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Question

flash player reinstalls automatically after uninstall

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
December 21, 2020
3 replies
7837 views

I am trying to remove Flash Player from Windows 10. If I use the uninstaller on the app list, the program is removed, but upon restart, it reappears in my app list. The same thing happens if I use the Adobe uninstaller. And I have used the Microsoft uninstall they pushed out a few weeks ago.

The program is listed in my apps list as Adobe Flash Player 28 PPAPI.

To be clear, I am not talking about the Flash embedded in browsers, but the Flash program on my computer.

Any advice? I'm guessing there is some instruction in there somewhere telling adobe to install.

Product issue

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_maria_

Community Manager

The FlahUtil_Activex files are associated with Microsoft's embedded Flash Player in IE/Edge. The standalone uninstaller does NOT remove these and never has. Microsoft has released an update, https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4577586/update-for-removal-of-adobe-flash-player, to remove the embedded Flash Player ActiveX. The update is currenetly optional and once executed completely removes the embedded Flash Player ActiveX. If you encounter issues running this update to remove the embedded Flash Player ActiveX Control please contact Micrsoft for assistance as this is their update, not Adobe's.

The FlashUtil64_Version_pepper files are Flash Player for Chromium-based browsers. The standalone uninstaller, https://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/uninstall-flash-player-windows.html, should remove these files.

C

clairea76016796Author

Participating Frequently

I have used both of uninstallers without any problem. Yet the Adobe Flash Player 28 PPAPI reinstalls itself upon restart of my computer, hence my post.

I spoke to Microsoft support yesterday about this. I was told that must speak to Adobe about the files that are on my computer. So I did. As i mentioned in my post above, I was told to wait until after the end of the year (EOL), and then Flash and all of its files tucked everywhere in my computer would be removed and any Adobe products, such as A. Reader, would be updated. This morning Adobe sent me this note:

Please refer this article below if you face any issue while removing the Flash Player from your computer after 31th December.

https://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/uninstall-flash-player-windows.html

Of course, I have read the contents of this page many time before, tried to follow the instructions, and know that I somehow do not have the authorization on my computer to change or delete ANY of these files or change the permissions. That is what I have been chasing.

to follow these instructions:

Delete all the files in C:\Windows\system32\Macromed\Flash
C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash
%appdata%\Adobe\Flash Player
%appdata%\Macromedia\Flash Player

and set these mms.cfg values to 1 (which I THINK disables them)

AutoUpdateDisable=0
SilentAutoUpdateEnable=0

------------------------

Does this match up with the knowledge you have?

J

jeromie_adobe

Adobe Employee

Flash Player is EOL at this point. While I have a couple theories about what may be going on (my strong suspicion is that Windows is trying to auto-resume the installation, because newer Win10 versions try to resume windows that were open at shutdown/reboot, and I can see competing Windows Updates and Flash Updates in this kind of race condition), they're basically moot at this point.

Here's the Windows uninstaller:

Uninstall Flash Player - Windows:

https://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/uninstall-flash-player-windows.html

If you uninstall and reboot and still get the PPAPI installer launching, it's definitely not us doing the launching. The uninstaller removes all the automatic update infrastructure (and even in that instance, we'd be running a silent installer or would give you a notification dialog that you'd need to click before launching the installer).

I'm guessing that the installer that's getting launched lives in either your Downloads folder or Desktop. Deleting it should solve the issue. You might get an error message about the file not being found on next boot, but it will be a useful clue in determining what's actually causing it to launch. I'm pretty confident that it's something external to us -- either Windows, or if you're a member of an enterprise domain, something getting deployed automatically to you that's not working like it should (your IT team should be able to suss that out, though).

Here's a little guide I found on turning off the auto-resume feature in Windows:

https://www.winhelponline.com/blog/stop-auto-reopen-programs-restart-windows-10/

If that doesn't help, you might be able to find a clue in the Event Viewer around start-up time.

C

clairea76016796Author

Participating Frequently

OH!!!! I have learned that the Flash Player software program is connected to Adobe Reader which uses it. When Flash is discontinue at the end of the year, a patch will be sent out to update Reader and remove the Flash program files.

T

Test Screen Name

Legend

Where did you read this, Claire? Acrobat Reader CAN make use of Flash to show some kinds of PDF files. However, it has not included Flash program files for many years, so there is nothing to remove.

C

clairea76016796Author

Participating Frequently

I was able to contact Adobe support and this is what I was told. I quizzed the person extensively about this and he assured me over and over that if I would wait until after the end of the year, Flash and all of its files tucked everywhere would be removed and any Adobe products, such as A. Reader, would be updated. This morning Adobe sent me this note:

Please refer this article below if you face any issue while removing the Flash Player from your computer after 31th December.

https://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/uninstall-flash-player-windows.html

Of course, I have read the contents of this page many time before, tried to follow the instructions, and know that I somehow do not have the authorization on my computer to change or delete ANY of these files or change the permissions. That is what I have been chasing.

to follow these instructions:

Delete all the files in C:\Windows\system32\Macromed\Flash
C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash
%appdata%\Adobe\Flash Player
%appdata%\Macromedia\Flash Player

and set these mms.cfg values to 1 (which I THINK disables them)

AutoUpdateDisable=0
SilentAutoUpdateEnable=0

I guess I will wait to see what happens. And if Flash continues to live on my computer, I can try to get through to Adobe again.

I am not a programmer or computer expert of any sort. I'm a simple rube trying to understand and take the action to get this fixed.

Comments?

T

Test Screen Name

Legend

Where do you see this "app list" exactly? Please show a screen shot. Flash Player is not actually an app. It is NOT a program on your computer at all. Flash Player is ONLY a browser plug-in. There may be Flash-related apps but uninstalling the browser plug-in won't affect them.