Where is the Clean Install file for Flash Player for Mac?

[tolsenmd]

The troubleshooting for Mac Install of Flash Player suggests that one uninstall and then perform a clean install.  I believe that this has also been referred to as an "offline" installer.  When one clicks on the the link to the clean install, one obtains the dreaded "404", File not Found error.  Does anyone know where one can find the clean install file.  The standard update almost never, ever works on my 2009 PowerMac, now running Yosemite.  Would someone please suggest to the folks running the Adobe website that it would be nice to have a working link to such a file.  This issue has come up before.  Would someone also suggest that before any new update is unleashed upon the world that someone make sure that the "Clean Install" link is linked to a download of a "Clean Install" installer?

Many thanks,

T. Olsen

[Guest]

None of the last several installers have worked right. I had to get instructions that made me use all these copy and past commands to a terminal thingy to make it install and update. I really wish Adobe would get it together and get a REAL installer, you know one that worked. I hate being stuck in school work stuff cuz of all these "you need to update NOW" errors cuz of security things and then having to take hours to try and find out how to get the thing installed cuz they don't have a working installer and/or updater. If you find out how to do it, please post a link or instructions here. I am eager to know how to update it and actually get it install.

[tolsenmd]

Amen!

[Guest]

It would be nice if maybe these things were a little more straightforward and self-installing, OR if clear and concise instructions were included with the files to install on how to do it manually. At least save us hours of searching. This "out of date" error is crippling my school work since I cannot get into some sites that I need to be able to get into in order to do some of my assignments. PLEASE get this fixed or tell us how to fix this! Else, how to disable the stupid warnings that are crippling flash player in our browsers.

[OMG-is-NoScreenname-Avail]

Superman Brian Krebs says at

http://krebsonsecurity.com/2012/11/adobe-ships-election-day-security-update-for-flash/ :

Adobe urges users to grab the latest updates from its Flash Player Download Center, but that option pushes junk add-ons like McAfee VirusScan. Instead, download the appropriate version for your system from Adobe’s Flash Player Distribution page. Most users can find out what version of Flash they have installed by visiting this link.  On his site, the italicized words are links.

I would suggest modifying those links to change http to httpS or installing HTTPS everywhere.  (See  Can't download Flash Player securely)  I found that the .pkg installer worked for me, while the others didn't. 

[Guest]

You said try the official link(s)? This is where the Flash Player help page at (http://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player.html) sends you:

http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/

This is about as "official" as it gets, and that does NOT work.

[_maria_]

Hello,

We are aware of issues with the online installer and are working to fix those.  The links to the full installers are posted at the bottom of this page, Installation problems | Flash Player | Mac.

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Maria

[Guest]

That was December, the comments about the broken "Shim" installer via the web-based delivery system and I am still unable to use that 4-5 months later. I am of the opinion that that will never again work (it's been a very long time since I could get that to actually install on my Mac- and I've been through at least 3 different OSX versions now without any change in that).

Can you explain, exactly, how this monthly update (which causes the "out of date" error) can be handled without it absolutely killing the flash plugin functionality. Like SunflowerKatya, I have experienced a total failure of flash to function immediately upon it going "out of date". If this is a planned, monthly, occurrence, is there some way to mitigate the "crippling" effect of having no functioning flash player until we can update. I, too, am bothered by the notion that once a month, I will have to stop anything I am doing to babysit a removal and installation of Flash player in order to continue doing what I need and want to be doing. It is a very annoying plan of action to counter the malicious sorts out there looking for vulnerabilities. I understand there are security concerns and risk associated with using out dated software and plugins, but a monthly release of updates that effectively renders all prior versions of the player without functionality is a very poor manner of execution. How can we avoid the total loss of the plugin's use until we can update it? Is this something that has to be handled by Mozilla, Apple, et al or is this "out of date" breakage a problem cause by Flash noticing it's not the most current and breaking itself? And, if it is the latter, how can we avoid this from happening- a notification and option to let it run anyway would be polite and preferable (if at all possible). Thanks for your time and any help you can provide on this matter.

[OMG-is-NoScreenname-Avail]

NO, SunflowerKatya, those are NOT the links I suggested you try.  Try to read more carefully.  I pointed you to a real installer.

Staff member m_vargas is suggesting yet other links; I see no links to full installers at the bottom of the page m_vargas links to.

[tolsenmd]

Would you please point me to the real installer?

