Adobe Player file names?

[Metahuman]

I have some Windows 2012 R2 machines which come with inbuilt support for Adobe Flash in my lab. On some systems, Flash.ocx & FlashUtil_Activex.dll, while on some systems I have NPSWF64_11_6_602_171.dll & NPSWF32_11_6_602_171.dll.

I know this is an older version, but what I want to know is:

even though HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000}\InprocServer32 points to C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash folder, why is there a difference in the flash player file names - flashutil.dll & npswf.dll?

[_maria_]

Flash.ocx & FlashUtil_Activex.dll is the ActiveX Control used by IE.  On Windows 2012, this is integrated in IE and all updates come from Microsoft, therefore, no version number listed in the file name.

NPSWF64_11_6_602_171.dll & NPSWF32_11_6_602_171.dll is the NPAPI plugin used by Firefox and other NPAPI-compatible browsers.  Version 11.6 is very, very old.  If you don't use Firefox, or NPAPI-compatible browsers I recommend uninstalling the NPAPI plugin.  If you do use it, please upgrade to the latest version, 23.0.0.162.

[Metahuman]

Thanks for the reply! Do you mean to say that if I have Firefox and such browsers, I can technically have two different versions of Adobe on my Windows 2012 R2? I ask this because even after we have the integrated version, I install the Flash Player from else where, what will the entry at D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000 point to?

[_maria_ · Accepted solution]

The different plugin types are not interchangeable.  The ActiveX Control only works with IE/Edge.  The NPAPI plugin only works with Firefox and NPAPI-compatible browsers (such as Safari, etc), and the PPAPI plugin (which you don't mention) is only compatible with Chromium-based browsers (Chrome, Opera, etc).

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000}\InprocServer32 is used by the ActiveX Control, not the NPAPI or PPAPI plugins.