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digiday
Inspiring
October 1, 2012
Answered

Is there an archive page for Flash Player plugins for PORTABLE versions of web browsers?

  • October 1, 2012
  • 1 reply
  • 18401 views

Is there an archive page for downloads of Flash Player plugin installers for the PORTABLE versions of web browsers like Firefox ESR?

One of my web browsers is Firefox ESR 10.0.7 and it is a PORTABLE version of Firefox that apparently needs a different Flash Player plugin than the normal Flash Player plugin that regular versions of most web browsers require.

I do not want to install the most recent Flash Player plugin PORTABLE version because I've read about problems with it and that's the only version that this Firefox ESR will give me the option to download and install when I try to install the needed Flash Player plugin through the browser.

I already know about the normal Adobe Flash Player plugin archive page, linked below, but that does not have the Flash Player plugins for PORTABLE web browsers.

http://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/archived-flash-player-versions.html

I also looked on OldApps.com and I couldn't find anything there.

Where can I download an older version, possibly one of the 11.2 Flash Player plugins from around April 2012, that will work with this PORTABLE version Firefox ESR?

I tried this question on the Mozilla Firefox help forum but no one could answer it.

Thanks for any help,

digiday

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer chris.campbell

Hi Chris,

I just tried installing the Flash Player 10.3, then copying those Flash plugin files that you and Pat recommended to the Firefox Portable plugins folder and it still doesn't work.

And I did close and re-open the Firefox Portable browser after copying those files to its plugins folder.

See the screenshot below showing the Tor-Firefox ESR 10.0.7 Portable browser requesting the Flash Player with the Flash Player download panel that comes from clicking the "Install Missing Plugins" button at the top of the browser page, along with the Firefox Portable plugins folder window showing the plugins that are installed.

How are you getting it to work?... is there some step or minor thing that you might be leaving out of your instructions?  Now I've tried it both by copying in the Flash 11.4 plugin files and by using the Flash 10.3 plugin files as you instructed but it still isn't working.

This Flash Player 10.3 that I've now installed on this computer does work fine in my other, normally installed Firefox browser, but it doesn't require that I copy the Flash plugin files to a plugins folder of its own, or course.

PS: Where do I find the matching ActiveX installer for this 10.3 version Flash plugin?  When I unistalled my Flash 11.2 plugin before installing the 10.3 that you instructed, I also uninstalled my ActiveX plugin because in the installer folder for the 11.2 Flash plugin there is also a seperate installer for the Adobe ActiveX plugin, so I thought the versions need to match for both plugins... but there is no ActiveX installer that comes with this version 10.3 Flash plugin installer.  I tried installing my 11.2 ActiveX plugin via the installer that came with the 11.2 Flash plugin installer package, but it won't install now and it gives me an error message that says that it needs to install the MOST RECENT version of the ActiveX plugin installer.

But when I do a search for ActiveX installers on the Adobe site, I can only find ActiveX DEBUGGER installers, which isn't the same thing, I don't believe... the Adobe site doesn't show any plain ActiveX plugin installers in a search, and my 11.2 version won't install now... I get the error message telling me that it wants the most recent version of the ActiveX plugin.

What exactly does the ActiveX plugin do and what will it affect if I don't have it installed?... I can see that it is now missing in the Programs list in my Control Panel, whereas it showed up as a seperate app previously.

Thanks,

digiday


I ran into the same problem with the version of Firefox portable I tried.  I ended up ignoring the folder (with the text file) that they provided and created my own "plugins" folder alongside the firefox executable.

As for why I went with 10.3 over 11.4, that was mainly because we added protected mode in Flash Player 11.3.  While this might work (it didn't with my first attempt), it adds a layer of complexity that I didn't want to deal with.  If you need some of the newer features of 11.x, then you'll have to play around with this to see if you can get this working.  One thing to try would be to modify the mms.cfg by disabling protected mode, however, I don't know if this file can be accessed outside of your windows\system32\macromed\flash folder.

