Version Mismatch

[Tim_H_VA]

I redistribute the Flash Player executable to about 11,000 machines using a software deployment application and local machine system authority. (I have a Flash Player Distribution Agreement.) Every time an upgrade is available, users swamp our help desk with calls because the older executable will no long install. Apparently, all redistributable executables check the Adobe web site for a new version and, if found, fail to install the old version. Because many users do not have local machine rights, they can't install Flash Player themselves.

Until recently, when I heard the problem was occurring, I quickly downloaded the newest version of the redistributable executable and rebuilt my deployment package, fixing the problem. The last couple of times a new version was available, the "new" version that I could download was not the newest version available and would not install. That is the case right now.

How am I supposed to address this problem? How can I be notified of and download a new version of the redistributable executable before the upgrade is available to the general public?

[pwillener]

I'm not sure if there is a way that you can be notified and obtain the new version in advance; perhaps someone from Adobe can comment on that.

Usually you can find what updates are available on a certain day at sites like

• http://www.calendarofupdates.com/updates/index.php?app=calendar
• http://www.majorgeeks.com/

this is what I usually do first thing every morning.  You can also find update notifications for Flash Player at

• http://forums.adobe.com/community/flashplayer/announcements

Regarding availability, the latest updates should immediately be available at http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/distribution3.html

However, there was a hiccup when 11.1.102.63 was announced, and there was an almost 24h delay.  Hopefully this will not occur again.

P.S. also make sure that any corporate download caches are cleared, so you do not "download" an old version from the cache.

[Tim_H_VA]

Pat: Thanks for your comments. My company doesn't currently cache Internet traffic. Maybe I'll put a web page watcher on http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/distribution3.html. Hopefully, there won't be any more hiccups and someone from Adobe will let us know if pre-release notifications and downloads are possible.

[chris.campbell · Accepted solution]

Our only prerelease builds available are located on labs.adobe.com, but I don't think you're interested in those  The release files typically go out to the Akamai servers at the same time, though as Pat mentioned we have had problems in the past with this failing.  I try and update the announcement forum as soon as we get internal notification that builds are in place, putting a watcher on the distribution3.html page might also work.  If you do find that you can't get access to the latest build, please feel free to email me directly (ccampbel@adobe.com) anytime and I'll do what I can to fix it (or get you the files needed) asap.

Chris

[Tim_H_VA]

Chris: Thank you, I appreciate the support.