Skip to main content
T
Tomse3
Participating Frequently
March 20, 2010
Question

FP 10.0.45.2 Firefox plugin won't install on 64-bit Win 7 Home Premium

  • March 20, 2010
  • 1 reply
  • 3279 views

Today I encountered exactly the same  error that others have been reporting.

I  am running Windows 7 Home Premium, 64-bit, but I'm also running  32-bit Firefox. (Since the vast majority of legacy software is 32-bit, there's no way anyone would buy a 64-bit system unless it could run applications in 32-bit mode.)

Flash Player was working in Firefox just fine this morning.   However, this afternoon I got a message saying I needed to update it.

I went  through all the usual difficulties with Adobe dowload manager, getting  the special Uninstall Flash application downloaded and running, then  doing a manual download and install of FlashPlayer 10.0.45.2, which  Adobe shows as the correct version to run.  (Adobe pages that won't load  a second time in Firefox can be loaded after restarting the browser,  which indicates the Adobe Web folks have some things issues to correct  as well.)

Flash Player now works just fine in IE, but Firefox sends me off to another Adobe page  that shows a Lego icon to click to download the Firefox plugin.   (Remember, this is all 32-bit stuff here.  I'm just replacing the prior  plugin.)

The  process downloads FP_PL_PFS_INSTALLER.exe into my temp directory (C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Temp), but  it dies with the above mentioned "The specifiied procedure could not be  found" error.  (Every time you retry, it appends a number to the end of  the file name, so your error message would show the file name end with "...-2.exe" after the second attempt.)

Bottom line: the updated  Flash Player is working in IE, but the Firefox plugin install routine is  definitely (and consistently) broken on Win 7 Home Premium.

And there's  no way to "revert" to a prior plugin, so don't consider this issue  resolved until the install process works on our systems.

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    1 reply

    A
    Anonymous
    March 20, 2010

    Hi Tom, thanks. I agree on the point of buying a 64bit system. It would be interesting whose idea this was. I think "they" put the cart before the horse on this one.

    What I wondered when I saw you statement that FF(Firefox) was running just fine and then you received a message

    saying you needed to update it.

    How did this message reveal itself? You were using FF, I assume. Had you not updated yet to the latest version of FP(Flash Player)? Not only how this message revealed itself but more importantly from whom?

    I think this is important to understand how it came about and how you were then directed to the sites you went to.

    Thanks,

    eidnolb

    T
    Tomse3Author
    Participating Frequently
    March 21, 2010

    I first got the prompt when trying to open a Flash-based application on Facebook.

    I then navigated Firefox's menus (Tools / Addons) to show my installed plugins.  At the bottom of that dialog box I clicked the Find Updates button.

    That took me to a Web page that confirmed the Flash Player plugin needed to be updated, and showed an update button, which directed me to

    http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/?promoid=BUIGP


    That particular page didn't work at all.   After some false starts and a check of Adobe's FAQ's, I took the following steps:

    1. Download and manually run uninstall_flash_player.exe

    2. Download and manually run install_flash_player_ax.exe

    3. Confirm that Flash Player worked in IE (it does).

    4. Attempt to view Flash Player content in Firefox (it doesn't)

    Now, whenever Flash content is presented on a Web page viewed from Firefox, I see Lego piece and the prompt to install the plugin.

    Here's the interesting twist I just discovered: my Control Panel's installed program list shows these two lines:

    Name                              Publisher                   Installed on   Version

    Adobe Flash Player 10 Active X    Adobe Systems Incorporated   3/20/2010      10.0.45.2

    Adobe Flash Player 10 Plugin      Adobe Systems Incorporated  3/20/2010      10.0.45.2

    So ... it has installed the plugin, but can't get Firefox to recognize it.

    Does this level of detail help?  Or is it overkill?

    T
    Tomse3Author
    Participating Frequently
    March 21, 2010

    Hi, ok. In the future, if you get a prompt from a website, just close the website and go directly to the Adobe site. You eventually did anyway.

    By going to that link you probably got more than the Adobe Flash Player.

    Check in Programs and Features and if there is a DLM or a getPlus, Remove both of them. Then be sure to Reboot(restart)

    your computer. Did you get the Google Toolbar or the McAfee Anti-Virus program with the install of Flash Player?

    What you see in your installed Programs is correct, however confusing. I'll explain in a minute.

    Check out that DLM/getPlus first.

    We'll get it done.

    eidnolb


    eidnolb,

    I made sure to uncheck the McAfee sofware, and DLM is automatically removed every time you reboot.

    However, I think I've discovered what's going on, but only the Adobe developers can fix it.


    I got onto this when I read the "Flash Player 10 Installed for 1,256th Time" thread in this forum, where you said, "Do you know how to find the Flash folder?
    C:\Windows\System32\Macromed\Flash"

    I went looking for this folder, and it wasn't there.  I found the folder here:
    C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash
    Read the thread at:
    http://www.symantec.com/connect/forums/put-files-system32-instead-syswow64-32-bit-installer-64-bit-machine

    Once I found the folder, I discovered the install log.  This provided some more interesting information.

    First off, since install.log was in C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash, it tells me that the install went to the right place for a 64-bit system, and that's why it works in IE.

    But the Log file execute these commands, which are problematic:
    WriteRegStr: "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MozillaPlugins\@adobe.com/FlashPlayer" "Path"="C:\Windows\system32\Macromed\Flash\NPSWF32.dll"
    WriteRegStr: "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MozillaPlugins\@adobe.com/FlashPlayer" "XPTPath"="C:\Windows\system32\Macromed\Flash\flashplayer.xpt"

    Notice that the Plugin paths in the key values are correct for a 64-bit machine: they reference "system32" instead of "SysWOW64".

    So I next looked in the Registry to see what's really there.

    First off, I discovered that there is no registry key of
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MozillaPlugins\@adobe.com/FlashPlayer
    Instead, I found
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\MozillaPlugins\@adobe.com/FlashPlayer

    So the wrong Plugin paths are being written to the correct Registry keys.  Apparently Windows is taking care of this automatically.

    Interestingly, further down the install log, I see the following:
    WriteRegStr: "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Adobe Flash Player Plugin" "DisplayIcon"="C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash\uninstall_plugin.exe"
    WriteRegStr: "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Adobe Flash Player Plugin" "UninstallString"="C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash\uninstall_plugin.exe"

    Notice that here the install script has correctly altered the Uninstall paths for a 64-bit system to reference "SysWOW64".

    Whatever logic was used to correctly alter the registry commands for the Uninstall needs to also be included when formatting the registry commands for the Mozilla Plugins.

    (Since this is a quoted string value, Windows can't be expected to take care of this the way it handled the registry keys.)

    - Tom

    Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
    Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices