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10.1.5 / Flash 11.5.502.146 - can't view PDF with Flash content

New Here ,
Jan 16, 2013 Jan 16, 2013

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We rolled out Reader 10.1.5 and Flash 11.5.502.146 [Windows 7] this week and discovered that one can not view a PDF containing Flash content.

We receive the message "To view the Flash Technology content in this PDF file, please install the required version of Flash Player". 

According to the Adobe Reader Blog "As mentioned in Three Common Adobe Reader and Acrobat Security Questions, unknown Flash will now be rendered by the system Flash Player (NPAPI version), when using Adobe Reader and Acrobat 10.1.5. Note: This has already been done for Reader and Acrobat 11. As stated before, this means that Adobe Reader/Acrobat users will no longer have to update Adobe Reader/Acrobat each time we update the Flash Player."

If the latter is true, why are we seeing this message?  And, how do we resolve the problem?

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correct answers 1 Correct answer

LEGEND , Jan 21, 2013 Jan 21, 2013

The Flash Player extension for the Acrobat XI Family is different to the Web browser plugins, and must be installed on demand by following the prompts in Acrobat or Adobe Reader.

See my blog for a detailed explanation.

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Guest
Jan 21, 2013 Jan 21, 2013

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Not quite the same problem as yours, but I'm guessing that it's related. When I try to open a PDF Portfolio I get the following pop-up (presumable the same one that you're seeing):

20130121_2204_Acrobat_Flash.png

Of course, we shouldn't be getting this message at all given the information you have provided above (which I also noticed in the change log for the latest update).

Adobe, please fix this ASAP.

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Participant ,
Jan 21, 2013 Jan 21, 2013

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Hi,

Looks like you only have Flash Player ActiveX installed your machine. You also need the Flash player Plugin which you can download via the "Proceed to download page" link in the dialog that you have shared. Once you have installed Flash Player Plugin the flash content should be rendered in Adobe Reader and Acrobat 10.1.5

flash.png

For more details on ActiveX and Plugin see following link: http://forums.adobe.com/message/4688902

Hope it helps.

Regards,

hit.anand

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LEGEND ,
Jan 21, 2013 Jan 21, 2013

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The Flash Player extension for the Acrobat XI Family is different to the Web browser plugins, and must be installed on demand by following the prompts in Acrobat or Adobe Reader.

See my blog for a detailed explanation.

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New Here ,
Jan 21, 2013 Jan 21, 2013

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Yes, this is indeed the problem.  We received the message via a document message bar. 

And, I see at the bottom of your blog, that Adobe doesn't offer an enterprise deployment package for it.

You mention in the "under the hood" section of your blog, that one of the .dll's does the heavy lifting.  If one we're to delete the other files, could one update it in the future, by overlaying a new version of the DLL file?  We don't allow our user's to install software and we update Reader/Acrobat, Flash, and Shockwave with the .msi's.

I'll give you the points for the answer tomorrow, after I've had a chance to test the solution.

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Guest
Jan 31, 2013 Jan 31, 2013

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~bill~2013 wrote:

Yes, this is indeed the problem.  We received the message via a document message bar. 

And, I see at the bottom of your blog, that Adobe doesn't offer an enterprise deployment package for it.

You mention in the "under the hood" section of your blog, that one of the .dll's does the heavy lifting.  If one we're to delete the other files, could one update it in the future, by overlaying a new version of the DLL file?  We don't allow our user's to install software and we update Reader/Acrobat, Flash, and Shockwave with the .msi's.

I'll give you the points for the answer tomorrow, after I've had a chance to test the solution.

How did you get on?

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Guest
Feb 01, 2013 Feb 01, 2013

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hit.anand wrote:

Hi,

Looks like you only have Flash Player ActiveX installed your machine. You also need the Flash player Plugin which you can download via the "Proceed to download page" link in the dialog that you have shared. Once you have installed Flash Player Plugin the flash content should be rendered in Adobe Reader and Acrobat 10.1.5

flash.png

For more details on ActiveX and Plugin see following link: http://forums.adobe.com/message/4688902

Hope it helps.

