Mac Safari "Adobe Flash Player Security" issue

[syncrasy]

Using Captivate 5.5 for Mac. I've been having sporadic problems viewing my published .htm files in Safari. I always get the "Adobe Flash Player Security" popup on initial load, but before today I could usually just click OK and refresh the browser window to play the Flash content. Today I can no longer view the content in Safari. (Firefox plays the content fine.)

The popup says "To let this application comminicate with the Internet, click "Settings". When I click Settings, my Mac OS Flash preference dialog opens. But the only options available are "Local Storage Settings", "Camera and Mic", "Playback" (which pertains to peer-assisted networking, not local playback), and "Advanced" (which only allows you to delete local files). Just for experimentation, I tried adding my local path as an allowed site in "Local Storage Settings" but it doesn't have any effect.

I don't have any other problems using regular Flash-based websites in Safari. Only my published Captivate files spawn this security popup.

How do I fix this?

[RodWard]

Are you launching your published Captivate content from a web server or just playing it from your local hard drive or a LAN drive?

If playing from a local or LAN drive, you would need to have this publish folder location added as a trusted location in Flash Global Security settings.

Go to this link: http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager04.html

Does this allow you to configure your Global Security?

[syncrasy]

Thanks. Before I try the Global Security technique, I wonder if you could explain why this problem appears only in Safari, and only recently. Prior to this week I could get most files to play in Safari instantly (and the other files with a refresh). Is it related to a recent Safari update? Could my recent installation of the Java security/malware fix have relevance?

[RodWard]

Any of those recent changes you mention could have introduced tighter security measures in your Safari browser that now require you to set the Flash Global Security to trust the publish locations.

First things first, you need to set up Flash Global Security and see if it does indeed make things work again. If it doesn't, then you need to cast your net wider for a solution.

[syncrasy]

It worked! Thank you. (Actually, I used the related URL for "Global security settings for content creators" (http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager04a.html#119065) since that URL is intended for local development/testing, whereas the link you provided is for sites on the Web.)

But I'm curious. . .  according to Adobe (http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager.html), "Beginning with Flash Player 10.3, the Local Settings Manager supersedes this Online Settings Manager for managing global settings on Windows, Mac, and Linux computers." Yet the page goes on to explain when one would use the online Global Settings. This is very confusing. If the local Settings Manager supercedes the online manager, why would the online manager still be required for certain uses? And why isn't a link to the Global Settings manager provided within the local Settings manager. What am I not understanding?

[RodWard]

Not everyone has the Local Settings Manager on their system because not everyone is able to upgrade to Flash 10.3.  For example there are plenty of corporate sites that are still on Flash 9 or even earlier.  Even corporate sites that HAVE installed Flash 10.3 may lock users out of parts of the Windows Control Panel (where the Local Settings Manager resides).

So I think Adobe is wise to keep the web-based access to Flash Player configuration around for a while yet.

By the way, you don't need to worry about setting up trusted locations under Flash Global Security for sites delivered from web servers (though there are other Flash settings that are designed to cover different types of security issues that occur with web content).  The main need filled by trusting locations in Flash Global Security is for where you need to run content from your hard drive, LAN drive, or CD/DVD ROM drive.

[syncrasy]

Another development...

While the Flash Global Security website continues to display properly on my desktop computer, the settings panel does not display properly on my laptop computer (the Flash widget generates an error "The certificate for this server is invalid"). I'm running the same version of Safari (5.1.7) and the same version of Flash Player (11.3.300.268) on both computers.

Any ideas how to get this working on my laptop?

(I can play the file in Firefox, after dismissing the security popup, but I'd like to have the Safari option.)