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November 11, 2011
Answered

Cannot uninstall flash player 11.1.102.55

  • November 11, 2011
  • 3 replies
  • 25447 views

Hello,

We have been doing some tests with the newer flash version and found some issues, I am wondering if this happens to other people and if there's a way to resolve it.



The issue does not occur on a 32 bit system, only a 64 bit system.

Windows 7 Pro with IE8.

Install flash using: install_flash_player_11_active_x_64bit.msi

Go to the flash "about" page - shows proper version of flash is installed.

Go to uninstall a program and uninstall Flash Player.

The entry disappears.

Then, I go to the flash "about" page - still shows flash is installed! (reporting current version)

The following folders still contains files:

C:\Windows\System32\Macromed\Flash

> Flash64_11_1_102.ocx

> FlashInstall.log

> FlashUtil64_11_1_102_ActiveX.dll

> FlashUtil64_11_1_102_ActiveX.exe

C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash

> Flash11e.ocx

> FlashInstall.log

> FlashUtil11e_ActiveX.dll

> FlashUtil11e_ActiveX.exe

If I then run C:\Windows\System32\Macromed\Flash\FlashUtil64_11_1_102_ActiveX.exe and click Uninstall, the uninstallation is succesful.

Anyone knows what's up? Did Adobe accidently release a broken product or it's just us??

Any help or info is appreciated.   

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer MikeJ53LL

ChrisC, if I start doing bug reports on Adobe products I may never return to sanity.I did find exactly the problem with the 11.1.102.55 64-bit package that causes it to uninstall from ARP but leave everything behind, including the Flah Add-ons.  The CustomAction in the 64-bit MSI installers that runs If REMOVE="ALL" is trying to execute the FlashUtil64 program installed with Flash Player.  Problem is your installer team changed the name of that program at some point and forgot to change the CustomAction to execute the new program name.  Did no one actually test the uninstall before Adobe released this version?  I will be fixing my installation with a couple of simple transforms to fix the CA.  Happy Thanksgiving to the installer (uninstaller?) team at Adobe. 

3 replies

November 23, 2011

Please...Adobe....Respond!  My 64-bit is doing the same thing after install, reinstall, etc., etc. over and over.  Cannot use computer now for many tasks.  Th. 

Participant
November 23, 2011

I am also running windows 7 with 64 bit and now the  Adobe Flash Player 11.1.102.55.  The recent automatic Flashplayer update made my IE9 browser disfunctional.  I ran the uninstall flashplayer program [uninstall_flash_player_64bit.exe]  and I then went back to your site and downloaded and reinstalled the flashplayer 11.1.102.55.  Right now the only way I can make my browser functional is to go to tools/manage add-ons and disable the item

Name                Shockwave Flash Object
Publisher           Adobe Systems Incorporated
Status              Disabled
File date           ‎Yesterday, ‎November ‎22, ‎2011, ‏‎2:19 PM
Version             11.1.102.55

When this is enabled my IE9 browser [Version: 9.0.8112.16421  update version 9.0.3]

is  basically disfunctional...I do not know what to do at this point. 

Please help.

Thanks,

Paul

Participating Frequently
November 23, 2011

What do you mean by "dysfunctional"?

What is your graphics adapter and version number?

Click Alt and X, click Internet options, click Advanced, check Use software rendering instead GPU rendering.

Then enable Shockwave Flash Object, is I.E. 9 still "dysfunctional" with Flash Player enabled?

Participant
November 22, 2011

It appears that Adobe used the Shockwave model for the new 64-bit Flash Player uninstall.  Running the uninstall from ARP, or running msiexec /x, does nothing more than remove it from ARP.  This is true for both the ActiveX and the Plug-in.  The ActiveX install installs the FlashUtil64_11_1_102_ActiveX.exe.  The Plug-in install installs its own utility FlashUtil64_11_1_102_ActiveX.exe.  Both sit in System32\Macromed\Flash.  Running either of these utilities with the -uninstall option removes both silently, including the 32-bit plugins under SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash).  By remove I mean it deletes the files, removes the Add-ins, and the registry keys.  It does not however remove the Uninstall entries from ARP.  The only way I found to handle this is to wrap the uninstall in a script that runs the msiexec.exe /X for both the ActiveX and the Plug-in, and then run the ActiveX utility, OR, download their uninstaller for 64-bit (see Jima101's link above) and run that with -uninstall for a silent and complete removal.  We use SCCM and make this available as a Pull to our users.  Until the Adobe packager gets a clue as to what uninstall really means, this is the only option I've found to work.

chris.campbell
Community Manager
Community Manager
November 23, 2011

Hi Mike,

I'm not an expert with install technology (especially when it comes to the admin side of things).  Would you be willing to create a new bug report over at bugbase.adobe.com and list out what you think we're currently doing and what we should be doing instead?  If you can post back with a bug #, I'll take that to the installer team and see what we can do to improve things.

Thanks,

Chris

MikeJ53LLCorrect answer
Participant
November 23, 2011

ChrisC, if I start doing bug reports on Adobe products I may never return to sanity.I did find exactly the problem with the 11.1.102.55 64-bit package that causes it to uninstall from ARP but leave everything behind, including the Flah Add-ons.  The CustomAction in the 64-bit MSI installers that runs If REMOVE="ALL" is trying to execute the FlashUtil64 program installed with Flash Player.  Problem is your installer team changed the name of that program at some point and forgot to change the CustomAction to execute the new program name.  Did no one actually test the uninstall before Adobe released this version?  I will be fixing my installation with a couple of simple transforms to fix the CA.  Happy Thanksgiving to the installer (uninstaller?) team at Adobe. 

Participating Frequently
November 11, 2011
November 11, 2011

Thanks for your answer, Carl, but please note one of my last sentence:

If I then run C:\Windows\System32\Macromed\Flash\FlashUtil64_11_1_102_ActiveX.exe and click Uninstall, the uninstallation is succesful.

We are deploying this application on over 15000 computers so this is not an acceptable alternative. Why is Adobe's uninstall broken? Is it uninstalling properly for you?

pwillener
Legend
November 12, 2011

The uninstall works fine on my Windows 7 64-bit edition, so it must be something on your system.

Can you try the following, on a clean system (with Flash Player not installed):

  • delete any remaining files in C:\Windows\system32\Macromed\Flash
  • delete any remaining files in C:\Windows\syswow64\Macromed\Flash
  • install Flash Player
  • uninstall Flash Player - make sure no browsers are running during the uninstall

Please post the contents from the FlashInstall.log file from both the above install folders (or attach the files to your post).  The log files should show why the uninstall was not successful.