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Automatic Update not updating

New Here ,
Apr 13, 2012 Apr 13, 2012

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When I installed Flash Player 11.2.202.228, I selected the "Install updates automatically" option, fully expecting that this would install updates automatically.

Today, I decided to check the status of my plugins on the Mozilla Plugin Check site. "Potentially vulnerable plugins: Shockwave Flash: Outdated version". Looking at the download page, I find that the latest version is 11.2.202.233, while I still have 228 installed.

OK, maybe the browser needs to be restarted to pick up the updates. Nope - restarting Firefox makes no difference.

Maybe I need to manually run the automatic update service? Nope - it starts and stops immediately without downloading any updates.

Maybe I need to hack the registry to force an update? Nope - deleting the HKLM\Software\SysWOW64\Macromedia\FlashPlayer\LastUpdateCheck entry and running the automatic update service just recreates the entry with a new value. No new version of Flash.

So what's the point in yet another Adobe automatic update service that doesn't update anything, let alone automatically???

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New Here ,
Apr 13, 2012 Apr 13, 2012

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In the past I would uninstall the old version and download the new version and install, but when 11.2.202.228 came out I decided to see if this new update system would work. I tried clearing out the windows prefetch to see if that would help, no luck. Anyway I also want to know if it is going to update, maybe it will just take a few days for it to get around the internet. Glad you posted this, maybe someone that knows will reply. Thanks

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Adobe Employee ,
Apr 13, 2012 Apr 13, 2012

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It appears you caught us in the middle of our deployment process.  The version numbers might have been updated, but other pieces were not in place.  Please give it another hour, restart your browser, and check again.  For more details on how this mechanism works, please see the following FAQ:

How does the automatic update feature in Flash Player 11.2 work on Windows?

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New Here ,
Apr 14, 2012 Apr 14, 2012

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Just wanted to post back and let you know all my computers updated within about 12 hours, an xp, vista, and two windows 7. Seems to have updated with no problems. If this works this well in the future will save me a lot of time with not having to do each computer with an uninstall and download and reinstall. Thanks

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Explorer ,
Apr 14, 2012 Apr 14, 2012

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Still waiting here. Flash control panel reports 11.2.202.228, and all along I've been configured for "Install updates automatically." My browsers have been closed for a considerable amount of time, too. I see in Task Scheduler that the Flash task is dutifully running every hour, so I'm not sure what's up.

Hmmm, I see that it's been running every hour since I installed the original 11.2, on Apr 4.  So, based on that last link above, what does that mean, that it's not seeing an Internet connection?  It most certainly has one, and I see in the details of the task events that it returns an error code of 0, which is positive (none of the task details show any hint of a problem). The service is on Manual, which I believe is also normal.

I am using Win8 Consumer Preview. Could that be it?  I'm not using 3rd-party AV or firewall. Is Adobe supposed to automatically create an exception rule in the Windows Firewall, or does it just work over port 80?  I looked through the Outbound Rules and don't see anything for Adobe.

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New Here ,
Apr 16, 2012 Apr 16, 2012

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OK, I'm finally up to date. I had to manually run the updater three times: the first time, it updated the ActiveX files; the second time, it updated the plugin files, but uninstalled the plugin from Firefox; the third time, it reinstalled the plugin.

On an unrelated note, your forum is now unusable in Firefox due to script errors:

Error: missing ) after argument list
Source File: http://forums.adobe.com/thread/989441
Line: 26, Column: 16

Error: containerType is not defined
Source File: http://forums.adobe.com/thread/989441
Line: 293

Error: uncaught exception: [Exception... "Component returned failure code: 0x805e0006 [nsIXMLHttpRequest.open]"  nsresult: "0x805e0006 (<unknown>)"  location: "JS frame :: http://forums.adobe.com/4.5.6/resources/scripts/gen/220b1b06a29f901e1d24252ac800883e.js :: <TOP_LEVEL> :: line 23"  data: no]

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Explorer ,
Apr 16, 2012 Apr 16, 2012

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Hey, me too, but I never did run it manually. By the dates on the files, they were downloaded midday Sunday.

I should emphasize that I didn't do anything differently this weekend than I had the preceding week. No reboots, and I've been closing browsers out every night. I think only Adobe will be able to explain this one.

BTW, the task continues to fire every hour in Task Scheduler. As I understand it, it's only supposed to be every 24 hours....

