behind?  Also, the article to which I link says the following at the top: "Note: Use these instructions for either prerelease or release versions of Flash Player 10.2."  Is this cautionary note accurate, or are the uninstallers on this page designed to be capable of properly removing other versions like 10.3 and 11 as well?  If this cautionary note is misleading, then it would perhaps be important to inform whoever maintains this article to revise this note.

[pwillener]

The downloaded uninstaller from http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/141/tn_14157.html will uninstall all Flash Player versions on a system.

The uninstaller from Control Panel will only uninstall either the ActiveX for IE, or the plugin for all other browsers.  I personally prefer to use the downloaded uninstaller if I want to uninstall Flash Player.

I also prefer to download the installers as linked in http://forums.adobe.com/thread/909550 over the automatic update, or the installer on http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/

Both these latter use a download manager that is bundled with 3rd-party software that I don't want on my system.  The only advantage of the download manager is that it will most likely select the right installer (32-bit or 64-bit) for your system.

[JAllegheny]

ʇɐb ɹəuəllıʍ wrote:

The downloaded uninstaller from http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/141/tn_14157.html will uninstall all Flash Player versions on a system.

The uninstaller from Control Panel will only uninstall either the ActiveX for IE, or the plugin for all other browsers.  I personally prefer to use the downloaded uninstaller if I want to uninstall Flash Player.

I also prefer to download the installers as linked in http://forums.adobe.com/thread/909550 over the automatic update, or the installer on http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/

Both these latter use a download manager that is bundled with 3rd-party software that I don't want on my system.  The only advantage of the download manager is that it will most likely select the right installer (32-bit or 64-bit) for your system.

So essentially the only difference between the ActiveX uninstaller in my system's Programs and Features and the standalone uninstaller from http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/141/tn_14157.html is that the uninstaller on my system will cleanly remove the ActiveX edition, whereas the standalone uninstaller on the website will cleanly remove both the ActiveX edition and the plugin edition.  I currently don't even have any browsers on my system other than Internet Explorer 9 and so only have the ActiveX edition of Flash 10.3.  Given the fact that I only have the ActiveX edition installed in the first place, would I be correct in saying that my Programs and Features uninstaller ought to do the same job for me that the standalone uninstaller would do?  In other words, the ActiveX uninstaller in my system's Programs and Features and the uninstaller from the article should both remove Flash Player from my system with equal efficacy.  Is this correct?

Needless to say, I still haven't received an automatic update notification.  Has a week passed yet since the update notifications for Flash 11 first started to get sent out?

[pwillener]

In that case you can safely use the uninstaller from Control Panel.

Flash Player 11 was released on October 3, but I don't know on what date Adobe has started pushing the player out for the AutoUpdate mechanism.

[pwillener]

JAllegheny wrote:

Note: Use these instructions for either prerelease or release versions of Flash Player 10.2

I think this is a leftover from the earlier version of that article; I will send the tech writers a note to have it corrected.

[pwillener]

P.S. Two of my Windows XP machines autoupdated to Flash Player 11 this morning, so I guess the mechanism works.

[JAllegheny]

Thank you for the further clarifications!  I'm not sure why I haven't gotten a notification yet, unless they didn't start pushing out notifications until a little later and my updater is waiting for the next seventh day.  I have one other guess about why I didn't get a notification yet, although I really have no idea how valid this guess might be.  I have a Radeon video card in my machine, and an automatic update feature was recently added to the Catalyst drivers for it.  A few days ago, I received a prompt from it asking me for permission to update to the new version of Catalyst, so I gave the program the okay to do the update and my computer upgraded itself to the new Catalyst without a single problem.  Is it perhaps possible that the automatic update for my Catalyst stuff and the automatic update for my Flash Player were timed in such a way that they were both trying to display themselves at startup at the same time and the Catalyst update notification prompt somehow preempted the Flash notification prompt?  Just throwing that idea out there.

[pwillener]

At this stage anything is guesswork.  If you don't have an urgent need to upgrade, wait for the AutoUpdate to trigger. Otherwise use the manual installers I have linked earlier.