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January 29, 2013
Question

General Error Message When Installing Flash Player on Mac

  • January 29, 2013
  • 6 replies
  • 25204 views

I have a new MacBook Pro.  I have OS 10.8.2.   I cannot get FlashPlayer to download.  I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling Adobe Flash Player 11 from the Adobe website.  Doesn't work.  Every time I try to download, I get an error message that says "Error: General Installation Error"   Can someone PLEASE help?  I've spent hours with this and am very frustrated.

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6 replies

Participant
November 5, 2013

I have tried many of the suggestions from this thread but I'm still not able to get the latest Flash Player to install.  OS X 10.9 on a Mac Mini.  When I try the 11.9 installer that was linked by jfwmix above (post #26), it fails partway through.  When I examine the Console, it shows there was a crash log generated.  Pasted below are the contents of that crash log.  Any suggestions on what to try next?

Nevermind, once I ran the uninstall procedures again, then restarted, then ran the installer linked by jfwmix in post #26, it worked this time.

Participant
February 10, 2013

Having this problem on a fresh install of 10.8.2.

Thanks to @mrdredre, the solution for me was to go to System Preferences, Security & Privacy, General tab, Allow applications downloaded from - make it "Anywhere".

After doing that, I re-ran the installer and it worked just fine.

Crazy that Adobe would release this new installer w/o having it signed so it works without changing this setting.

-- Alex

Participating Frequently
February 8, 2013

I have been following the issues with installing the current Adobe Flash Player for Mac on the message boards since my Flash Player ceased functioning correctly this morning.

http://forums.adobe.com/thread/1144035?tstart=0

http://forums.adobe.com/thread/1149789?tstart=0

• I was initially getting the Illegal Plugin message on sites with imbedded YouTube.  I downloaded the Flash Player Uninstaller and that remedied that problem but Flash is still not working

• I've tried installing the Flash Player using the small 1MB download application located at: http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/

• I have also tried using Terminal as described in one of the Adobe forums

• Both gave the same results (see attached screenshots)  I have tried this several times (each time uninstalling beforehand) and it always stops at the 7% and then gives the 47% on the timeout screen

• It appears to be a downloading issue.  I was not able to find a direct link to the full 16MB Flash Player installer to verify it is a downloading issue.

UPDATE:

• I downloaded the "Download the Macintosh Flash Player 11.5 Plugin content debugger" from the following link and everything appears to be working correctly now.

http://www.adobe.com/support/flashplayer/downloads.html

Hope this helps everyone out.

My rig:

Mac OSX 10.7.5

Safari Version 6.0.2 (7536.26.17)

Mac Pro 2x 2.66 Dual Core Intel Xeon

chris.campbell
Legend
February 9, 2013

Please see this post for details on how to generate installation logs (optional) and a link to our help documents that contains a link to the stand alone installer.

I do not recommend users install the "debug" version of Flash.

Flash Player installation issues with Mac OS X

Thanks,

Chris

Participant
February 9, 2013

Hi Chris,

I just signed up to tell you that I'm also having exactly the same issue as OP. I get a general installation error at 55%.

Running on OSX 10.8.2. Safari 6. A lot of people on ML seem to have this problem. Please fix this asap.

Participating Frequently
February 8, 2013

How i solved:

  1. Mount the Flash Player installer .dmg file
  2. Copy the "Install Adobe Flash Player" file to desktop or any other directory as preferred
  3. Open terminal and cd to desktop or the other directory
  4. Run the following command on terminal: sudo ./Install\ Adobe\ Flash\ Player.app/Contents/MacOS/Install\ Adobe\ Flash\ Player
  5. Insert the password when asked
Participating Frequently
February 8, 2013

This is what I get

Participating Frequently
February 8, 2013

the error goes beyond my skill, but:

1) delete the installation file you have on the desktop

2) delete the dmg file

3) re-download the package

4) retry the 5 step below

i suppose you have entered the password when asked right?

Participant
February 7, 2013

The easiest workaround I found is selecting the "Notify me to install updates" option, instead of "Allow Adobe to install updates).  I suspect it has something to do with Mountain Lion requiring a higher level of authentication to install programs, or removing the ability for programs to autoupdate completely (complete speculation on the second part).  Just make sure to check for updates on a weekly, if not daily, basis.

You may also need to go into System Preferences-->Security & Privacy-->Allow applications downloaded from: Anywhere. You'll have to put in an admin account password.

chris.campbell
Legend
January 30, 2013

Thank you for posting and I apologize for the inconvenience this has caused.  Which browser are you using when this occurs?  Is the browser running, if so does the same error occur if it's closed?

Could you please launch your Console application (Applications/Utilities/Console), verify that "All Messages" is selected in the left column, then in the upper right corner type "flash".  Please copy and paste the lines of text that appear in the main log area.

Thanks,

Chris

Known Participant
February 5, 2014

Chris....I'm one more stranded professional unable to work.  A senior Apple tech pointed me here.

I'm running OS 10.8.5, Apple removed the previous flash player and we can't install v12.

Stuck and in need of what you're already doing graciously.  The walk through install.

Thanks, Ken

Known Participant
February 5, 2014

Good news:  You DON'T need to reinstall your OS, but.... If you upgrade to OS 10.9, it'll solve the problem. A lot of people are leery of Mavericks, but I've had it since the morning it was released, and I haven't had anything other than a minor annoyance with Finder looking for files to open in some (not all) apps.

And I would not go back to that "Apple tech" because he has no clue what the real problem is. "and it ain't Flash Player"....

Back in October, you installed the 10.8.5 update just like I did. And just like me, you suddenly saw the mach_kernel file in your Mac HD directory. But... unlike me, you weren't taught by the Mac guys at Intuit what it is, and you no doubt trashed it. THAT is the root of all your ills right about now. mach_kernel, is a base file for OS X. Without it, you can't install a lot of stuff and you can't update a lot of stuff.

So... what to do?

Like I memtiioned, upgrading will install a new one and you;re good to go, if you choose to go that route.

If not, and you have a Time Machine, I posted instructions here: http://forums.adobe.com/thread/1318151

If you DON'T have a time machine with a backup from before October 14, 2013, then you'll need "Plan B".

Post back and let me know your situation, and I'll let you know what we can do to get you back in one piece.


Thanks, that's a fairly complex reply.   I do have Time Machine of course, and it goes back to before then so I'll read your post about it.  I'm a photographer and videographer so this stuff is critical to me.  Anyway, that's awhile ago but frankly, although I'm sure I did the 10.8.5 update, I doubt seriously that I trashed the "mach_kernel" since frankly, I'm not familiar with it so why would I? 

I have thought to switch up to Mavericks BUT, between my kid and my own experience with upgrades, I haven't wanted to fix what ain't broke.  Usually I jump on upgrades but there's some evidence I might have bigger headaches with Photoshop and Final Cut, which are my bread and butter. 

I'll check out your post about TM now.  Thanks very much.