Regards,

hit.anand


We've hit the same issue on our systems after installing Adobe Reader 10.1.5. Installing the latest Flash Player Plug-In (which I thought was only required for other Browsers and not IE) does seem to fix the issue. It's possible to obtain an MSI for this via the Archived Flash Player Archive: http://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/archived-flash-player-versions.html

The only thing I have to still test is the effect on the MMS.CFG file (which we set to autoupdatesdisable=1) when installing this MSI, as the last thing we want is for the new install to reset autoupdates for our Active X install.

After install of the Plug-In, you can clearly see, in the C:\Windows\system32\Macromed\Flash Directory, the NPSWF32_11_5_502_146.dll that seems to restore the functionality we had when we were running Reader 10.1.4.

Not impressed

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New Here ,
Feb 01, 2013 Feb 01, 2013

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We seem to have 2 different issues with the new version now.

The original problem, where a user had a flash video embedded in a PDF (and I can't get ahold of that file). I've always had both the the plugin (for Firefox) and the Active X version installed on my pc. And, with the 11.5.502.146 version with Reader 10.1.5, I couldn't view the content. Just random boxes displayed in Reader. 

This week, several users reported problems viewing "PDF portfolios".  I didn't realize it was possible to embed multiple PDF's inside a single one.  I could view it on my pc, but others couldn't.  I wasn't sure if it was a rights issue, or perhaps because I had the Flash plugin (which I also thought was only used with browers).

I did some testing in a VM yesterday.  I tried the Adobe link in Dave Merchant's (seen above) blog and compared it with what's in the plugin.  Both added the NPSWF32_11_5_502_146.dll to the directory you listedSince I could view the view the content with either link, even with domain user priveledges, I went ahead and released my GPO for the plugin to all of our users.  We also have a MMS.CFG with the same setting you do.

I don't believe I can post the link to the MSI's I use, but if you sign up here:  http://www.adobe.com/products/players/flash-player-distribution.html Adobe will send you a link.  No login is required to download it.

We're trying to stay with 10.1.5 version.  I really don't want to roll back all of our Reader/Acrobat Standard and Pro to an earlier version.

We're not impressed either.  Bill

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LEGEND ,
Feb 01, 2013 Feb 01, 2013

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PDF Portfolios use Flex code to drive the  'card' layouts you see on the screen, so they all require the Flash Player plugin.

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New Here ,
Feb 01, 2013 Feb 01, 2013

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Dave,

Your original reply and blog imply that what I downloaded via the Adobe link is not a plugin.  "Flash Player extension for the Acrobat XI Family is different to the Web browser plugins". 

And, yet when I installed it in my VM, what was listed in add/remove programs and the content of the C:\Windows\system32\Macromed\Flash was exactly the same as what was installed if I only installed the .msi version for "plugin-based browsers", that one can download if they have a Adobe Flash Player Distribution License Agreement.

Releasing my Flash plugin (.msi) GPO yesterday resolved my new problem with PDF portfolios, but doesn't fix the original problem, with embedded Flash video's.   Since I'm primarily a Firefox user, I had both the plugin and Active-X versions of Flash installed on my pc, when I tested the original problem.

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Guest
Feb 01, 2013 Feb 01, 2013

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It's interesting that the Plug-In hasn't fixed your embedded Flash PDF's Bill. Let us know if you turn anything up on that. Certainly seems to be a fix for us, althought I daresay there are some differences in the docs we are using.

I agree that there is nothing special about the Plug-in install which you are led to by Adobe when this fails, it just seems to be the latest Flash Player Plug-in that's widely available (we use the Licence Distribution links too). Still a bit confused as to why I need a plug-in designed for other browsers, to restore a functionality that no longer exists in Adobe Reader X. The documentation for Reader 10.1.5 clearly says:

Flash is no longer integrated in with the product. Features that require Flash leverage a user’s local copy of Flash, thereby allowing administrators to manage products and updates independantly of Acrobat products.


