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Installation of Flash distributable MSI results in external communication to fpdownload2.macromedia.com flooding WAN links

New Here ,
Jul 09, 2015 Jul 09, 2015

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After applying online and receiving the links for flash distribution in our Corporate Environment, we setup a basic distribution of the MSI using BMC's Footprints product. We expected that the installation would install the product on the endpoint without any external communication, after all that is the purpose of applying for and obtaining such an installer. Each installation is generating an external call to fpdownload2.macromedia.com and is pulling back over our Internet  http://fpdownload2.macromedia.com/pub/flashplayer/update/current/sau/18/install/install_all_win_ax_s...   Endpoints pull 70mb of data a piece to retrieve this installer, saturating our WAN links to our remote sites. We would like to avoid this situation. Why does your distribution installer not install your product, but call an 70MB install back over the internet?

WM

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correct answers 1 Correct answer

Adobe Employee , Jul 10, 2015 Jul 10, 2015

Hi Carm01,

While the service is created, the user is not opted into Background Updates as the MSI does not write to the mms.cfg file.  You can verify this by doing the following:

  1. uninstall Flash Player
  2. delete (or rename) the mms.cfg file saved at the following location:
    1. 32-bit: C:\Windows\System32\Macromed\Flash
    2. 64-bit: C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash
  3. install using the MSI.
  4. Go back to the \Macromed\Flash directory: you'll see the mms.cfg file is not created, confirming the MSI does not write to or c
...

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Advocate ,
Jul 09, 2015 Jul 09, 2015

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Take a look at this link:

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

Are those the same files you are using , or a different one? I just downloaded one and yanked my network cord and it installs just fine for me.

Best Regards

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New Here ,
Jul 09, 2015 Jul 09, 2015

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yes... .we are using the MSI files. I'm not able to temporarily disconnect 1500 + endpoints, from the internet, that I'm sending the file to. When they get it, they download an additional 70MBs of data from the macromedia site I listed.

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Advocate ,
Jul 09, 2015 Jul 09, 2015

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When I used the files listed above in the link, I had zero internet connection , and installed properly, I also just downloaded and installed msi and seen zero network activity during the install on my end, and didn't download any .z package being downloaded.

Please show as which files you are using and where you got them b/c I cannot see any of that on my network here.

Best Regards

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New Here ,
Jul 09, 2015 Jul 09, 2015

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If you enter a subscription request to adobe to redistribute their software in your environment, you'll receive the link to the page with the files. Looks a lot like the link you posted.

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Advocate ,
Jul 09, 2015 Jul 09, 2015

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I seen that .z file in my temp file, but it was only 17 mb, I tried to open it, and no go.

I tried on another machine and tried with and without network connection and didn't see it in my temp directory, but did it is on my main machine. am clueless to what it is.

I guess some Adobe staff member will have to explain what that is. As far as network activity I see none though.

They using the page with the links there and try for me plz ( Adobe Flash Player Distribution | Adobe )

Here is the bat cmd

start /wait msiexec /i "install_flash_player_18_active_x.msi" /qn

But i don't see any activity network wise though.

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New Here ,
Jul 09, 2015 Jul 09, 2015

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We've had to resort to blocking all traffic to that site in order to resolve the saturation issue. Hope we can get Adobe to tell us what's going on.

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Advocate ,
Jul 09, 2015 Jul 09, 2015

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I was going to say to do that, but not sure how many hoops you had to jump through in your corp to get that done.

Does it prevent the installation of Flash if you block that site?

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New Here ,
Jul 09, 2015 Jul 09, 2015

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Got the msi and exe files before the shutdown. I'm going to run network traces on the installations to see what they're doing.

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Adobe Employee ,
Jul 09, 2015 Jul 09, 2015

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Hi WMTech314

The link to the .z file in your original post is for the installer downloaded by the Background Update service.  However, since you indicate you installed Flash Player using the MSI installer, Background Updates (aka Silent AutoUpdate) should not be enabled, since the MSI installer does not enable Background Updates.  You also indicate in your most recent post that you have downloaded the EXE installers as well.  Is it possible that when installing using the EXE installer the system was opted into Background Updates resulting in the file downloading?

If you want to control the installation of Flash Player within your organization you can disable updates in the mms.cfg file.  This file manages features related to security, privacy, use of disk space, update, etc.  This file is updated with the user's update options when using the EXE installer, however, the MSI installer does not write to this file and whatever update options were configured in the file prior to using the MSI installer will remain.

