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Anonymous
July 9, 2015
Answered

Confusion over installed Flash Player versions (Win 8.1, Opera, IE, FF, Chrome etc)

  • July 9, 2015
  • 1 reply
  • 1531 views

Latest Opera browser keeps nagging me to update Flash player (note: genuine page, not fake flash install!)

The "about" page at http://www.adobe.com/uk/software/flash/about/ tells me 18.0.0.203 is the latest.

In Opera and Firefox it I have a higher version installed than is actually installed!

You have version 18,0,0,205 installed

In Chrome and IE, it says:

You have version 18,0,0,194 installed

What's weird here is that it's Opera and Chrome which share the same rendering engine, and IE and Firefox do their own thing.


And I thought that Chrome provided its own Flash player, and if Opera is using the system version of Flash Player, shouldn't it be the same as IE?!?

Confused. And no, I definitely haven't got any malware or viruses, and yes, my system/browsers are all up to date.

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer _maria_

Hi digitaltoast2,

I can understand your frustration and confusion.

  • Google embeds the PPAPI plugin in Chrome and all updates are distributed by Google either as a component update or a Chrome update.
    • Google is deprecating the NPAPI plugin and have disabled it by default, although, you can still manually enable it, at least until Google completely deprecates NPAPI support in September.  See https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/6213033?hl=en‌ for information on manually enabling the NPAPI plugin
    • Google has recently disabled the non-embedded version of Flash Player in Chrome, so even if you manually install the PPAPI plugin, it won't show up in the list of plugins in Chrome.
  • Firefox uses the NPAPI plugin
  • Opera can use either the NPAPI or PPAPI plugin, however, it has been my experience that if you install the NPAPI plugin Opera (not Flash Player) will display a notice indicating the latest version of Flash Player is not installed and prompt you to install Flash Player, which will install the PPAPI plugin. If you have the NPAPI plugin installed, this could by why Opera is prompting you to install (again).
  • Internet Explorer: As of Windows 8, Microsoft embeds Flash Player in IE and all updates are distributed by Microsoft via Windows Updates.
    • If a Flash Player Update for Internet Explorer is not displaying when you run Windows Updates you can check Microsoft Security Advisories and see if it's listed there.  If so, follow the link to the specific KB page where it will have a link to download the IE update.

The latest versions for all platforms and browsers is listed at http://www.adobe.com/uk/software/flash/about/‌.

Version 18.0.0.205 is the most recent beta version, released earlier this week.  If this version is installed on your system it indicates you that you are in the beta channel, as opposed to the release channel. To go back to the release channel, download the latest beta uninstaller posted at the bottom of the http://labs.adobe.com/downloads/flashplayer.html‌ page.  Then go to get.adobe.com/flashplayer with Firefox and Opera to download and install the latest version of Flash Player for those versions.

Hope this helps clarify the confusion.

--

Maria

1 reply

_maria_
Community Manager
_maria_Community ManagerCorrect answer
Community Manager
July 9, 2015

Hi digitaltoast2,

I can understand your frustration and confusion.

  • Google embeds the PPAPI plugin in Chrome and all updates are distributed by Google either as a component update or a Chrome update.
    • Google is deprecating the NPAPI plugin and have disabled it by default, although, you can still manually enable it, at least until Google completely deprecates NPAPI support in September.  See https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/6213033?hl=en‌ for information on manually enabling the NPAPI plugin
    • Google has recently disabled the non-embedded version of Flash Player in Chrome, so even if you manually install the PPAPI plugin, it won't show up in the list of plugins in Chrome.
  • Firefox uses the NPAPI plugin
  • Opera can use either the NPAPI or PPAPI plugin, however, it has been my experience that if you install the NPAPI plugin Opera (not Flash Player) will display a notice indicating the latest version of Flash Player is not installed and prompt you to install Flash Player, which will install the PPAPI plugin. If you have the NPAPI plugin installed, this could by why Opera is prompting you to install (again).
  • Internet Explorer: As of Windows 8, Microsoft embeds Flash Player in IE and all updates are distributed by Microsoft via Windows Updates.
    • If a Flash Player Update for Internet Explorer is not displaying when you run Windows Updates you can check Microsoft Security Advisories and see if it's listed there.  If so, follow the link to the specific KB page where it will have a link to download the IE update.

The latest versions for all platforms and browsers is listed at http://www.adobe.com/uk/software/flash/about/‌.

Version 18.0.0.205 is the most recent beta version, released earlier this week.  If this version is installed on your system it indicates you that you are in the beta channel, as opposed to the release channel. To go back to the release channel, download the latest beta uninstaller posted at the bottom of the http://labs.adobe.com/downloads/flashplayer.html‌ page.  Then go to get.adobe.com/flashplayer with Firefox and Opera to download and install the latest version of Flash Player for those versions.

Hope this helps clarify the confusion.

--

Maria

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