Guide to Manually updating Flash Player for Windows

[Carm01]

I have seen quite a few people struggling with updating flash player, and decided to make a guide for all the Windows users on how to manually update flash player without any fuss.

First I am going to talk about the 3 different types of Flash Players available to download so every one has a grasp of the differences,

There are 3 type of flash player plugins, and they all have to be installed separately, You will have to re-install per browser plugin type. It is important to note that you can have different versions here as well because not all browsers and applications use the same plugin remember this.

     i) NPAPI - this is for Firefox most notably ( Safari for Windows )

     ii) ActiveX - Internet Explorer/EDGE(windows10)

     iii) PPAPI - Opera browser

Google Chrome:

You will notice I did not list anything for Google Chrome. That is because Google Chrome already has a version of Flash build into it so that update is handled 100% by Google Chrome. You will NOT need or do anything from this site in regards to upgrading or updating Flash player for Google Chrome. The only real troubleshooting besides re-installing would be to delete the following file as it has been know to cause errors ( if you get them ) while playing flash content:

c:\users\%username%\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\PepperFlash

The manual process is very simple and is only two steps

1) Adobe Flash Player Uninstaller helps out a great deal when re-installing Flash Player Versions, running that prior to updating helps out a great deal. It will Uninstall ALL Flash players EXCEPT ActiveX on Windows 8 to 10! You can grab the Adobe Flash Player Uninstaller here

2) Close all browsers Install the latest offline installers for each of the browser types are listed below ( install only the ones you need ).

You can locate the alternate installers in the Windows installation help pages under the "Still having problems?" section at the bottom of the page.

Some notes regarding Windows 8 and upward to Windows 10:

Starting in Windows 8 the Adobe Flash player ( ActiveX aka ) is integrated into the Operating system, and there are NO TOOLS ON THIS SITE THAT WILL UNINSTALL OR INSTALL THEM! That would be for the EDGE Browser as well as Internet Explorer. You will have to grab all your updates through Windows updates; Yes You/We are at the mercy of waiting for Microsoft to spin out up update for the Operating system. Their Integration in EDGE does not appear to be as smooth as Google Chrome's implementation of flash player, and I believe that it is turned off ( a mistake IMO; they might have changed that ).

Troubleshooting:

IF you need to preform a clean uninstall based off you operating system, or you need to do this for multiple machine I have a clean uninstaller. To get that, click on my name in these forums, in my profile ( might have to click 'View more details' ) there is a 'My URL' link you can browse to. This link is towards the bottom of the page. This will remove some additional Operating system files based off your Operating system and some misc cache files. Windows 8.X and Windows 10 will only remove the cache files not the Operating system files. The clean install process is usually for Windows XP through 7, however I simplified it down to a one click BAT file for all Windows Operating systems.

I Have a Automated process that preforms the manual install of Adobe Flash player there as well that is GUI based and has some advanced features to use if applicable. This actually preforms a clean install of Flash based off of your operating system, and handles all the hard work. It can be found in the link i mentioned for the uninstaller. It knows what to delete and more importantly what NOT to delete, and takes less than a minute to run for the most part. The file has been white-listed by Symantec as well. This is based off and modified from the following official Adobe article for clean install of flash player and have simplified the process down and made proven changes to it.

There have been some known old registry entries from older flash player versions that can cause conflict with newer installations on machines that have not been imaged in years or flash has not been properly uninstalled and there are residual files, etc left over, that will not be covered here as that is an advanced topic.

Use 64 bit browsers if possible:

Most browsers with maybe the exception of Chrome are 32 bit by default download. Here is an article on 64 bit chrome.

Firefox 64 bit versions can be found here: Mozilla Firefox Web Browser — Download Firefox in your language — Mozilla​ . They by default are 32bit downloads unless you dig literally for the 64 bit version which I have provided. Firefox users will notice the biggest benefit of not seeing that 'unresponsive script error'. That is 99% gone in the 64 bit version. I use the 64 bit version, and have been using it for about 6 months or more and only seen it once. IF you NEED Microsoft Silverlight, it is recommended to use Firefox as it does support it, where Chrome does NOT support Silverlight.

Update all other drivers:

You may wonder why I say this, but if for example you update your graphics driver, but not some of the drivers related to your motherboard your system might not communicate efficiently with its vital components as it could. I use DriverBooster free it is bloat and malware free ( Download Driver Booster - MajorGeeks ) . Just don't install its companion offer there is clearly a checkbox not to. This thing finds outdated drivers of all sorts. It might download the components a little slower in the free version, but it never expires. Its really Great. Your call though.