Several of our enterprise customers who license and deploy Flash Player to their clients limit Flash Player updates by deploying a custom  mms.cfg file to their client systems immediately after installation as part of their deployment process.  If you haven't done so yet, please review the Flash Player Administrator's Guide‌ as it contains valuable information on installation options (Chapter 3) and Administering Flash Player within your organization (Chapter 4) which includes the location of the mms.cfg file on various platforms (page 24) and enabling/disabling Flash Player automatic updates, either via notification or background (page 31).

Please review the Admin Guide and let me know if you have questions on this.  I'm happy to assist.

--

Maria

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Advocate ,
Jul 09, 2015 Jul 09, 2015

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Maria,

I use a utility called process Hacker2, and one of the cool features is it tell you via a pop up in the system tray when a new service is created, and when one is deleted.

I preformed an uninstall of all flash players, then I went and downloaded the most recent msi from the distribution3 page for NPAPI; it does not matter b/c they both do it.

Preformed a /qn install on it and a service was created, a windows task is also created and enabled, and the file C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash\FlashPlayerUpdateService.exe  exists.

It seems like it actually does enable updates of some kind, which is the same behavior as the EXE files, from my point of view it does write something to check for updates.

I usually just kill it all together with:

taskkill.exe /im FlashPlayerUpdateService.exe /f

SchTasks /Delete /TN "Adobe Flash Player Updater" /f

sc delete AdobeFlashPlayerUpdateSvc

del "C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash\FlashPlayerUpdateService.exe"

IF exist C:\Windows\System32\Macromed\Flash\FlashPlayerUpdateService.exe del C:\Windows\System32\Macromed\Flash\FlashPlayerUpdateService.exe

===============================================================================================

also here is the install part of the log file:

=O====== M/18.0.0.203 2015-07-10+01-08-46.732 ========

0000 00000010 "C:\Users\Carm\AppData\Local\Temp\InstallPlugin_18_0_0_203.exe" -install -msi

0001 00001036 Software\Macromedia\FlashPlayerPlugin/PlayerPath 2

0002 00001036 Software\Macromedia\FlashPlayerActiveX/PlayerPath 2

0003 00001036 Software\Macromedia\FlashPlayerPepper/PlayerPath 2

0004 00001036 Software\Macromedia\FlashPlayerPlugin/Version 2

0005 00000011 1

0006 00000020 C:\Windows\SysWOW64\FlashPlayerCPLApp.cpl

0007 00001037 SOFTWARE\MozillaPlugins\@adobe.com/FlashPlayer/ 2

0008 00001037 SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Adobe Flash Player NPAPI/ 2

0009 00001037 SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Adobe Flash Player Plugin/ 2

0010 00001036 Software\Mozilla\Firefox\extensions/Plugins 2

0011 00001036 Software\Mozilla\Mozilla Firefox\extensions/Plugins 2

0012 00001036 Software\Opera Software/Last CommandLine 2

0013 00001036 Software\Opera Software/Last CommandLine 2

0014 00001036 Software\Opera Software/Plugin Path 2

0015 00001036 Software\Opera Software/Plugin Path 2

0016 00000014

0017 00000015 C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash\FlashUtil32_18_0_0_203_Plugin.exe

0018 00000024 C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash\plugin.vch

0019 00000017 C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash

0020 00000022 C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash\FlashPlayerPlugin_18_0_0_203.exe

0021 00000019 C:\Windows\SysWOW64\FlashPlayerCPLApp.cpl

0022 00000021 C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash\FlashPlayerUpdateService.exe

0023 00000012

=X====== M/18.0.0.203 2015-07-10+01-08-50.465 ========

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Adobe Employee ,
Jul 10, 2015 Jul 10, 2015

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Hi Carm01,

While the service is created, the user is not opted into Background Updates as the MSI does not write to the mms.cfg file.  You can verify this by doing the following:

  1. uninstall Flash Player
  2. delete (or rename) the mms.cfg file saved at the following location:
    1. 32-bit: C:\Windows\System32\Macromed\Flash
    2. 64-bit: C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash
  3. install using the MSI.
  4. Go back to the \Macromed\Flash directory: you'll see the mms.cfg file is not created, confirming the MSI does not write to or create the mms.cfg file.  A user has to opt into Background Updates.  Since the MSI does not offer this option (in the UI) users are not opted into Background Updates when installing using the MSI.