So why isn't it able to use the existing and up-to-date ActiveX installation?


Now to package and test this Plug-in for deployment to the whole estate

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LEGEND ,
Feb 03, 2013 Feb 03, 2013

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Some clarifications after last week's changes to the deployments. I'm only referring here to the Windows packages as you all seem to be on that platform:

All current versions of Acrobat and Adobe Reader (9, X and XI) now have a decoupled Flash Player runtime and so will not display PDFs containing Flash content (rich media or PDF Portfolios) until a suitable Flash Player installer has been run.

On Windows machines there are two non-debug versions of the Flash Player runtime - the ActiveX plugin for Internet Explorer (which creates a "Macromed/Flash" folder containing an OCX file in the Windows system folder) and the generic NPAPI version used by other browsers (which creates a .DLL file in the same place). Due to the codebase in the Acrobat Family, it cannot access ActoveX runtimes.

In addition to the runtime file itself, a set of registry entries are created so that other programs can find the runtime, and if you select the option, the auto-updater is loaded as a Windows service (along with some scheduled tasks to check for updates every hour). Because the installer writes into the Windows system folder and the HKLM registry hive, it requires administrator rights.

The Acrobat Family requires the DLL runtime (currently this is called NPSWF32_11_5_502_146.dll) and must also be able to find it, so the registry keys created by the Flash Player installer must be present (the DLL itself has a version name so it changes at every update). If you want Flash content to run inside a PDF you cannot rename or delete the DLL file, or copy the file to another computer without running the installer itself (as you'd be missing the registry keys) The Acrobat Family does not simply scan the "Macromed/Flash" folder for any DLL it can find, it needs to be told what to load.

The bootstrap installer supplied from http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer will auto-sense your browser and only download the package elements for that browser:

  • If you are using Internet Explorer, you will only install the ActiveX runtime, so the Acrobat Family still won't work.
  • If you are using Firefox/Chrome/Opera/etc. you will install the DLL file and the Acrobat Family will now accept this.

The standalone installer linked from http://www.adobe.com/go/acrobat_flashdownload_installer_win is now the standard 11.5.502 offline NPAPI package as available from the Flash Player Archive, and so it will create the DLL and the plugin helpers for Firefox (flashplayer.xpt) and Chrome (plugin.vch) where present. You cannot at this time use this package to install Flash Player for the Acrobat Family without also adding the non-IE browser plugins, but you can remove them again once the installer has finished if you don't want Flash content to run in your browser - don't simply delete the files, you need to deregister them from inside each browser as there are configuration settings to clear out.

If you have the debug version of the NPAPI Flash Player runtime installed, it will work inside the Acrobat Family to render content and remote debugging is now possible, but you will be pestered with  host connection dialogs if your SWFs contain debug flags, and if the host isn't running Acrobat will crash.

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Guest
Feb 03, 2013 Feb 03, 2013

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So, in short. If you have an estate of IE-only machines that have just upgraded to Reader X 10.1.5, you are going to have to distribute the 11.5.502 offline NPAPI package to those machines in order for embedded Flash PDF's to work.

Royal pain in the ass. I looked to the Adobe Catalogue in System Center Updates Publisher, thinking I could use that to quickly publish the Flash Plug-in to our machines as a Software Update, but the SCUP version of the plug-in is an update only anyway, so unless you've got a version of the plug-in installed already on your machines, I'm not sure it would install.

Looks like we'll need to package, test and release the offline NAPI package before we can get the functionality back. If I sound like I'm moaning, it's because I am.

