Update Adobe Flash Player popup notice while disabled in mms.cfg

[BenDeVriese]

Hello,

For some years we distribute Flash Player successfully to 2000+ workstation (with ConfigMgr 2012).

Updates are disabled via mms.cfg. This file isn't touched in years, always did his job.

Recently the deployment of Flash Player 11.6.602.171 was started to all workstations and some users reported a popup notice to update Flash Player. This popup notice appeared at startup, after the computer was rebooted.

In Windows Control Panel in the Flash Player Settings Manager > Advanced-tab, the "Never check for update" is selected (and greyed out when viewing with a normal user account).

Users don't have local admin rights, so they cannot change the update settings themself.

We delete the FlashUpdateService (AdobeFlashPlayerUpdateSvc) and FlashPlayerUpdateService.exe file. And all scheduled task related to Adobe Flash Player.

Someone who has the same issue or a clue where that popup was triggered?

Some more info;

• Flash Player version 11.6.602.171 (ActiveX only, no Plug-in Flash Player installed)
• 32bit MSI file (install_flash_player_11_active_x.msi)
• Windows 7 x64 SP1
• mms.cfg only contains AutoUpdateDisable=1, and is saved in UTF8-encoding.
• mms.cfg is saved under %windir%\SysWOW64\ (That is; C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash).

[chris.campbell]

Could you please post the contents of one of these system's mms.cfg along with their flashinstall.log file?

Thanks,

Chris

[BenDeVriese]

Please find both files here:

mms.cfg

FlashInstall.log

[BenDeVriese]

The update process that is started is located in System32, while we're only using Windows 7 x64.

"C:\Windows\System32\Macromed\Flash\FlashUtil64_11_6_602_168_ActiveX.exe" -update activex

Mms.cfg is located in the SysWow64 directory, and NOT in the System32 location. According to the documentation that's the way to go (x64 OS => mms.cfg in SysWow64\Macromed\Flash, and NOT in System32)

Could this be a bug in the Flash Player version we're using? (both 11.6.602.168 and 11.6.602.171 have this issue in our environment).

[Guest]

I am having this exact same problem!  We have the Flash ActiveX and Plugin installed.  My mms.cfg file is in the same spot (C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash), with the same text in it (AutoUpdateDisable=1), with the same encoding (UTF8-encoding).  My users just got an update prompt this morning.

Control Panel looks like:

mms.cfg:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/u5rrj9z0ltckp3f/mms.cfg

FlashInstall.log:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/nkzcmnqd40mbbs5/FlashInstall.log

The exe that runs is FlashUtil64_11_6_602_180_ActiveX.exe.  It runs from C:\windows\system32\Macromed\Flash\FlashUtil64_11_6_602_180_Active.exe.

The documentation says the mms.cfg has to be in C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash for 64-bit systems.  Does it need to be in both places?  Is it possible that this issue can be fixed ASAP?

[BenDeVriese]

Glad i'm not the only one with this issue.

This is a major issue for enterprises.

Is this a bug, is it fixed in the latest version?

[Guest]

Please Adobe we need a response.  I am in desperate need for this issue to be resolved.  I receive daily calls about this problem.

[ITWaffle007]

We have Windows XP in our enterperise we did a pilot push of 11_6_602_180_ActiveX to about 150 devices and are getting a handful of calls with the same exact issue.

MMS file has the following:

AutoUpdateDisable=1
SilentAutoUpdateEnable=0

It is located in the same folder as Flash32_11_6_602_180.ocx

Used SCCM 2007 as deployment method running a VBScript to remove anything old and place the needed cfg file in correct location.

Need to get this version out to about 4900 devices .... by Friday. Any suggestions? Can't have it go out in the state its in.

[chris.campbell]

I just wanted to let you guys know that we are investigating these reports.  I hope to have additional info (or questions) for you soon.

Thanks,

Chris

[chris.campbell]

So far we've been unable to reproduce this in house.  How are your client systems using Flash Player (general Internet usage, drm streaming, Adobe connect, etc)?