With the above said, the Flash Player default update option is Notification Updates (always has been), so unless AutoUpdates are disabled (AutoUpdateDisable=1) users will get a pop-up notification announcing an update is available.  This is why some Administrator's deploy a custom mms.cfg file to disable updates when installing via SCCM or other tool of choice.

--

Maria

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Advocate ,
Jul 10, 2015 Jul 10, 2015

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I knew that you could set those settings , and I am going to take a stab in the dark that the file:

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


is responsible for reading that file, and if no files exists then do nothing?​

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Adobe Employee ,
Jul 10, 2015 Jul 10, 2015

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Hi Carm01,

No, FlashPlayerUpdateService.exe is not responsible for reading the file.  The player reads the file and checks to see if the user is opted into background updates.  If it is, it launches the service to check for an update.

--

Maria

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New Here ,
Jul 14, 2015 Jul 14, 2015

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M - Can this file be deleted prior to running an MSI installation, or do you recommend that we deploy a custom file. I see two lines in the file. AutoUpdateDisable=1 and SilentAutoUpdateEnable=0. I take it the latter entry was our culprit.

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Adobe Employee ,
Jul 14, 2015 Jul 14, 2015

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Hi WMTech314,

No, the latter entry was not the culprit as SilentAutoUpdateEnable=0 means Background Updates are disabled.

AutoUpdateDisable=1 will disable ALL updates, notification and background.

AutoUpdateDisable=0 = opted into notification updates (default behaviour of Flash Player for as long as I can remember).

SilentAutoUpdateEnable=0 = not opted into Background Updates (default behaviour since the introduction of Background Updates).

SilentAutoUpdateEnable=1 = opted into Background Updates

The recommendation is to deploy Flash Player and then immediately deploy the custom mms.cfg file with AutoUpdateDisable=1 (and SilentAutoUpdateEnable=0) to disable all updates.

--

Maria

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New Here ,
Jul 14, 2015 Jul 14, 2015

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I see. That leaves me with a problem then. The unit I took that file off of, did the background update when the msi was installed. With AutoUpdateDisable=1, that should not have occurred. I've checked my field units, and they also are set with AutoUpdateDisable=1. I'm going to search endpoints to verify that all have the file and test with pushing a new config file with the msi, after re-enabling access to the download site. Is there some other setting or process that I'm missing here? The guide indicates that the AutoUpdateDisable setting alone should do the trick....but it doesn't appear to be working.

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Adobe Employee ,
Jul 14, 2015 Jul 14, 2015

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Hi WMTech314,


Please provide the FlashInstall.log file from an impacted system.  The FlashInstall.log file is located at:

  • 32-bit: C:\Windows\System32\Macromed\Flash
  • 64-bit: C:\Windows\System32\Macromed\Flash AND C:\Windows\SysWow64\Macromed\Flash (both are required from a 64-bit system).

The files may be fairly long, as such, you can upload them using the How to share a document. instructions.

--

Maria

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New Here ,
Jul 15, 2015 Jul 15, 2015

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I'll make arrangements to test once we've opened the block back up and get the log file for you.

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New Here ,
Jul 16, 2015 Jul 16, 2015

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Shared Files - Acrobat.com

So I sent two packages to the target unit. The plugin package and active x package. I also sent along with those packages the mms.cfg file configured as requested. The unit transferred 14.6mb of data from a23-62-7-136.deploy.static.akamaitechnologies.com (23.62.7.136) which it shouldn't have done if it was using the cfg file.

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Adobe Employee ,
Jul 17, 2015 Jul 17, 2015

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Hi WMTech314,

What requests were sent to the server akami server?  Disabling AutoUpdate will only disable the request for an update, not other requests Flash Player may make.

--

Maria

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New Here ,
Jul 20, 2015 Jul 20, 2015

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What other requests are being made as part of the installation? Most units have both IE and Firefox loaded. Is one installation pulling update files for the other product?

It's not user generated, as the updates take place during a maintenance window.

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Adobe Employee ,
Jul 20, 2015 Jul 20, 2015

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Hi WMTech314,

MSI installers do not make any requests at install time.  The second part of my comment referred to requests during playback.


What are the requests (complete URLs) being sent to Akami that you are seeing?

--

Maria

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New Here ,
Jul 20, 2015 Jul 20, 2015

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LATEST

I'll make arrangements for a test and get back to you. I have to get together with the content scanner folks to get the detail your requesting.

Thanks.

-w

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