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gajananah90329093
gajananah90329093
New Participant
September 11, 2017
Question

How to disable flash ActiveX update in windows 10

  • September 11, 2017
  • 1 reply
  • 3247 views

We have  a Windows application which uses Flash ActiveX .We are distributing flash standalone installer with our application and once our application is installed flash auto update will be disabled since our application is tested only with shipped flash version or before , but in windows 10 Flash is a part of windows update. So we cant restrict flash version as in windows 7 . Even if customer disables windows update in target machines ,there is no way to fallback to the version of flash that we want .

For ex :

Recently we used flash version 26.0.0.137 ActiveX installer. For windows 7 standalone installer can be shipped ,  For win 10 we can ship windows update package KB4025376 as flash 26.0.0.137 installer. But if target machine has version 26.0.0.151 there is no way to fallback to version 137 .Or is there any command line way or something to fall back to intended version of flash ?

Thanks in advance

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1 reply

_maria_
Community Manager
_maria_Community Manager
Community Manager
September 11, 2017

Flash Player is a component of IE and Edge, therefore, whenever IE or Edge are updated, the version of Flash Player is also updated.

For win 10 we can ship windows update package KB4025376 as flash 26.0.0.137 installer. But if target machine has version 26.0.0.151 there is no way to fallback to version 137 .

The only way to 'fallback' is to uninstall the update that installed 26.0.0.151, but it'll be re-installed again.  Microsoft has been embedding Flash Player in IE since Windows 8.1, and Edge since the Windows 10 release.  Since Flash Player ActiveX is embedded in the browser all ActiveX Control updates are released by Microsoft via Windows Updates (as an IE and/or Edge update).  It sounds like you need to re-think your app deployment strategy for Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 customers to take into consideration the fact that Flash Player ActiveX is a component of the OS and assume that the latest version is always installed (especially on Windows 10 where a user cannot disable Windows Updates).

    gajananah90329093
    gajananah90329093Author
    New Participant
    October 9, 2017

    We have an application  written using C++ , which uses  flash_<version>.tli and flash_<version>.tlh files which is generated with particular version of flash.ocx installed in development machine and we used to ship that perticular version of flash standalone installer with our application.

    So to use our application in windows 10 is there any other way to develop using C++ such that our application is flash version independent

    jeromiec83223024
    Community Manager
    jeromiec83223024Community Manager
    Community Manager
    October 9, 2017

    I would also add that Adobe AIR is the supported vehicle for developing desktop applications using Flash technology, and that embedding Flash content in C++ applications is not a use-case that we directly test or support.  It is a path fraught with peril.  We do try to fix it when we break content, but there are significant architectural changes with Windows 8 and higher (there is *no* ActiveX interface in IE/Edge on Win8+, which is why we're not a standalone product on those platforms) that significantly increase complexity.  Furthermore, changes made to Flash Player to accommodate changes in those modern operating systems often impact the embedded C++ use-cases without impacting the browser case on Win7 and below.

    While we do our best to continue to support legacy applications that take this approach and fix them whenever possible, there are no guarantees.  We may ultimately be forced to choose between a new operating system requirement and keeping an unsupported use-case viable.  I'm not aware of a requirement in the future that would cause that outcome, but it's not impossible.  Given the already announced timelines for Flash deprecation, and the potential for a large amount of rework to migrate to any alternate solution, my strong recommendation is to start executing against a migration plan very soon.

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