Actually need Adobe Flash to run, no I'm not crazy!

[ecpsys]

I accept that it should be disabled for normal use BUT:

I have a program that I need to run that requires Flash. It is a dead program but I do need it. It will run on XP, Win7 or Win10. The computer or virtual machine won't run anything else. I can setup a dedicated computer or a virtual machine under Win10 with no connection to the network. So now that you understand the problem, what would be the easiest way to accomplish this. 

Has anyone tried this and might know the best way to accomplish it?

Did XP ever update to kill Flash? I'd prefer to run Win7 32 bit as I could run another dead program on that computer or virtual machine. Neither needs to connect to the internet, internal network, or network printers. 

[Nancy OShea]

Hi @ecpsys,

I can't help you, sorry.  Contact the manufacturer of whatever app it is that relies on Flash and ask them for a replacement that doesn't need the now defunct Flash Player.  There may be other solutions on the dark web but none that I'm prepared to recommend because downloading outdated & unsupported Flash Players from untrusted sites is very risky.  Best advice, don't go down that slippery slope.

Good luck!

[ecpsys]

By "Dead Program" I meant there is no company to contact or to update it. It is parts & service documentation for equipment. There are different CDs and later DVDs for different equipment. Many programs like this used pdf for static images and Flash for active images. Adobe handled this very poorly by not documenting how you can continue to run Flash if you knew how to handle the security risk in order to run programs like this. The web server and program all run on one stand-alone computer so there is no security risk. 
I was just hoping someone had some input that would help make my project easier. I guess I'll start with a virtual in XP and one in Win7 and do basic updates, then disconnect them from the network. It would be nice to know the exact MS Update that killed Flash in each Windows OS. It seems it has been identified for Win10. I assume there is one for Win7. Perhaps none for XP so that might be the solution. Since it runs fine in XP with IE8, perhaps that is easiest.

[Nancy OShea]

It is parts & service documentation for equipment.

========

Do you have the latest Acrobat for Win10? 

FREE Acrobat Reader -- view, comment, print & sign PDF.
https://acrobat.adobe.com/us/en/acrobat/pdf-reader.html

Paid Acrobat Pro DC -- the complete solution for creating and saving PDF.
https://acrobat.adobe.com/us/en/acrobat/acrobat-pro.html

[ecpsys]

Yes, Acrobat DC on one unit that ran this. Acrobat Reader DC on the parts/service counter. 

There are a variety of different parts & service manuals. The most important one is a parts lookup program that uses Flash for all parts diagrams. You can still see the menus and part numbers but no images. Other ones are mostly static pdf pages but the menus for the program are all Flash. We've had to take the common used pdf pages and give them names that make sense since you can't pick buttons to get you to the right section. That becomes only possible with the very common pages because there are more than 10,000 pdf pages on one DVD. There are dozens of CDs and DVDs.

If I setup a XP and/or Win7 virtual machine and never let it connect to the internet to update, will it continue to run Adobe Flash?

[Nancy OShea]

I have no idea.

[Nancy OShea · Accepted solution]

This product community is READ ONLY now.  Contact Harman about solutions for enterprise customers that need help transitioning their Flash content to other supported technologies.

https://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/enterprise-end-of-life.html

Best of luck!