Multiple instances of Flash Player disk image on Desktop (OS X)

[Guest]

I support Mac computers in a higher Education environment. Recently clients have reported multiple copies of the Flash Player disk image mounted on their Desktop (upwards of 20 copies). They cannot unmount the disk image because they do not have administrator accounts.

When I look in Disk Utility, there are multiple copies of a file decryptedFile.dmg which mounts the Flash Player disk image. Opening the disk image has a "Install Adobe Flash Player" installer, version 18.0.0.209. I never ran the installer, of course.

The path to  decryptedFile.dmg is located here:

  /var/folders/zz/zyzvpxvq6csfxvn_n0000000000000/T/decryptedFile.dmg

  Access to the folder "T" is restricted. Do a Get Info on the file and add local admin account with R+W access to see inside.

As a work around, I unmount all the disk images from Disk Utility and then deleted the file "decryptedFile.dmg". I support a large number of computers, so this workaround becomes tedious and very time consuming!

I suspect this file is created during the automatic Flash Player update and is not deleted afterwards. This has happened on computers running MacOS 10.10.4.

Question is, why does this file remain and why does is spawn multiple copies?

[_maria_]

Hi,

What OS X version(s) is this happening on?

I'd like to get the FlashInstallManager.log file from a couple of the impacted systems to troubleshoot further.  Please do the following:

1. On an impacted system, go to ~/Library/Logs/
2. Locate the FlashInstallManager.log file
3. The file may be too long to post here, as such, upload the file using the instructions How to share a document
4. Post the URL to the upload file(s) in your reply

Thank you.

--

Maria

[Guest]

Hi Maria,

Thanks for the reply. The affected computers are running MacOS 10.10.3 and MacOS 10.10.4. Here is an excerpt from the log file of an affected computer (running MacOS 10.10.3).  I will grab log files from a few other computers shortly.

2015-08-18 08:19:25 -0700   IM: ---------- log start ----------

2015-08-18 08:19:25 -0700   IM: All install checks pass

2015-08-18 08:19:25 -0700   IM: [install started]

2015-08-18 08:19:31 -0700 FIN: [finalizer started]

2015-08-18 08:19:31 -0700 FIN: Compression Output Path: '/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/Flash Player.plugin'.

2015-08-18 08:19:31 -0700 FIN: Compression Input Path: '/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/Flash Player.plugin.lzma'.

2015-08-18 08:19:33 -0700 FIN: Unable to create directory '(null)'.

2015-08-18 08:19:33 -0700 FIN: [finalizer failed]

installer: Package name is Adobe Flash Player

installer: Upgrading at base path /

installer: The upgrade was successful.

2015-08-18 08:19:39 -0700   IM: [install succeeded]

2015-08-18 08:19:39 -0700   IM: Install succeeded with exit code: 0.

2015-08-18 08:19:39 -0700   IM: ----------  log end  ----------

The full log can be found here:

Shared Files - Acrobat.com

[Guest]

Additional log files:

https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/ee763591-1e96-4b54-ad78-0e148f3e4049

https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/46cf6ed5-0214-41f0-9d78-d19b0d784ba6

Shared Files - Acrobat.com

[_maria_]

Thank you.

How are you deploying Flash Player to the clients?  Are you using Background Updates to update Flash Player after the initial installation?

--

Maria

[Guest]

I initially push out the Flash Player installer via Apple Remote Desktop, and recently the computers have been updated via Background Update (Flash Auto update).

Thanks,

Mark

[mikep-bbcoll]

I have exactly the same problem on 400 iMacs I manage. It appears randomly on desktops as network users are logged in. I'm currently running 10.10.4 on all our macs. I push out the update via ARD also and use the autoupdate function. Looking forward to a fix for this.

The var/folders/ folder should clear itself I thought at reboot so I have rebooted with shift key on a few macs and run Maintenance Titanium Software - Home on others to see if it cures the issue. I'll post back if it does.

[triclyde]

I also am having this problem with the 10.10 Macs I manage in an education environment.  Had the first ones appear about a month ago and now a new batch is popping up.  Some of them on machines that hadn't had the previous one deleted yet.  Those now have 2 of the Flash DMGs on the desktop.   I update via remote desktop,  though some of the machines may have Adobe auto update enabled I cannot say for certain that only those machines are affected.  Has anyone figured out a solution?  or at least an explanation? 

[Guest]

Same here. 250 Macs in various newspaper offices all retaining and mounting Adobe Flash Player .dmg files after the auto-updater finishes updating the software. Annoying as all hell.