I hope this helps out some people having issues

Best regards

[Guest]

Carm01,

  Well, it didn't exactly go as directed, some of the links just wouldn't work.  I uninstalled and re-installed about 4 times, and on the 4th went to FileHippo and tried them. End result, it seems to be working now (finally), so it's all good in the end.

Thank you very much,

Drew McClure

[Carm01]

Windows 10 Internet Explorer and EDGE browsers additional troubleshooting

Also as far as EDGE and IE Flash player issues I would suggest running the System File Checker to scan and possibly fix disc errors and corrupted files that might have occurred during the upgrade process as you could and might have been present. This will check and replace any corrupted system files and replace them with a good version.

That is command is(run in elevated command prompt 😞

sfc /scannow

Sometimes that will return an error in that case and find things but unable to fix them, then you will want to preform the following command in the following order:

1) DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth

2) DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth

3) DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

Then try to run the System File Checker above to see if it corrects the issue with your install.

A good easy to use guide is located here, and where I referenced a easy to follow guide on using these tools: How to use DISM command-line utility to repair a Windows 10 image | Windows Central

If all this work fails then the problem could be way deeper with permissions. If you are familiar with backing up your data Then I would suggest a clean install of Windows 10; if you are comfortable to do so

Also jeromiec83223024​ has some additional information to check for and information concerning Windows 10/EDGE/IE 11 if you have exhausted all efforts and do not know/want to clean install windows:

Re: Flash not working for two weeks. Recommended solutions to not solve problem.

Best Regards

Please be sure to mark my post here helpful or answered if I assisted you

Thanks

[Ridagold]

Hi, Carm01:

I started using your Flash updater in GUI version and in script version when I began to receive a message saying that I have another installation in process, so the current installation will shut down. The fact is that I didn't have another installation. It used to work fine until now. Now I receive the same message in every step where Flash try to install.

I use Cyberfox 50.0 and Palemoon 26.5.0, both 64 bits versions and both fully compatible with Firefox (these are mods, in facts). Anyway, I use to try the installation with all the browsers closed. I'm using Win 10 build 1607 64 bits and these are the two last attempts, in the flashinstall.log file (if it's useful to you)

2016-11-13+20-43-55.926 [error] 1226 1062

=O====== M/23.0.0.207 2016-11-13+20-43-38.273 ========

0000 00000010 "C:\WINDOWS\SysWoW64\Macromed\Temp\{5BED03CB-AAD9-4C49-97C6-2AFBDD3E35B4}\FlashPlayerInst aller.exe"

0001 00000011 1

0002 00001037 SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Adobe Flash Player Plugin/ 2

0003 00001036 Software\Mozilla\Cyberfox\extensions/Plugins 2

0004 00001036 Software\Mozilla\Firefox\extensions/Plugins 2

0005 00001036 Software\Mozilla\FossaMail\extensions/Plugins 2

0006 00001036 Software\Mozilla\Pale Moon\extensions/Plugins 2

0007 00001036 Software\Mozilla\Thunderbird\extensions/Plugins 2

0008 00001036 Software\Opera Software/Last CommandLine 2

0009 00001036 Software\Opera Software/Last CommandLine 2

0010 00001036 Software\Opera Software/Plugin Path 2

0011 00001036 Software\Opera Software/Plugin Path 2

0012 00000014

0013 00000015 C:\WINDOWS\SysWoW64\Macromed\Flash\FlashUtil32_23_0_0_207_Plugin.exe

0014 00000016 C:\WINDOWS\SysWoW64\Macromed\Flash\FlashUtil32_23_0_0_207_Plugin.dll

0015 00000024 C:\WINDOWS\SysWoW64\Macromed\Flash\plugin.vch

0016 00000017 C:\WINDOWS\SysWoW64\Macromed\Flash

0017 00000022 C:\WINDOWS\SysWoW64\Macromed\Flash\FlashPlayerPlugin_23_0_0_207.exe

0018 00000021 C:\WINDOWS\SysWoW64\Macromed\Flash\FlashPlayerUpdateService.exe

0019 00001106

0020 00001106

0021 00001024 C:\WINDOWS\SysWoW64\Macromed\Flash\FlashPlayerUpdateService.exe 183

=X====== M/23.0.0.207 2016-11-13+20-44-11.856 ========

2016-11-23+18-57-51.199 [error] 1226 1062

=O====== M/23.0.0.207 2016-11-23+18-57-35.696 ========

0000 00000010 "C:\WINDOWS\SysWoW64\Macromed\Temp\{2B9C9C64-2F53-4871-9C5E-D61D36265F5D}\FlashPlayerInst aller.exe"