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Guest
Jul 18, 2013 Jul 18, 2013

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We have just deployed Reader X 10.1.7 and Flash Player 11.8.800.94 across our 8000 machine estate. I've just received our first support call about Flash content in PDFs not working. Am I correct in thinking that now, instead of having to get circa 20MB of IE Flash code out to all of those machines each time there's an update, I now need to double that to 40MB to include the full plugin-based browser version just to get the Acrobat/Reader Flash content working when we're an IE only outfit?

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Guest
Jul 18, 2013 Jul 18, 2013

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That's pretty much what we did / do. Would be very interested to see if anyone is managing this differently.

As far as I can tell, all you really need to do is to deploy NPSWF32_11_5_X_X.dll for the embedded stuff to start working, but we just pushed out the Plug-In and keep it updated using System Center Updates Publisher.

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New Here ,
Jul 18, 2013 Jul 18, 2013

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Yes, we too, as an IE shop, release both the Active X and Plug-in versions of the MSI via a GPO, whenever Flash is updated.  Together, the two MSI's are about 35Mb.

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LEGEND ,
Jul 18, 2013 Jul 18, 2013

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Yes you need to deploy the NPAPI (Netscape/Firefox) version. That's the only one which the Acrobat Family will use.

If your machnes only use Internet Explorer then yes, it's an additional overhead - but when Flash Player's auto-update system is running it'll take care of both versions at the same time.

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LEGEND ,
Jul 18, 2013 Jul 18, 2013

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I have - two years ago - entered an enhancement request that the two installers are combined; that would probably make it a lot less than 35MB.

So far nothing has been done about it.  If you support such an enhancement, please go and vote (and comment) at https://bugbase.adobe.com/index.cfm?event=bug&id=2945082

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New Here ,
Jul 07, 2015 Jul 07, 2015

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I have a similar issue and we have only the Active X installed. We do not have the Plugin and the user are getting the error message that is shown below "Please install this version of Flash Player"Adobe ActiveX.JPGAdobe Download.JPG

I am unable to find the Adobe Flash Player 14 Plugin to download. Can someone point me to download link or where to get it so that I can have it installed. I checked the Adobe site in the below link and could not find the Flash Player 14 Plugin.

https://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/archived-flash-player-versions.html#main_Archived_versions

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LEGEND ,
Jul 07, 2015 Jul 07, 2015

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Just click the button!

If you want to install the NPAPI plugin manually, simply visit http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/otherversions and select "Firefox" as the browser type.

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New Here ,
Jul 07, 2015 Jul 07, 2015

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David,

Thanks for the information, but we want it for IE not for Firefox. I already have Adobe Flash Player 14 Active X installed, I need the Adobe Flash Player 14 Plugin to be installed on the server, so where can I find the download for it?

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LEGEND ,
Jul 07, 2015 Jul 07, 2015

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No you don't - Acrobat/Reader ALWAYS uses the NPAPI runtime, and you cannot install Flash Player on a server.

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New Here ,
Jul 08, 2015 Jul 08, 2015

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Dave,

Sorry if I misunderstood your reply. NPAPI is for Firefox. Now, we are using IE and the issue is only coming up when the user is trying to do a Save to PDF directly from Outlook. Now, if I install NPAPI for firefox on the server do you think that this will resolve the issue on IE also? I am a little bit not clear on this. As, the user is getting prompted with the above message to download and install and when he/she proceeds it goes to a blank page and opens up the content. After opening the content, you can see that it has a blank black strip on the top and then the content below. SaveToPDF.JPG

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LEGEND ,
Jul 08, 2015 Jul 08, 2015

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"NPAPI is for Firefox". No. It's a general thing, used by FireFox and others. It is used by Acrobat and Reader. Just download it, if you want to use Flash in Acrobat or Reader! And you will need it for reading portfolios such as those made by Outlook conversion.


I don't think we have any other ways of saying this. We have told you repeatedly what you need to download if you want this to work. If your corporate policies block it, then it is blocking this feature.

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LEGEND ,
Jul 08, 2015 Jul 08, 2015

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But -- I still don't get "install on the server". You install Flash on the client. Only.

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