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A
Anonymous
January 14, 2017
Answered

Chromebook not updating to latest version of Flash Player

  • January 14, 2017
  • 1 reply
  • 8350 views

I read the reports that stated that the version of 24.0.0.186 was the version with the security vulnerability.  I checked my Chromebook and it states that the version that I have is 24.0.0.186 and according to the Adobe website it should be 24.0.0.194.  I have Chrome on another computer and I was able to update it to the latest version but not on this Chromebook. 

I have the latest version of Chrome--it just updated yesterday and I manually checked for updates.  It is showing up under plugins as the old version.  I cannot go to the Adobe website and download anything because it tells me that it is handled through the Chromebook.  I contacted Google customer support and they have no idea--they told me that I would have to contact Adobe about the issue since they handle the plugins. 

I don't want to use something that has known security risks.  I have no idea what to do or how to fix this.  Should I just disable the Flash player?  I need it for certain sites but I am very afraid to leave it running for fear of getting ransomware on my Chromebook.  Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated as hours or research online and on the phone have yielded no results.  Thank you.

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer _maria_

    Does it matter that I have a Chromebook with Chrome OS and there is no chrome://components available on it?  I have a Mac and a Windows PC and I was able to update both of them by going to chrome://components and checking for updates.  They are working fine with no issues at all (although neither one of them automatically updated the latest version without me manually checking for it).  Still, they are good. 

    I am not at home with my Chromebook right now but I tried doing the steps you mentioned above on my Windows PC and after navigating to the PepeprFlash directory, it told me that the files may harm my computer and asked if I wanted to keep or discard.  I was afraid to do anything else.  Is that what it is supposed to do?


    I'm sorry, I read 'Chromebooks' and proceeded to give you information for Windows.

    On Chromebooks, all Flash Player updates are released by Google via an OS update.  If you have Chromebooks version 55.0.2883.105 then you have the most recent version, which has Flash Player 24.0.0.186 instead of 24.0.0.194.   Unfortunately, you'll need to wait for Google to release an OS update to Chromebooks to get a newer version of Flash Player.

    I'm not understanding this comment "I tried doing the steps you mentioned above on my Windows PC and after navigating to the PepeprFlash directory, it told me that the files may harm my computer and asked if I wanted to keep or discard".  Simply navigating to the PepperFlash shouldn't result in this warning.  This warming message is normally displayed when copying files to a directory with elevated permissions.  Is it possibly you accidentally selected some file to copy?

    1 reply

    _maria_
    Community Manager
    _maria_Community Manager
    Community Manager
    January 17, 2017

    Google controls the distribution/roll-out of Flash Player updates on Chrome.  If Flash Player is not updating, either automatically, or manually via Component Updater, please contact Google for assistance.

    A
    Anonymous
    January 17, 2017

    Quite naturally, Google directs me to contact Adobe because they say that they have no control of when Adobe pushes out the updates.  All I seem to get is someone passing the buck to someone else with no clear answers.  I have disabled Adobe flash and won't be using it so hopefully that will solve the problem.

      _maria_
      Community Manager
      _maria_Community Manager
      Community Manager
      January 17, 2017

      "Google directs me to contact Adobe because they say that they have no control of when Adobe pushes out the updates. "  This statement is not entirely correct.  Adobe provides Google with the latest version of Flash Player and then Google packages the latest version for distribution with their Component Updater.  Google was provided with the latest version, 24.0.0.194, prior to last Tuesday's Flash Player release and is actively distributing it via their Component Updater (I have several computers that have already been updated with the latest version).  For some reason, Chrome's Component Updater is not updating Flash Player on your system.  You can try doing the following:

      • Launch Chrome
      • Navigate to chrome://plugins
      • Click on the Details link in the upper right to display plugin details (if not already selected)
      • Scroll down to the Flash Player entry and note the Location path to the pepflashplayer.dll file
        • This is usually in your User's directory, e.g. C:\Users\YouUserID\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\PepperFlash\24.0.0.194\pepflashplayer.dll
      • Navigate to the directory PepeprFlash directory (e.g. C:\Users\YourUserID\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\PepperFlash\24.0.0.194\pepflashplayer.dll) and delete the 24.0.0.186 directory
      • Restart Chrome
      • Navigate to Flash content - this should force Chrome to update Flash Player

      --

      Maria

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