Thank you,

T. Olsen

[OMG-is-NoScreenname-Avail]

tolsenmd wrote:

Would you please point me to the real installer?

Thank you,

T. Olsen

I did, when I wrote: Superman Brian Krebs says at

http://krebsonsecurity.com/2012/11/adobe-ships-election-day-security-update-for-flash/ :

"Adobe urges users to grab the latest updates from its Flash Player Download Center, but that option pushes junk add-ons like McAfee VirusScan. Instead, download the appropriate version for your system from Adobe’s Flash Player Distribution page. Most users can find out what version of Flash they have installed by visiting this link.  On his site, the italicized words are links."

[Guest]

So you want us to use the ones not on the download site but the ones found on some other adobe page? Why can't adobe just put links out to these like normal people would do?! ARG!

This page?

http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/distribution3.html

You coulda just put that link in your reply. Just saying. And sorry about misreading that. I saw that comment in your text saying "Adobe urges users to grab the latest updates from its Flash Player Download Center" and I was in the middle of trying to do homework… Cut me a break, I'm just 14.

[_maria_]

Hello,

Sorry you're encountering issues installing Flash Player.  The official location to obtain Flash Player is from get.adobe.com/flashplayer, as has been previously noted. This does use a shim installer that downloads/installs Flash Player silently in the background.  We are aware of installation issues with this workflow and are working to resolve the issues.

The Installation problems | Flash Player | Mac page does contain links to the full (non-shim) installers at the bottom of the page, as noted in the screenshot below.

Hope this helps.

--

Maria

[tolsenmd]

Dear Maria,

Thank you for your patience and kind concern. I finally did realize to which link you were referring in an earlier message, and Flash is working just fine right now. Thank you once again.

Wishing you an excellent weekend,

T. Olsen

[tolsenmd]

Dear Maria,

Thank you for your patience and kind concern. I finally did realize to which link you were referring in an earlier message, and Flash is working just fine right now. Thank you once again.

Wishing you an excellent weekend,

T. Olsen

[Guest]

Having to do this AGAIN… Flash player for Mac is GARBAGE! It constantly just STOPS WORKING for Safari even though it works in Chrome and Firefox… This sucks. I wish they'd get it working and KEEP IT WORKING. Argh!

[_maria_]

Hi SunflowerKatya,

Google embeds the Flash Player PPAPI plugin in Chrome.  Safari and Firefox use the NPAPI plugin, so Chrome and Safari/Firefox do not use the same plugin.  What exactly does 'constantly stops working' mean exactly?  Is Safari returning some message (e.g. blocked plugin, plugin out-of-date, something else?)  What OS X version do you have?  Please describe the issue in detail so that we may be able to better assist you.

Thank you.

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Maria

[Guest]

What I mean is that it stops working. It will go and say it's out of date, like literally every other day almost. I have gone to that page in the link above and installed it at least once every freaking week. Are they updating it so often that it breaks ALL THE TIME!? If so, they need to STOP and do a better job to NOT need to be updated daily. Being told "Flash is out of date" and NOT being able to use it, AT ALL, every single week is super irritating and really getting old. It still works in Firefox, but for some reason most pages with videos like news places won't connect when I look at them in Firefox, but when I do in Safari (when Flash works and is not "out of date" crippled) it does, so I prefer Safari.

[Guest]

Also, other than they are different, IDK what PPAPI and NPAPI mean. I am not a huge computer techie person yet. lol

[_maria_]

Hi SunflowerKatya,

Regular releases of Flash Player are scheduled monthly on the second Tuesday of the month which means we had a release yesterday.  Unscheduled releases to respond to 0-day attacks can occur at any time.  The release prior to yesterday was the regularly scheduled release in February.  Unfortunately, due to 0-day attacks we had several releases in January.  Due to this, both Apple and Mozilla were fairly quick to mark the plugin out-of-date to prompt users to update Flash Player.  As frustrating as it may seem, this is for your benefit so that malicious users don't compromise your system.. 

Both Safari and Firefox use the NPAPI plugin.  They have their own policy as to when to mark a plugin out-of-date and require users to update the plugin.  Adobe has no say in this decision.  The latest version is 17.0.0.169, released yesterday.  If you have this version installed, neither Safari nor Mozilla should be displaying the plugin out-of-date message.  If they do, I recommend going to their support/forums and ask them why they're marking a plugin out-of-date when the latest version is installed.