0001 00000011 1

0002 00001037 SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Adobe Flash Player Plugin/ 2

0003 00001036 Software\Mozilla\Cyberfox\extensions/Plugins 2

0004 00001036 Software\Mozilla\Firefox\extensions/Plugins 2

0005 00001036 Software\Mozilla\FossaMail\extensions/Plugins 2

0006 00001036 Software\Mozilla\Pale Moon\extensions/Plugins 2

0007 00001036 Software\Mozilla\Thunderbird\extensions/Plugins 2

0008 00001036 Software\Opera Software/Last CommandLine 2

0009 00001036 Software\Opera Software/Last CommandLine 2

0010 00001036 Software\Opera Software/Plugin Path 2

0011 00001036 Software\Opera Software/Plugin Path 2

0012 00000014

0013 00000015 C:\WINDOWS\SysWoW64\Macromed\Flash\FlashUtil32_23_0_0_207_Plugin.exe

0014 00000016 C:\WINDOWS\SysWoW64\Macromed\Flash\FlashUtil32_23_0_0_207_Plugin.dll

0015 00000024 C:\WINDOWS\SysWoW64\Macromed\Flash\plugin.vch

0016 00000017 C:\WINDOWS\SysWoW64\Macromed\Flash

0017 00000022 C:\WINDOWS\SysWoW64\Macromed\Flash\FlashPlayerPlugin_23_0_0_207.exe

0018 00000021 C:\WINDOWS\SysWoW64\Macromed\Flash\FlashPlayerUpdateService.exe

0019 00001106

0020 00001106

0021 00001024 C:\WINDOWS\SysWoW64\Macromed\Flash\FlashPlayerUpdateService.exe 183

=X====== M/23.0.0.207 2016-11-23+18-57-54.491 ========

I would like to know if there is a register branch that I can delete or if there is an effective way to install flash player manually.

I posted the same question days ago in Using Flash Player branch of the forum, but never received an answer. That's why I took the liberty of writing to you.

Thank you for your attention and best regards.

[Carm01]

@Ridagold

Sorry for the delayed response, I have not set up the app for Cyberfox exe's Palemoon yes.

Please look in the event viewer under applications and look for the 411 code.That will tell you if it completed. and what it did. I took care of the regedits, there are a very few, and the Adobe uninstaller that it downloads should handle the uninstall. The app kills quite a bit of application, however I cannot guess them all atm. I am not fluent with the adobe logs honestly. I am about to upload a new version with a debug log that is created in documents. That should be up by tonight.

Sorry for the slow reply.

[Ridagold]

Don't worry, Carm01, thanks anyway for your answer.

This is the event viewer log from 11/03/16 (I didn't try install again since that day). Sorry, it's in spanish:

No se encuentra la descripción del id. de evento 411 en el origen Application. El componente que provoca este evento no está instalado en el equipo local, o bien la instalación está dañada. Puede instalar o reparar el componente en el equipo local.

Si el evento se originó en otro equipo, la información que se va a mostrar tenía que haberse guardado con el evento.

Se incluyó la siguiente información con el evento:

Ricardog Adobe Flash Player Updater completed!

32 bit flash player versions

Adobe Flash Player ActiveX OLD/NEW: 23.0.0.185/23.0.0.185

Adobe Flash Player NPAPI OLD/NEW: 23.0.0.162/23.0.0.162

Adobe Flash Player PepperFlash OLD/NEW: 23.0.0.162/23.0.0.162

64 bit flash player versions

Adobe Flash Player ActiveX OLD/NEW: 23.0.0.185/23.0.0.185

Adobe Flash Player NPAPI OLD/NEW: 23.0.0.185/23.0.0.205

Adobe Flash Player PepperFlash OLD/NEW: 23.0.0.205/23.0.0.205

Automatic Updates from Adobe enabled= Yes

Protected mode disabled= No

Permissions Fixed= No

I look forward to download the new version of your Flash Updater and, If there is some kind of trouble, I'll send you the debug log.

Best regards.

[Carm01]

Its up, but that log states that it completed successfully. The program reads the file versions in the windows system macromed folders as to the versions. ActiveX is not messed with in windows 8.0 and above. If it did not complete it would not post that as that is the last step before it is finished.

There could have been another instance running in the background ( automatic updates ) that caused that error you were seeing, the program kills any app that starts off with flashp*.exe if the update package is something else then it will not be killed.

I have never encountered anything like that in all my dealings with this. I do not know what the package name is that is downloaded in the background via automatic updates, so that could have been this issue you might have been seeing. IMO.

Anyways Hopefully that was just an anomaly and you just got lucky in your timing.