[BenDeVriese]

Thanks for investigating this!

AFAIK general internet usage. Nothing special. A particular user alread has this update prompt a couple of times, always at startup (runonce?) with Flash Player 11.6.602.168. After updating to version .180 he doesn't have the update prompt any more. But who know's what will happen in 30 days from now ...

[BenDeVriese]

That user also uses drm streaming via Flash Player (radio streaming). We don't use Adobe Connect.

[r.aerts]

We have the same issue on our client machines.

After a fresh install, there is a scheduled task installed by the Flash player installation. This tasks is generated regardless the disabled auto-update setting in Flash player.

[BenDeVriese]

This scheduled task isn't the issue in this case, the scheduled task is present but doesn't do anything if you disable updates with mms.cfg.

Btw We delete this scheduled task.

What version are you using? Are you using mms.cfg with AutoUpdateDisable=1, and saved the file in UTF8-encoding? What OS are you using and where do you have the mms.cfg placed?

[r.aerts]

We are using Flashplayer on a 32 bit Windows XP system.

We use the mms.cfg file as wel as a settings.sol file.The mms.cfg is placed in the system32 folder.

[ITWaffle007]

So far we did not do anything but push the deployment out to our desktops. As mentioned, this only occurs on some devices, not all. There has to be something in common between them, what should I be looking for?

[ITWaffle007]

Anything?

[Guest]

It sounds like everyone is doing it right, but just for anyone wondering. This is from the 11.2 admin guide.

mms.cfg file location

Assuming a default Windows installation, Flash Player looks for the mms.cfg file in the following system directories:

•32-bit Windows - %WINDIR%\System32\Macromed\Flash

•64-bit Windows - %WINDIR%\SysWow64\Macromed\Flash

Note: The %WINDIR% location represents the Windows system directory, such as C:\WINDOWS.

http://wwwimages.adobe.com/www.adobe.com/content/dam/Adobe/en/devnet/flashplayer/pdfs/flash_player_1...

[kevinT0404]

It seems this problem is related to Adobe PDF reader and not the flash player.  I get the same error on a PC with a new Windows XP installation.  I installed Adobe reader (ver 11.0.2) about a week ago with auto update disabled. I got the same message for updating flash player today. Flash player is not installed on this computer!

[Arkrite_T_M_]

I'm also having the same problem. Even though I've disabled the option for checking for updates.

Now that you mention it I don't recall having this pop up issue before I updated Adobe Reader last week. Perhaps the two are related.

[Guest]

I have updated our users to 11.7.700.169.  Maybe that will resolve the issue.  I won't know until a new version is released.

Since there has been talk about Adobe reader.  I thought I would mention that the users that I am seeing this on, our Windows 7 64-bit pilot users, do not have Adobe Reader or Acrobat installed.

[chris.campbell]

Here's something to be aware of that I didn't know about until late last week.  If you do an uninstall of Flash Player on a client, their mms.cfg will be reset to the default settings.  This means any changes you have made with regards to suppressing update notifications will be lost.  After talking with the installer team, our guidance would be to copy the mms.cfg each time you roll out an update to your clients.  While you shouldn't have to uninstall Flash to perform an upgrade, there are other conditions that might also cause the mms to be reset (end user uninstalls, etc) and the safest bet would be to ensure your clients have the version that you provide.

[kevinT0404]

Chriss,

There must be a common bug between flash player and Adobe Reader.  As I’ve mentioned in a previous post we reloaded a new installation of Windows XP, installed only the Adobe Reader (no Flash Player) and one week later the update message for flash player popped up.  We have performed a complete search on C: drive and this machine does not have mms.cfg.  Can that be the problem? 

[Guest]

I just uninstalled Flash 11.6.602.180 and the contents of the mms.cfg remained the same.

[BenDeVriese]

True, mms.cfg is untouched after an uninstall of Flash Player 11.6.602.180 (uninstall_flash_player.exe -uninstall).

Chris, mms.cfg is always copied and overwritten if needed in our deployment. So this cannot be the issue.