Flash Player update installer appearing on desktop, but fails to install - recreated on multiple iMacs

[mgaedeke]

"Out of the blue" a Flash Player Installer icon appeared on all our 35 Computer Lab iMacs.

Same thing has happened on my personal iMac at home. (eliminating the possibility of it being a local network issue, perhaps)

I assume this appeared because there is a system preference setting for Flash Player allowing for Adobe to install updates (recommended).

After starting the install, we get an error message "You can’t open the application “Install Adobe Flash Player” because it may be damaged or incomplete."

This error message appears regardless of OS X version (running on 10.11.1 and 10.11.3)

I verified to make sure we indeed have the latest version of Adobe Flash, and we do.

We can remove the installer from the desktop, but it reappears a couple of weeks later with the exact same problem.

Is there a solution to this?

[jeromiec83223024]

Hi,

I'm only aware of one similar complaint, and we weren't able to identify the root-cause.  Our installer folks are looking into it to see if we can figure out what might be going on, but no obvious theories come to mind.

Can you think of any possible clues?  Is there a common denominator between your home and lab systems that would be distinct from your average end-user's mac?  You're using the same security suite, some non-standard OS hardening, restricted account permissions, etc? 

Anything that would help us figure out how to reproduce it in our lab would be really useful.

Thanks!

[willd31415]

I've had the same issue on my MB Pro for a month or more. It fails mid-installation every time. I tried to do a clean install by uninstalling Flash, but the installation still fails. I've been periodically making attempts to download the installer package and re-install, but same result every time.

I'm running OSX 10.9.5. I had the same issue on my iMac running 10.11, but eventually it installed successfully.

[jeromiec83223024]

Please see the installation troubleshooting guide:

https://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/installation-problems-flash-player-mac.html

There are links to the alternate installers at the bottom of the page.  They should get you going.

Collecting and posting the installation logs should tell me what's failing and allow me to pass that feedback to our distribution team.

[willd31415]

I've tried that route and none of it has helped.The alternate installers fail quicker than the primary installers.

[_maria_]

Hi there,

On impacted systems, please check the presence of "ERROR: DMG unmount failed." ~in the ~/Library/Logs/FlashPlayerInstallManager.log file.  If the error is there, please upload the log file to cloud.acrobat.com using the instructions at How to share a document‌ or some other file sharing service of your choice that doesn't require user login to access.  Post the link to the uploaded file(s) in your reply.

Thank you.

--

Maria

[willd31415]

The FlashPlayerInstallerManager.log file doesn't get created. The installer gets to ~60-70% complete before failing (says "downloading" for the first 50%; always fails after it changes to "installing"). Pasted below are the log messages created during the installation attempt, as listed in the console.

2/16/16 4:54:51.000 PM kernel[0]: hfs: unmount initiated on Flash Player on device disk1s2

2/16/16 4:54:51.885 PM Finder[147]: CreateWithFileInfo failed to create URL with FSRef, falling back to blank icon.

2/16/16 4:55:01.000 PM kernel[0]: hfs: mounted Adobe Flash Player Installer on device disk1s1

2/16/16 4:55:01.192 PM mds[39]: (Normal) Volume: volume:0x7fc012840000 ********** Bootstrapped Creating a default store:1 SpotLoc:(null) SpotVerLoc:(null) occlude:0 /Volumes/Adobe Flash Player Installer

2/16/16 4:55:02.402 PM DiskImages UI Agent[2484]: *** -[NSMachPort handlePortMessage:]: dropping incoming DO message because the connection is invalid

2/16/16 4:55:18.038 PM mdworker[2496]: sandbox cache error 8: attempt to write a readonly database

2/16/16 4:55:18.069 PM mdworker[2496]: SQLite: unixTruncateDatabase() failed with 10 for replacing '/private/var/folders/zz/zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000b400002s/C/com.apple.mdworker.bundle/com.apple.sandbox/sandbox-cache.db' with flags 0

2/16/16 4:55:18.069 PM mdworker[2496]: sandbox cache could not be reset

2/16/16 4:55:25.184 PM CoreServicesUIAgent[2481]: Error: qtn_file_apply_to_path error: Read-only file system

2/16/16 4:55:25.186 PM CoreServicesUIAgent[2481]: Error: qtn_file_apply_to_path error: Read-only file system

2/16/16 4:55:32.708 PM launchservicesd[55]: Application App:"Install Adobe Flash Player" asn:0x0-d70d7 pid:2498 refs=8 @ 0x7f99f1514600 tried to be brought forward, but isn't in fPermittedFrontApps ( ( "LSApplication:0x0-0xd80d8 pid=2503 "SecurityAgent"")), so denying. : LASSession.cp #1481 SetFrontApplication() q=LSSession 100004/0x186a4 queue

2/16/16 4:55:32.708 PM WindowServer[88]: [cps/setfront] Failed setting the front application to Install Adobe Flash Player, psn 0x0-0xd70d7, securitySessionID=0x186a4, err=-13066