PPAPI and NPAPI are two different plugin types.  Chrome used to use NPAPI but they are phasing that out and using PPAPI.  Again, Google embeds Flash Player in Chrome.  If you have Chrome configured to auto-update, it'll auto-update without your knowledge.

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Maria

[Guest]

No offense, "it's for your own good" sounds crappy when you're saying, basically, "yeah, they plan it to be crippled regularly and make you constantly have to go and remove it entirely and reinstall it". That's awful. Thanks for the update about it though. At least I know WHY it's happening now. And if Chrome is using their own built into Chrome, does that mean I need to reinstall IT every month or week or whatever when Adobe makes new version of Flash? Or can I use this same installer for that? If not, how can I do that?

[Varun_Bhal]

Hi,

You dont have to do anything to update Flash player plugin in your Chrome browser. As Maria have already mentioned, If you have Chrome configured to auto-update, it'll auto-update without your knowledge. which means as and when your chrome updates, it update the bundled Flash player plugin as well. Just keep your chrome updated.

- Varun

[_maria_]

Hi SunflowerKatya,

We obviously don't plan it to be crippled regularly, however, the reality is that there are a lot of bad actors out there who, for some odd reason, enjoy doing malicious things to others.  Hardly a day goes by without some story on some news wire about hackers hacking into something.

If you have Google Chrome configured to auto-update, which is the default setting, it will auto-update and you won't have to do anything.

--

Maria

[Guest]

Ok, so basically use Chrome for anything flash and hope for the best… But I don't see how that will help since Chrome has been disabling some stuff (and the Unity player which I need for some things)…

"Regular releases of Flash Player are scheduled monthly on the second Tuesday of the month which means we had a release yesterday.  "

Since every update gives me crippling "out of date" errors (meaning, no flash use at all cuz of the error), and these are planned monthly, I don't see how I can read that any differently than there's a plan to cripple Flash every month like clockwork (not to mention required updates from baddies doing idiotic stuff- and that I know you can't help, that's not your fault and I don't mean to imply it is).

What IS Adobe's fault is that there's a planned breaking of the plugin every single month; that the web-based installer it sends you to does not work (and hasn't worked in so long I can't remember it ever working anymore); that we have to completely remove it with an uninstaller and then cleanly install it- using files that are on a page that for some crazy reason (as stated earlier in this thread) Adobe is contractually obligating people to NOT SHARE with users that NEED IT. What the heck is that?! Is this a business model intending to make Flash hated, unused, and abandoned?! Cuz I can't see "let's get more users by making it hard to keep using it and a royal pain to fix it when we break it every month" being a good plan to make it better or more accessible.

If there's an easier way, that works, PLEASE tell me. I'm just 15, so I am not a super computer genius… but I KNOW the web installer doesn't work- it never does. The uninstaller and reinstall thing is a pain… I know that. And now I'm told "it's needed monthly". Ugh… Can you see where I am getting frustrated? I'm home schooled and this is getting in the way of school work constantly.

[_maria_]

Hi SunflowerKatya,

I understand your frustration and I'm sorry you're experiencing these issues.

There is not a planed breaking of the plugin every month.  Apple (and Mozilla) decide when they want to mark a plugin is out-of-date, not Adobe.  As far as I can tell, Apple has not marked 17.0.0.134 (March's Flash Player release) is out-of-date. I have forced an update of the file they use to determine this several times and 17.0.0.134 is still not marked as being out-of-date. Refer to http://www.thesafemac.com/apple-cracks-down-on-adware/ for information on this.

As for putting the offline in an obscure page that "Adobe is contractually obligating people to NOT SHARE with users that NEED IT"  I believe you are referring to post 12 above, which refers to the Flash Player Licensing page where the offline installers are posted for Enterprise users who license the full installer.  The full installers are also posted at the bottom of the Installation problems | Flash Player | Mac page, in the 'Still having problems' section.

You can also check the plugin status in Safari > Preferences > Security > Internet Plug-ins.  The exact location may differ depending on your OS X/Safari version.  This is from OS X 10.10 w/Safari 8.0.5.  Make sure that Adobe Flash Player is set to Allow.  To use a previous version of Flash Player, configure the plug-in to run in unsafe mode.  See Apple's Safari: About Internet plug-in management - Apple Support tech note for more information.

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Maria