DashboardClient won't close

[jwritty]

I'm trying to install Adobe Flash Player on my Mac, running OS 10.8.2 and using Safari 6.0.2. Installation gets to about 50% before I'm informed that I have to close DashboardClient in order for installation to proceed. I can't find any way to close DashboardClient—it appears to be integral to the OS.

Any ideas or suggestions much appreciated.

[seriouslyihadascreennamea]

I finally got the update to work after searching a lot of potential fixes. Not sure if my quitting my Stickies and basic apps had anything to do with it, but I stumbled upon what ultimately closed the DashboardClients by going to Activity Monitor and Quitting "Dock". It opens right back up again after you quit it, but it closes down the DashboardClients until you re-open your Dashboard.

Pretty obnoxious to have to jump through so many hoops for a stinkin' upgrade, but at least I finally got it to work!

[pwillener]

seriouslyihadascreennamea wrote:

Pretty obnoxious to have to jump through so many hoops for a stinkin' upgrade

The thing is that before installing Flash Player you need to close all apps that use it.  It's not Adobe's fault that you have hidden apps that use Flash Player.

[seriouslyihadascreennamea]

Well, it is when it's the only upgrade I have to go searching online to try and figure out just how to get it to install. The installer saying to "Quit DashboardClient" isn't even actually a possible command. AND, there's not even a simple answer in this forum (at least not one findable by searching the obvious "dashboardclient"), just people asking questions…

[pwillener]

Anyway, thank you for providing the answer for other people coming up with the same problem.

[rem_dog]

Where is Activity Monitor?

[seriouslyihadascreennamea]

Activity Monitor is in the Utilities folder (User>Application>Utilities). Open it up, find "Dock" in the list of "Process Names", click on it, and hit the "Stop Process" button up at the top left of the window (looks like a stop sign). It should reopen itself right away automatically, but it'll close down any DashboardClient processes that are open, so that you can finish the installation.

DashboardClient does appear to only show up when you've had the Dashboard open since your last restart (sounds obvious now, but I never really thought about it before…). Oddly, I don't often use the Dashboard, but had needed one of the widgets earlier that day…

[edit] If all else fails, or you're concerned about using Activity Monitor, you can just restart before doing the installation, it'll automatically close the processes that are a problem (so long as you don't open your Dashboard before doing the install of course).

[rem_dog]

Thanks so much!  I followed your clear directions, and Flash Player finally installed!

[private data removed]

[seriouslyihadascreennamea]

Glad I could help! It was so frustrating figuring it out that when I found the solution, I had to come back in here and add it so that maybe somebody else would have an easier time.

[Mummer14]

Thanks for taking the time, this was HUGE help!!