Flash player Flash Player 13.0.0.258 auto updates to version 15

[manuel_inside]

We want to deploy flash player with silent background updates enabled. To test the update mechanism I installed version 13.0.0.258 activeX and let it auto update.

I expected it would update to version 13.0.0.259, but version 15 was installed.

How can this be, I thought 13 is still the extended support version?

below mms.cfg and the install.log.

mms.cfg

AutoUpdateDisable=0

SilentAutoUpdateEnable=1

SilentAutoUpdateVerboseLogging=1

FlashInstall.log

=O====== M/13.0.0.258 2015-01-08+08-35-07.117 ========

0000 00001113 C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash\\* 3

0001 00000010 "C:\Users\Administrator\Desktop\ClientDate-IE-flash\install_flash_player_13_active_x.exe" -install

0002 00001036 Software\Macromedia\FlashPlayer\SafeVersions/13.0 2

0003 00001036 Software\Macromedia\FlashPlayerActiveX/PlayerPath 2

0004 00000011 1

0005 00000020 C:\Windows\SysWOW64\FlashPlayerCPLApp.cpl

0006 00001037 SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Adobe Flash Player ActiveX/ 2

0007 00000013 C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash\Flash32_13_0_0_258.ocx

0008 00000015 C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash\FlashUtil32_13_0_0_258_ActiveX.exe

0009 00000016 C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash\FlashUtil32_13_0_0_258_ActiveX.dll

0010 00000023 C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash\activex.vch

0011 00000019 C:\Windows\SysWOW64\FlashPlayerCPLApp.cpl

0012 00000021 C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash\FlashPlayerUpdateService.exe

=X====== M/13.0.0.258 2015-01-08+08-35-15.564 ========

2015-1-8+8-40-20.506 [info] 1614

2015-1-8+8-40-21.99 [info] 1615

2015-1-8+8-40-21.365 [info] 1618

2015-1-8+8-40-22.428 [info] 1619 1063

2015-1-8+8-40-22.724 [info] 1614

2015-1-8+8-40-22.724 [info] 1615

2015-1-8+8-40-22.724 [info] 1618

2015-1-8+8-40-22.740 [info] 1608

2015-1-8+8-40-22.740 [info] 1604

2015-1-8+8-40-22.787 [info] 1630 /pub/flashplayer/update/current/sau/11/xml/version.xml

2015-1-8+8-40-26.537 [info] 1630 /pub/flashplayer/update/current/sau/11/xml/patch.xml

2015-1-8+8-40-28.162 [info] 1600

2015-1-8+8-40-40.240 [info] 1602

2015-1-8+8-40-40.240 [info] 1609

2015-1-8+8-40-40.240 [info] 1612

2015-1-8+8-40-40.271 [info] 1620

2015-1-8+8-41-16.990 [error] 1226 1062

=O====== M/15.0.0.246 2015-01-08+08-40-41.943 ========

0000 00000010 FlashPlayerInstaller.exe -install -iv 9

0001 00001036 Software\Macromedia\FlashPlayer\SafeVersions/15.0 2

0002 00000011 1

0003 00000020 C:\Windows\SysWOW64\FlashPlayerCPLApp.cpl

0004 00000013

0005 00000015 C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash\FlashUtil32_15_0_0_246_ActiveX.exe

0006 00000016 C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash\FlashUtil32_15_0_0_246_ActiveX.dll

0007 00000023 C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash\activex.vch

0008 00000019 C:\Windows\SysWOW64\FlashPlayerCPLApp.cpl

0009 00001024 C:\Windows\SysWOW64\FlashPlayerCPLApp.cpl 183

0010 00001024 C:\Windows\SysWOW64\FlashPlayerApp.exe 183

0011 00000021 C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash\FlashPlayerUpdateService.exe

0012 00001106

0013 00001106

0014 00001024 C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash\FlashPlayerUpdateService.exe 183

0015 00000012

=X====== M/15.0.0.246 2015-01-08+08-41-19.053 ========

[jeromiec83223024 · Accepted solution]

We launched the ESR to provide pain relief for network administrators, but it came long after the background update service was built, and it's not currently designed to handle multiple parallel branches.  Supporting the ESR via background update is on our product backlog, but it's not likely to get done for a while.  Just getting the ESR was the first battle, and we're making incremental improvements as time allows.

The really big organizations that we were targeting with the ESR typically run their own in-house auto-update servers or they push all updates through their own management tools (AD/SCUP/SMS/etc).  Those organizations typically have onerous testing requirements for distributing feature-bearing updates, so the ESR was really designed to minimize the testing burden on those IT departments -- streamlining the distribution is something we want to do, but it was more important to just make it available as an option for distribution.

You can find details on running your own auto-update server in the administration guide, but it's non-trivial and we're still working out the kinks (notifications slip through in some edge-cases, etc).  There's also a good rundown on the customization options for various updates.  You may be better off using your standard software management tools to distribute updates in the short-term, depending on your environment's complexity and available resources:

Adobe Flash Player Administration Guide for Flash Player | Adobe Developer Connection

[manuel_inside]

Thanks for the helpful information, Jeromie.

Just one more thing: Do you still announce esr updates here Flash Runtime Announcements ?

If not, how can we learn about a new esr version release?

Best Regards

Manuel

edit: maybe for your next admin guide you want to add a notice at the update section that esr is not supported yet

[jeromiec83223024]

That's a really good point about the docs.

Guidance on the ESR is included in the release notes and the security bulletins for each release, but the long and short of it is that you want to always use the latest available version of the ESR branch.  Normal releases happen monthly, on Patch Tuesday.  Out-of-cycle releases happen as needed (i.e. we've seen an exploit in the wild) and we'll publish security bulletins and guidance about those. 

If and when we change the ESR branch (in recent history this has been driven by the needs of the infrastructure), we try to provide as much lead time as possible and will announce in the forums and will typically post a blog post.  The distinction being that we control the content in the forums directly, but everything else has to go through intermediaries.

I'd recommend that you sign up for the Adobe Security Notification service.  Whenever patches with security impact for Adobe products become available, you'll get an email.

Adobe - Security Notification Service