Adobe Flash, Shockwave, and Oracle Java on XP (Part 1)

[sdfox7]

On 11/10/2016 at 5:31 PM, heinoganda said:

Flash Player Version 23.0.0.207 has been released! (Although not brand new update, better now than never! )

The Internet Explorer ActiveX plugin is available here: http://fpdownload.adobe.com/get/flashplayer/pdc/23.0.0.207/install_flash_player_ax.exe
The NPAPI for Firefox is available here: http://fpdownload.adobe.com/get/flashplayer/pdc/23.0.0.207/install_flash_player.exe

Currently, the Flash Player for Opera or Chromium (install_flash_player ppapi.exe) version v23.0.0.207 can be used!
Tested with Google Chrome v49.0.2623.112.
 

Update 12/16/2016

Flash Player Version 24.0.0.186 has been released!

The Internet Explorer ActiveX plugin is available here: http://fpdownload.adobe.com/get/flashplayer/pdc/24.0.0.186/install_flash_player_ax.exe
The NPAPI for Firefox is available here: http://fpdownload.adobe.com/get/flashplayer/pdc/24.0.0.186/install_flash_player.exe

Currently, the Flash Player for Opera or Chromium (install_flash_player ppapi.exe) version v24.0.0.186 can be used!
Tested with Google Chrome v49.0.2623.112.

This is a long thread. Am I missing something? I installed the install_flash_player ppapi.exe and got confirmation that it was installed, but when I go to the Adobe test page (http://www.adobe.com/software/flash/about/), it is still showing the original 21.0.0.213 that installs with 49.0.2623.112.

The Flash plugin for Internet Explorer and Firefox install without any issues.

[heinoganda]

First close Google Chrome, copy from "%windir%\system32\Macromed\Flash" the files "pepflashplayer32_24_0_0_186.dll" and "manifest.json" to the User Profile from Google Chrome
" \Documents and Settings\$USER$\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\User Data\PepperFlash\24.0.0.186\"
and rename "pepflashplayer32_24_0_0_186.dll" to "pepflashplayer.dll". Starting Google Chrome again.

Note:
Is also recognized by Google Chrome as version 24.0.0.186! (chrome://flash or chrome://components)

Edited December 19, 2016 by heinoganda

[sdfox7]

39 minutes ago, heinoganda said:

First close Google Chrome, copy from "%windir%\system32\Macromed\Flash" the files "pepflashplayer32_24_0_0_186.dll" and "manifest.json" to the User Profile from Google Chrome
" \Documents and Settings\$USER$\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\User Data\PepperFlash\24.0.0.186\"
and rename "pepflashplayer32_24_0_0_186.dll" to "pepflashplayer.dll". Starting Google Chrome again.

Note:
Is also recognized by Google Chrome as version 24.0.0.186! (chrome://flash or chrome://components)

WORKED LIKE A CHARM! THANKS!

By the way, the "24.0.0.186" folder did not exist in the destination PepperFlash directory. I had to create it before pasting the files and renaming.

[Monroe]

heinoganda ... thanks for the Flash Player update links. Since that Adobe Flash page was taken away it is not easy to just get the updates sometimes.

Also, I know your links will be correct and work. The same goes for others that post various update links ... very handy to have them available here in the forum.

monroe

*** I might add there hasn't been a Shockwave update since around the end of September ... File Hippo has the last update as Shockwave Player  12.2.5.195 ... September 30, 2016. Seems like a long time ... I guess nothing needed fixed.

 

Edited December 19, 2016 by monroe

[heinoganda]

A more recent version of Shockwave Player 12.2.5.195 as well I do not get, however, for the latest Shockwave Player.

Full   https://fpdownload.macromedia.com/get/shockwave/default/english/win95nt/latest/Shockwave_Installer_Full.exe
Slim  https://fpdownload.macromedia.com/get/shockwave/default/english/win95nt/latest/Shockwave_Installer_Slim.exe

The link from dencorso I had overlooked, then the two links are superfluous. Think that with Shockwave, on the part of Adobe, is not much to be expected.

Edited December 19, 2016 by heinoganda

[Monroe]

On Tuesday, November 24, 2015 at 0:28 PM, dencorso said:

It's already available here: sw_lic_full_installer.exe as the non-adware English EXE version...

heinoganda ... I use the link that dencorso has supplied earlier in this thread ... it is the full version with no adware. You might want to check that out. I used to download Shockwave from File Hippo but now I just use the site to check for a newer version.

monroe
 

[vwestlife]

Off-topic, but I got a scare a few days ago when I went to install Flash Player 24 on my 2007 MacBook running Mac OS X 10.7.5 (the highest it supports), and the download page stated that OS X 10.9 or higher is required! I thought Adobe had ended support for older Mac OS versions even before they ended support for Windows XP and Vista.

But then the next day, the Flash Player update notification pop-up came up, and I was able to successfully download and install Flash Player 24 on OS X 10.7.5. The download page now no longer says that any specific Mac OS version is required, either, even though Adobe's Tech Specs page still says that 10.9 or higher is required:

http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/tech-specs.html

Also notable is that they finally brought the Linux NPAPI version of Flash Player up to the current release, instead of being stuck with the 11.x "Extended Support Release". (They also recently ended the ESR for the Windows and Mac OS NPAPI plugin.)

[sdfox7]

On 12/19/2016 at 2:42 PM, vwestlife said:

Off-topic, but I got a scare a few days ago when I went to install Flash Player 24 on my 2007 MacBook running Mac OS X 10.7.5 (the highest it supports), and the download page stated that OS X 10.9 or higher is required! I thought Adobe had ended support for older Mac OS versions even before they ended support for Windows XP and Vista.