Edit: I checked another machine, Win7, and its Flash item in Task Scheduler runs hourly, too. Looking at the task more closely, it's a daily task that's set to "repeat task every 1 hour for a duration of 1 day" -- so it's doing exactly what it's set to do. But why set it this way, Adobe?

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New Here ,
Jun 11, 2012 Jun 11, 2012

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And again: Adobe released an update on 8th June, but today (11th June), the update service still failed to pick it up, even after running the service manually.

Good job I don't trust the "Adobe Flash Player Update Service" to actually update Adobe Flash Player, otherwise I'd have been left running a vulnerable version for however long it takes the monkeys to push the button and deploy the update!

And your forum is still unusable in Firefox.

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Adobe Employee ,
Jun 11, 2012 Jun 11, 2012

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Dent,

Please see this thread that explains how the update process will work with a quarterly release:

http://forums.adobe.com/message/4483381#4483381

Chris

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New Here ,
Jun 12, 2012 Jun 12, 2012

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That would be fine if 11.3 was a low-priority maintenance release. According to the security bulletin [1], this was a high-priority security patch which addresses "vulnerabilities that could cause a crash and potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system".

Leaving users with that kind of gaping security hole open for 30 days is not acceptable!

[1] http://www.adobe.com/support/security/bulletins/apsb12-14.html

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Explorer ,
Jun 12, 2012 Jun 12, 2012

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Good point, Dent!

Anyway, I posted a feature suggestion in the other thread:

https://bugbase.adobe.com/index.cfm?event=bug&id=3211239

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New Here ,
Nov 07, 2012 Nov 07, 2012

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This morning, the "automatic" updater displayed a message to tell me there was an update available (11.5, which fixes several RCE vulnerabilities). When I clicked on the "Update" button, it opened Firefox on the "Download Flash" page (with McAfee automatically selected, of course ). I had to manually download and install the update, and then repeat the process for IE9.

The good news: the "automatic" update service will tell you there's an update available, although it won't tell you that it's a critical update.

The bad news: it still won't update automatically.

If Adobe can't make a simple automatic update service which updates automatically, how can we trust them to get anything else right??!

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Explorer ,
Nov 07, 2012 Nov 07, 2012

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That's too bad. I checked out the comments from the above feature suggestion and found this in the comments, from July:

"we consider this is a enhancement or feature request. currently we have same discuss internal Adobe but I cant tell how and when will this feature be changed."

Adobe, is there any update on this? Maybe 11.6?

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Adobe Employee ,
Nov 07, 2012 Nov 07, 2012

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This is expected behavior.  Major Flash Player releases, like the initial release of 11.5, will prompt the user with an update dialog, allowing them to read the key features new to the release.  You can choose to update immediately or if you decline the automatic update (if enabled) will silently install the update 30 days after release.  Please see this FAQ for full details on how the automatic update mechanism works.

How does the automatic update feature work in Flash Player?

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Explorer ,
Nov 07, 2012 Nov 07, 2012

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Yes, but the feature suggestion (see above), and the comment there in July from Adobe regarding it, was about creating an option for an actual automatic install, not just a periodic one. I really don't know of anyone interested in reading about and considering new Adobe Flash features.

Edit:

I also want to echo what Dent mentioned: the security update for 11.4 is 11.5. It's not as if 11.4 users get updated silently to a fixed version of 11.4, with the 11.5 prompt happening some other time, making this prompting issue somewhat less of a problem. Think of all the normal users out there declining the 11.5 update for any number of reasons. 30 days pass....

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New Here ,
Feb 08, 2013 Feb 08, 2013

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Oh, what a surprise: another critical security update which the "automatic updater" doesn't pick up. This one isn't even a major update; 11.5.502.146 to 11.5.502.149 doesn't fall under the "expected behaviour" of not applying security patches ASAP.

I guess Adobe just want to force us to manually download the updates so they get another chance to try to foist their crapware on us.

The whole content of the "How does the automatic update feature work in Flash Player?" page could be replaced with two words: It doesn't.

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Explorer ,
Apr 16, 2013 Apr 16, 2013

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LATEST

What I just added to the above report:

When I booted a Windows machine today with the latest 11.6 on it, only to see a prompt to update Flash (to 11.7) -- and this machine is set for fully automatic Flash updates -- I was reminded of this report.

Is anything due to change? A lot of us still never want our users to be prompted, ESPECIALLY when your installers often bundle things like Mcafee and Google Drive.

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