You can find all versions of 10.3 here: Where can I find direct downloads of Flash Player 10.3 for Windows or Macintosh?

1 reply

pwillener
pwillener
Legend
October 2, 2012

Why do you think portable browsers need a different plugin?

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digidayAuthor
Inspiring
October 2, 2012

Hi Pat,

Thanks for you reply... but this isn't exactly the answer I was hoping for, or an answer at all... more like another question, eh?

There are several reasons why I thought that a PORTABLE browser like Firefox ESR takes a different Flash Player plugin of its own...

1) This browser will not see the Flash Player plugin that I already have installed in my Windows 7 system that my other Firefox web browser was able to see after I installed it.

So Firefox ESR 10.0.7 is not seeing the Flash Player plugin v 11.2.208.228 that I already have installed.

2) Since portable apps can work from a Flash drive and they don't work from or  see the many  system files that are contained in system software and 3rd party plugins, like Flash, usually they contain their own plugins if they need them, such as the Flash Plugin that this PORTABLE browser is asking for.

3) When I navigate to the location of my PORTABLE Firefox ESR - FirefoxPortable>App>DefaultData>Plugins - there is no Flash Player plugin, but there is a text document that, when opened, reads, "Place Firefox plugins in this directory (Flash, Shockwave, etc)"

Now, that is telling me to place the Flash plugin in that plugins folder, not to install it by way of a normal Flash Player plugin installer.

Yet when I naviagate to my normal Firefox folder at C>Programs>Mozilla Firefox>Plugins - there IS a plugin called  "get Plus Plus for Adobe 16291" that I'm figuring is some link to the existing Flash Player plugin v 11.2.208.228 that is already installed on this computer.

4) And when I installed my newer normal Firefox browser (not the portable version) over the previous one, it didn't need to have the Flash Player plugin re-installed... it just saw my existing Flash Player plugin... but this PORTABLE Firefox ESR is not seeing that existing Flash Player plugin v 11.2.208.228 like my other regular installed Firefox is.

So is there a solution?

Thanks,

digiday

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digidayAuthor
Inspiring
October 6, 2012

@digiday - This isn't something that we test against (or officialy support) but I was able to get this working using the following steps:

1. Download and install the latest 10.3 Flash Player release

2. Download and install the Firefox portable edition from: http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox_portable/test

3. In the device/folder you've installed Firefox into, navigate into \App\Firefox

4. Create a folder named "plugins"

5. Back in Windows, navigate to the plugin installed in step one (since I'm running win7 x64, that's c:\windows\syswow64\macromed\flash.  If you have a 32bit system, you'll go to c:\windows\system32\macromed\flash)

6. Copy the files flashplayer.xpt and npswf32.dll into the plugins folder created in step 4.

At this point, I can now launch Firefox portable and view Flash content using the plugin on my USB drive.

Hope this helps,

Chris


Hi Chris,

Thanks for you reply.

The version of the portable Firefox app that I'm using is the Tor-Firefox ESR 10.0.7... this comes specifically with the Tor web browser software package that also includes and works with the Vidalia control panel.  This software works together and this portable Firefox ESR browser has some specific Tor browser controls in it, so I don't have the option of using whatever version of Firefox portable that I want to, as you are recommending.

Here is the download page for the Tor-Firefox web browser...

https://www.torproject.org/projects/torbrowser.html.en

So as I described above, I'm using the Tor-Firefox ESR 10.0.7 browser and it already has its own plugins folder. And as I described above, there is a text document inside that plugins folder that says, "Place Firefox plugins in this directory (Flash, Shockwave, etc)".

Is there a difference in how this will work between using the Flash Player plugin 10.3 and one of the more recent Flash plugins like the 11.4 version that I described above?

Other than those two things, the procedure I described above that I tried is the same as what you are recommending and it is the same basic procedure that Pat Willener recommended, verbatim.

Is there something about the Flash Player 10.3 that makes this work, whereas other more recent Adobe Flash Player plugin files won't work?

Thanks,

digiday

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