Archived Flash Player Versions

Report · Jun 02, 2017

I am running Windows 7 (64-bit) on a desktop Asus PC. I am using the latest versions of Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Comodo Dragon (a variant of Chome).

I downloaded a zipped offline install file for Abobe Flash player at the following site:

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

Each file contains the following versions of the flash player:

flashplayer25_0r0_148_win.exe

flashplayer25_0r0_148_win.msi

flashplayer25_0r0_148_win_sa.exe

flashplayer25_0r0_148_winax.exe

flashplayer25_0r0_148_winax.msi

flashplayer25_0r0_148_winpep.exe

Please explain to me:

1. What are the win, win_sa, winax, and winpep versions for, respectively?

2. What is the difference between the .exe and .msi versions?

3. Which one is best for Internet Explorer?

4. Which one is best for Firefox?

5. Which one is best for Chrome?

Adobe seems to have no explanation of these file types anywhere on it's support site. Why don't you explain this to users? A Readme.txt file right inside of the downloadable ZIP file would be a great idea.

Thanks for your help.

Report · Jun 05, 2017

win = NPAPI plugin for Windows

win_sa = standalone player / projector

winax = ActiveX Control for Windows

winpep = PPAPI plugin for Widows

MSI installer's audience is enterprise customers who deploy Flash Player within their organization using deployment tools, such as SCCM.

To my recollection a readme.txt file has never been included in the archive zip and we really haven't had anyone question what they are, but I'll forward your suggestion to the appropriate folks.

Please note, that unless you have a compelling reason to use a previous version, Adobe highly recommends always using the latest version which contains security fixes for known security vulnerabilities, which in most cases are actively being exploited.

Report · Jun 05, 2017

Yeah, these distributions aren't intended for end-users. They really exist to help developers of Flash content to ensure backwards compatibility. You should *not* run an old version of Flash Player on a machine that browses arbitrary websites.

You can get a current version of Flash Player here:

http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/

http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/otherversions/

Report · Oct 25, 2017

Normally I would agree with no rolling back, but Oct, 2017 there is a incompatibility problem between VMWare and Adobe Flash (Shockwave Flash crashes with vSphere Web Client and vCloud Director (2151945) | VMware KB ) - so the Main point is we need to understand the various versions/extension that in the Zip of Adobe (example: fp_27.0.0.130_archive.zip), and what all extension do, as for example how is flashplayer25_0r0_148_win.exe different then flashplayer25_0r0_148_winax.exe other than above statement on ActiveX .. as I've just wasted over 4 hrs with various versions of Browsers but nothing seems to work ..

So the request is for a Read Me and explanation for the various packages.

Thanks

Report · Oct 25, 2017

Flash Player 27.0.0.183 is now available for download and addresses the VMWare crash.

To answer your question, _ax stands for ActiveX, and contains the ActiveX plugin. The other binary contains the NPAPI plug-in.