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Why are there now TWO Adobe Flash Players needed to view all websites: v11.9.900 and v12.0.0.43?

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  • 81 have this problem
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  • Last reply by melen001

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I had Adobe Flash Player v.11.9.900.170 and upgraded to v.12.0.0.43. When I checked the Add-Ons manager, both Flash versions were listed and active. I de-activated the earlier version, and now some websites indicate I do not have Flash. When I re-activated the old version, the video played fine. So what's the deal with it being necessary to have TWO versions of the Flash Player installed, the current one AND a previous one? Seems hinkey...

I had Adobe Flash Player v.11.9.900.170 and upgraded to v.12.0.0.43. When I checked the Add-Ons manager, both Flash versions were listed and active. I de-activated the earlier version, and now some websites indicate I do not have Flash. When I re-activated the old version, the video played fine. So what's the deal with it being necessary to have TWO versions of the Flash Player installed, the current one AND a previous one? Seems hinkey...

Chosen solution

@cor-el: The earlier version seemed to vanish by itself, about 12 hours later. I checked the about:plugins page (as well as Add/Remove Programs), and only the current version of Flash is currently installed. I've already refreshed the pluginreg.dat file.

There is still at least one web page which is asking for installation of Flash Player, but it is working fine on almost all other websites.

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All Replies (14)

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You don't need two versions of Flash. You should have used the Adobe Uninstaller before "updating" to the later version, to get ride of that older version first.

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Hey mrnews54, Thank you for posting your question. Can you provide some examples of what sites work with the new flash and where some do not?

Thank you, most likely as said abobe, you do not need two but some further investigation cannot hurt.

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@the-edmeister: I have never had to uninstall a previous Flash Player version before. The last 2-3 dozen Flash updates have always just replaced the previous version automatically. However...

Just now, I went to Add-ons to re-disable the previous Flash version (to test non-working websites as suggested by guigs2), and, lo and behold, the previous Flash version is no longer listed there. Just... gone. I had not even re-booted the computer since yesterday's installation, but apparently, it's either not there or FF 26 does not recognize it anymore.

Also, oddly, Flash is not listed as a "plug-in," but simply as "Shockwave Flash 12.0.0.43." I also noticed that Adobe's installation page had changed somewhat, although the procedure was the same as previous ones.

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Actually just got a Flash Player failure on a site: Went to Yahoo Mail to export contacts, a Captcha code appeared, I asked it to play the audio, and the page said I needed to install Flash Player. So there is still something wrong. Wonder if it's the apparent lack of a Flash "plug-in" in Firefox?

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If you see multiple flash installs in the Addon Manager, you should reload the database before you see problems (Ex: Your Yahoo Mail problem)

1. You should uninstall the old 11.9 version from the control panel (or uninstall all versions, then download the latest again). 2. You need to delete the pluginreg.dat file in the Firefox profile folder while firefox is closed to refresh the database.

FINDING THE PROFILE FOLDER ARTICLE: Profiles - Where Firefox stores your bookmarks, passwords and other user data

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Note that you can get a possibly colored Lego icon on the left end of the location bar that indicates that Firefox is blocking a plugin.

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@cor-el: Nope, not there. Flash Player works on most sites, just not that one. Keeping an eye out for other problem sites. Flash is set to "always activate."

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Did you remove the other Flash plugin?

You can find the installation path of all plugins on the about:plugins page.

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Chosen Solution

@cor-el: The earlier version seemed to vanish by itself, about 12 hours later. I checked the about:plugins page (as well as Add/Remove Programs), and only the current version of Flash is currently installed. I've already refreshed the pluginreg.dat file.

There is still at least one web page which is asking for installation of Flash Player, but it is working fine on almost all other websites.

Modified by Mr. News

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Mr News,

My advice is to use the Adobe Flash Player uninstalller - http://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/uninstall-flash-player-windows.html#main_Download_the_Adobe_Flash_Player_uninstaller - and re-install the latest version of Flash. The Windows Registry may have strings for the older versions of Flash, which might be looking for an older version for Captcha.

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@the-edmeister: Thanks for the tip, but it seems to be working OK now; tested on various sites with Flash. It may just be some bad code on Yahoo's part (wouldn't be the first time), and the Captcha works, just not its audio. Still testing, but seems like the double Flash versions issue magically solved itself, even without a re-boot. Perhaps just some squirrelly code from Adobe...

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Hi friends... I was asking myself the same question, if i needed both Flash Players.... i assumed that if i have the latest version then why would i need the old one, so i got to this page and my question was answered. It seems logical to assume that after installing the newer version then why keep the old one? I have uninstalled the old version 11 and have the new version 13 plug-in so all is good now... thanks guys and have a wonderful day...

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Please keep in mind the update for the security issue Adobe had with this last version as well. Adobe Security Bulliten

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Thanks and i did verify the security issue and i'm good to go... thanks...