Problem playing a multimedia e-learning CD-Rom that requires Flash Player (v.9.x.x and above)

[teutonicaUK]

Apologies if there's been a question (answered) similar to mine - I wouldn't even know what to search for!

I'm an end-user having problems accessing a CD-Rom which I was given by my course provider. From what I've gathered (difficult, as there doesn't seem to be a person competent enough to know what they're doing), they use an application called 'Flypaper Presentations' to create multimedia-rich content with which they distribute their course resource materials on self-burnt CDs to their students. There's only one file (ca. 98mb) on the disc with an *.exe extension and a 'desktop.ini' file containing the following:

[.ShellClassInfo]

LocalizedResourceName=@%SystemRoot%\system32\shell32.dll,-21815

When I click on the file and waiting forever, I receive an error message that says that Flypaper Presentations requires Flash Player above v9 to run the file. Thing is, I've got Adobe Flashplayer installed up to the latest version. I did play along though, went to check for a new version and happened to find an 3-day old update. Installed that (Adobe website gave me the thumbs up, saying the installation was successful) and tried to run the file again. Same error message.

I'm running Windows 7 (Home Premium) 64-bit and and found 'Macromed\Flash' folders in both Windows directories, 'System32' as well as in 'SysWOW64'.

- I use Google Chrome internet browser predominantly and occasionally Opera, (IE9 only if it can't be avoided)

- could the *.exe file be trying to access flash in a directory where it isn't located?

- could my anti-virus programme (ZoneAlarm) prohibit the file to gain access to the folder? (but then, I'd probably get a message saying that access was denied?)

- is it actually a problem on my part or a limited compatability issue by the application creator?

It's not really my job but I checked the software provider, www.flypaper.com and there doesn't seem to be support for Win7 nor the 64-bit version for Vista. However, that would apply to the application USERS, not me as an end-user. The college where I'm taking the course still run their machines on XP (say no more)! Apparently I'm the only Windows user who's unable to use the CD (another student runs Win7 32-bit at home and has no problems) aside from Apple PC users. Apparently, the software allows to save multimedia projects as either .exe, .swf, or .html files. I copied the file on my HDD, changed the extensions and tried to open the file through my browser but that didn't work.

The college/course provider from whom I received the CD told me to take my compter 'to the store where I bought it from and get it fixed' - that would be me! And, get what fixed? The system runs perfectly (just had a clean re-install late December, system still fairly uncluttered) but the CD simply doesn't find Flash Player (btw I tried to run the disc on an Ubuntu laptop and it's not running either but here I can't comment because I've only just started playing around with Linux). I'm certainly not willing to modify my system configuration just to get a silly CD to run on it.

Even went to the college's software provider's (Flypaper) community forum and tried to get help there. A friendly employee gave me the link to a standalone version of flashplayer that runs without installation but no luck with that either.

As you may imagine, I'm getting exhausted with my fruitless attempts of troubleshooting because the college can't be bothered to provide material that accommodates for the latest computer systems. Any ideas what the problem is and how it can be fixed or at least ideas for a workaround would be greatly appreciated!

Connie

[pwillener · Accepted solution]

Thank you for providing a very detailed description of your problem with the first post!

Could you please provide the following additional information:

• a list of all files in C:\Windows\System32\Macromed\Flash
• a list of all files in C:\Windows\Syswow64\Macromed\Flash

Flash Player can be installed as two different versions:

1. an ActiveX control for Internet Explorer
2. a plugin for other browsers like Opera or Firefox

We don't know which of these versions your course presentation application is using, so you neeed to make sure that both are installed.

You can find both installers in http://forums.adobe.com/thread/909550

[teutonicaUK]

Hi there, apologies for my delayed response. Thank you so much for your advice, I was in touch with the software provider of said multimedia application who pointed me in exactly the same direction - turned out that I needed to install flashplayer through IE (which I hadn't done, obviously, since I'm using Chrome) and that solved the problem!

Many thanks again,

Connie