Unable to update Shockwave Flash plugin to latest version

news.mozilla.org

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Jul 13, 2014, 11:51:31 AM7/13/14

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Wondering if anybody else is having this problem. I'm running XP MCE
SP3, FF30.0. I just checked to see if my plugins were up to date and was
told that I needed to update the Shockwave Flash plugin. When I click on
the red "Update Now" button, I get sent to this web page:

http://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/flash-player/apsb14-17.html

WTH?

I scroll down this tedious and too-much-info page to finally, almost all
the way at the bottom, see a link to the "Flash Player Download Center".
So is the plugin called "Adobe Flash Player", "Flash Player" or is it
"Shockwave Flash"? What's up with the identity crisis, Adobe?

Clicking on the link takes me here:

http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/

which is where I should have been sent when I originally clicked on the
red "Update Now" button in the first place.

After de-checkmarking the "McAfee Security Scan Plus" bundleware trap, I
click on the yellow "Install now" button. I see a long blue, striped bar
which says "Initializing" above it and then after a while, it disappears
to be replaced by a small download window for a file named
"install_flashplayer14x32_mssd_aaa_aih.exe". This is what has usually
happened to me in the past. I elect to download the file, which is only
a small online installer file.

Attempting to run this file simply doesn't work. It fails and then opens
FF to a webpage which isn't there. And this exact same thing has
happened to me on a friend's work computer which is running Windows 7.

Is it me or is Adobe totally losing it?

(shaking head.)

--
John Corliss

news.mozilla.org

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Jul 13, 2014, 11:57:31 AM7/13/14

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I found this page:

http://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/installation-problems-flash-player-windows.html

It has this link for a direct download of the offline installer:

http://download.macromedia.com/pub/flashplayer/current/support/install_flash_player.exe

I'll give it a try and post the results.

--
John Corliss

Message has been deleted

news.mozilla.org

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Jul 13, 2014, 12:01:33 PM7/13/14

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That did the trick. Sorry about the false alarm, although this whole
process would be easier if Adobe had it's head out of its ***. Sure will
be glad when this plugin is no longer necessary because of HTML5.

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John Corliss

news.mozilla.org

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Jul 13, 2014, 12:05:07 PM7/13/14

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Ken1943 wrote:
> The Flash Player Distribution page is a good place to get these:
> http://www.adobe.com/special/products/flashplayer/fp_distribution3.html

Thanks very much for that link. I'll bookmark it for the future. 80)>

--
John Corliss

C A Upsdell

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Jul 13, 2014, 1:04:54 PM7/13/14

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On 2014-07-13 11:57, news.mozilla.org wrote:
>>
>> http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/

>>
>> Attempting to run this file simply doesn't work. It fails and then opens
>> FF to a webpage which isn't there. And this exact same thing has
>> happened to me on a friend's work computer which is running Windows 7.
>>
>> Is it me or is Adobe totally losing it?
>>
>

> http://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/installation-problems-flash-player-windows.html

Did not work for me. The Shockwave update -- either for IE or Firefox
-- simply fails to install, no matter what I do. Adobe *IS* losing it.

rebro

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Jul 13, 2014, 1:43:28 PM7/13/14

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This is possibly caused by remnants of older versions blocking the
installation process.
For a clean install of the current version you should first use
"uninstall_flash_player.exe"
<http://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/uninstall-flash-player-windows.html>

C A Upsdell

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Jul 13, 2014, 1:53:10 PM7/13/14

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I did that. No joy.

WaltS48

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Jul 13, 2014, 1:59:47 PM7/13/14

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[Flash Plugin - Keep it up to date and troubleshoot problems | Firefox
Help](https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/keep-flash-up-to-date-and-troubleshoot-problems)

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C A Upsdell

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Jul 13, 2014, 3:06:54 PM7/13/14

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On 2014-07-13 13:59, WaltS48 wrote:

> [Flash Plugin - Keep it up to date and troubleshoot problems | Firefox
> Help](https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/keep-flash-up-to-date-and-troubleshoot-problems)

That is about Flash. This thread is about Shockwave.

WaltS48

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Jul 13, 2014, 3:22:00 PM7/13/14

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Why would you need Shockwave? What does it do?

I've never had it installed.

WaltS48

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Jul 13, 2014, 3:40:59 PM7/13/14

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About Shockwave.

> The Adobe Shockwave Player 12.1.1.151 was updated on April 22, 2014. It is supported by Windows XP / Vista / Windows7 / XP64 / Vista64 / Windows7 64 / Windows8 / Windows8 64. It boasts content made from previous versions as well as Director MX 2004. Further, the 12.1.1.151 version enables Shockwave support in both Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. One major addition of this update is that it potentially prevents attackers to remotely control the affected system.[4]

REF: [Adobe Shockwave - Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Shockwave#cite_note-4)

news.mozilla.org

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Jul 13, 2014, 4:39:52 PM7/13/14

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Actually, I started it about the Flash Player plugin. As I mentioned in
the OP, Adobe has an identity problem and calls the plugin "Shockwave
Flash". It's really the Flash Player plugin though.

--
John Corliss

John Corliss

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Jul 13, 2014, 4:42:35 PM7/13/14

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Eh... sorry. Just noticed that I set up the account for this server and
used the wrong name.

-----> news.mozilla.org wrote:
> Wondering if anybody else is having this problem. I'm running XP MCE

>(snip)

>
> Is it me or is Adobe totally losing it?
>
> (shaking head.)

Guess I'm not far behind.

--
John Corliss

C A Upsdell

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Jul 13, 2014, 5:04:29 PM7/13/14

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Well, I had no trouble installing the latest version of Flash. But no
joy with the latest version of Shockwave.

WaltS48

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Jul 13, 2014, 5:16:44 PM7/13/14

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So I will ask again. Why do you need it?

Have a link to a site where it is required?

Ron Hunter

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Jul 13, 2014, 6:57:01 PM7/13/14

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NO, they just run afoul of third party security software.

John Corliss

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Jul 14, 2014, 2:45:38 AM7/14/14

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WaltS48 wrote:
> C A Upsdell wrote:

>> news.mozilla.org (John Corliss) wrote:
>>> C A Upsdell wrote:
>>>> WaltS48 wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> [Flash Plugin - Keep it up to date and troubleshoot problems | Firefox
>>>>> Help](https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/keep-flash-up-to-date-and-troubleshoot-problems)
>>>>
>>>> That is about Flash. This thread is about Shockwave.
>>>
>>> Actually, I started it about the Flash Player plugin. As I mentioned in
>>> the OP, Adobe has an identity problem and calls the plugin "Shockwave
>>> Flash". It's really the Flash Player plugin though.
>>
>> Well, I had no trouble installing the latest version of Flash. But no
>> joy with the latest version of Shockwave.
>
> So I will ask again. Why do you need it?
>
> Have a link to a site where it is required?

I for one removed the Shockwave plugin a couple of years ago. Have never
noticed the difference.

--
John Corliss

rebro

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Jul 14, 2014, 5:14:54 AM7/14/14

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Strange. _How_ exactly do the flash player plugins fail to install? Are
there any differences between your attempt to install
"install_flash_player.exe" and that of installing
"install_flash_player_ax.exe"? Isn't there any log that tells you about
what went wrong?

John Corliss

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Jul 14, 2014, 11:16:31 AM7/14/14

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Say CA, what OS and version are you using on your computer? Also, is it
32 or 64 bit?

TIA.

--
John Corliss