2/16/16 4:55:32.740 PM authexec[2505]: executing /Volumes/Adobe Flash Player Installer/Install Adobe Flash Player.app/Contents/MacOS/Install Adobe Flash Player

2/16/16 4:55:54.000 PM kernel[0]: hfs: summary table not allowed on FS with block size of 2048

2/16/16 4:55:54.000 PM kernel[0]: hfs: could not initialize summary table for Flash Player

2/16/16 4:55:54.000 PM kernel[0]: hfs: mounted Flash Player on device disk2s2

2/16/16 4:55:54.280 PM mds[39]: (Normal) Volume: volume:0x7fc013701000 ********** Bootstrapped Creating a default store:1 SpotLoc:(null) SpotVerLoc:(null) occlude:0 /Users/DonaldTrumpKicksPuppies/Library/Application Support/Adobe/.C2132A69-87E9-48D7-BE8B-5093BEF2AB58/F07DCF14-8822-4478-91CF-FB85135B1324

2/16/16 4:55:58.032 PM authexec[2525]: executing /bin/sleep

2/16/16 4:55:58.128 PM authexec[2526]: executing /usr/sbin/chown

2/16/16 4:55:58.297 PM authexec[2527]: executing /bin/chmod

2/16/16 4:55:58.428 PM authexec[2528]: executing /bin/chmod

2/16/16 4:56:00.390 PM authexec[2533]: executing /bin/chmod

2/16/16 4:56:00.518 PM authexec[2534]: executing /bin/rm

2/16/16 4:56:00.000 PM kernel[0]: hfs: unmount initiated on Flash Player on device disk2s2

2/16/16 4:56:27.055 PM mdworker[2538]: sandbox cache error 8: attempt to write a readonly database

2/16/16 4:56:27.167 PM mdworker[2538]: SQLite: unixTruncateDatabase() failed with 10 for replacing '/private/var/folders/zz/zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000b400002s/C/com.apple.mdworker.bundle/com.apple.sandbox/sandbox-cache.db' with flags 0

2/16/16 4:56:27.167 PM mdworker[2538]: sandbox cache could not be reset

2/16/16 4:57:52.448 PM mdworker[2548]: sandbox cache error 8: attempt to write a readonly database

2/16/16 4:57:52.478 PM mdworker[2548]: SQLite: unixTruncateDatabase() failed with 10 for replacing '/private/var/folders/zz/zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000b400002s/C/com.apple.sandbox/sandbox-cache.db' with flags 0

2/16/16 4:57:52.479 PM mdworker[2548]: sandbox cache could not be reset

[_maria_]

Hi,

Actually, I don't think your issue is the same as the OP, but now it's too late to start a different thread for your issue.

I'd like to get the contents of the /var/log/install.log file created during an install attempt.  Please do the following:

1. Open the console app and in the left panel, navigate to /var/log and then select install.log
2. Click the 'Insert Marker' icon in the menu to insert a time/date marker
3. Use the same installer you used to generate the FlashPlayerInstallManager.log file you posted previously.
4. Proceed until the installation fails or hangs. Exit out of the installer
5. Copy the contents of the install.log file (after the inserted marker) and paste it in your reply

Thank you.

--

Maria

[willd31415]

Ah sorry, it sounded like the same issue as the OP.

Per your instructions, here is the result (it's all there was):

Marker - Feb 16, 2016, 9:24:57 PM

Feb 16 21:25:59 MacBook-Pro.local installer[2763]: Install's runner tool is not properly configured as a setuid tool.

...this gave me the impression it was an issue w/ my MB rather than the Flash installer. I'm starting to search for a solution. But if you think otherwise let me know. Thanks for the help

[_maria_]

@willd31415,

Thank you for providing the contents of both log files.  I will forward this information to the installer engineer for further investigation.

@swong24,

Not sure if your issue is the same.  The OP indicates that neither the online or offline installer work.  For you it seems the online installer doesn't work.  I'd like to get the online installer log file from you to investigate further.  Please go to ~/Library/Logs/Adobe_ADMLogs and upload both files in the directory (Adobe_ADM.log and Adobe_GDE.log) to cloud.acrobat.com using the instructions at How to share a document or some other file sharing service of your choice that doesn't require login access.  Post the link to the uploaded files in your reply.

Thank you.

--

Maria

[willd31415]

It was a permissions issue. Once repaired, flash installed w/o a hitch. Thanks for the help.

[_maria_]

Great!  Thank you for confirming the solution to your issue and posting back here.  Much appreciated.

--

Maria

[swong24]

I have a Mac Pro running 10.6.8 and the install would go 95% and stop there

.

SOLUTION: run the uninstaller, repair permissions (don't know if this is necessary but I did it). Download the latest flash player installer but don't launch it as there is a problem w/ that installer which we will bypass.

Open the install image, rt click on the installer > view package contents > Contents > Resources > Adobe flash player .pkg (or whatever it's called). Run that only and you'll have success. It seems there is an issue w/ the install manager which we have bypassed.

Best of Luck.