But then the next day, the Flash Player update notification pop-up came up, and I was able to successfully download and install Flash Player 24 on OS X 10.7.5. The download page now no longer says that any specific Mac OS version is required, either, even though Adobe's Tech Specs page still says that 10.9 or higher is required:

http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/tech-specs.html

Also notable is that they finally brought the Linux NPAPI version of Flash Player up to the current release, instead of being stuck with the 11.x "Extended Support Release". (They also recently ended the ESR for the Windows and Mac OS NPAPI plugin.)

The alternate download page https://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/otherversions/ also specifies 10.9, if you 1) select Mac OS and then 2) click on the system requirements link that appears in blue:

[caffeinepizza]

On 12/19/2016 at 1:42 PM, vwestlife said:

Off-topic, but I got a scare a few days ago when I went to install Flash Player 24 on my 2007 MacBook running Mac OS X 10.7.5 (the highest it supports), and the download page stated that OS X 10.9 or higher is required! I thought Adobe had ended support for older Mac OS versions even before they ended support for Windows XP and Vista.

But then the next day, the Flash Player update notification pop-up came up, and I was able to successfully download and install Flash Player 24 on OS X 10.7.5. The download page now no longer says that any specific Mac OS version is required, either, even though Adobe's Tech Specs page still says that 10.9 or higher is required:

http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/tech-specs.html

Also notable is that they finally brought the Linux NPAPI version of Flash Player up to the current release, instead of being stuck with the 11.x "Extended Support Release". (They also recently ended the ESR for the Windows and Mac OS NPAPI plugin.)

Sounds like they're trying to save it from death.

[vwestlife]

16 hours ago, sdfox7 said:

The alternate download page https://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/otherversions/ also specifies 10.9, if you 1) select Mac OS and then 2) click on the system requirements link that appears in blue:

Well, they're wrong.

And Flash Player's system requirements for Windows specifies a minimum CPU speed of 2.33 GHz, which is also wrong because it runs perfectly fine on my 1.66 GHz Core 2 Duo.

[sdfox7]

7 hours ago, vwestlife said:

Well, they're wrong.

And Flash Player's system requirements for Windows specifies a minimum CPU speed of 2.33 GHz, which is also wrong because it runs perfectly fine on my 1.66 GHz Core 2 Duo.

I'm not sure how Adobe arrives at their system requirements. It's clear they don't actually test.

Any Windows XP system with a SSE2 processor (any speed) can run the current version of Flash Player 24. That means a Pentium 4 from way back in 2001. Windows 2000 might also work, but I haven't actually tested it. There might also be OS dependencies I might not know about.

[vwestlife]

16 hours ago, sdfox7 said:

Any Windows XP system with a SSE2 processor (any speed) can run the current version of Flash Player 24. That means a Pentium 4 from way back in 2001.

Not even that much!

[sdfox7]

On 12/22/2016 at 5:40 PM, vwestlife said:

Not even that much!

I'm not sure how Flash 24 is running on that system with only a Pentium III.

SSE2 compatible processor has been required since Adobe compiled Flash 11.2. The Pentium III does not support SSE2. This has been well documented with Linux: https://bugbase.adobe.com/index.cfm?event=bug&id=3161034

Are you running a laptop or desktop system? Some laptops/programs will detect a Pentium M as a Pentium III. In which case, a Pentium M is essentially a modified/modernized Pentium III- but one that does support SSE2.

[dencorso]

7 hours ago, sdfox7 said:

SSE2 compatible processor has been required since Adobe compiled Flash 11.2. The Pentium III does not support SSE2. This has been well documented with Linux: https://bugbase.adobe.com/index.cfm?event=bug&id=3161034

It's more complicated than that, I regret to say. The problem the *linux version* of Flash 11.2+ has with non-SSE2 processors is specific, and it didn't carry across to the Windows versions of the same number. On the other hand, there is *another* issue affecting all Windows programs compiled with MSVS 2012+, which is caused by MS discretionarily deciding to require SSE2 by default, regardless of it being actually needed (or even useful) or not.

On 12/7/2014 at 7:21 AM, dencorso said:

One thing is programs failing to work because of lack of SSE2 support: since MSVS 2012 MS decided to enforce a (generally unnecessary) default standard of requiring SSE2... Which, in fact it can be turned off by simply compiling with the with /arch:SSE and /Oi- command-line switches. Then again, recompilation is mandatory for removing the SSE2 requirement, and most developers don't bother to do it at all. This spells the decomissioning of most non-SSE2 processors (all AMDs from before the introduction of AMD-64 and all Intel processors preceeding the Pentium IV). This cannot be worked around.

However, since the linux versions 11.2+ of Flash cannot possibly have been compiled using MSVS 2012+, the issues mentioned above *must* perforce be two different issues, not a single one. The one with Flash and linux may be due to clumsiness and/or sheer cluelessness. The one due to MSVS 2012+, however, can be seen as causing deliberately otherwise unnecessary hardware obsolescence, which is just a less negative euphemism for "malice".
Further evidence (if required) that there are 2 different issues is provided by the fact that the linux Flash issue seems to have apeared initially with Flash Player 11.1.102.55  (Released: Nov 11, 2011), while MSVS 2012 was initially released only on Nov 11, 2011...

[vwestlife]

19 hours ago, sdfox7 said:

Are you running a laptop or desktop system? Some laptops/programs will detect a Pentium M as a Pentium III. In which case, a Pentium M is essentially a modified/modernized Pentium III- but one that does support SSE2.

It is a Compaq Deskpro EN with a 1 GHz Pentium III.