Wednesday, March 25, 2009

IE8 & ADOBE FLASH PLAYER FIX

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Yesterday, I wanted to watch a video on Youtube when suddenly, to my surprise, I just found the following message, instead:

Hello, you either have JavaScript turned off or an old version of Adobe's Flash Player. Get the latest Flash player.

Since Javascript was enabled, in order to check whether this was a problem of Youtube's site only, I browse to other sites that I know use flash tech to find that I was really unable to watch any Flash content. They all prompted me to download and install the latest version of Adobe Flash Player.

So I visited Adobe's site and tried to get the latest Flash Player online. The key thing is that after installing the add-on, the movie clip that always appear on the site saying that your installation was successful didn't appear at all. Strangely, by refreshing the page -by hitting the F5 key- it did appear. Weird.

So I said, maybe this was just a minor glitch, and opened the video page on Youtube. Unluckily, that nasty message appeared again.

This time, I opened the "Tools" menu of IE8, and selected the "Manage Add-Ons" section. There, I found that the "Shockwave Flash Object" add-on was in fact installed and the version was correct, so I tried to "reset" it by disabling the component, closing the browser, re-open it and finally enable the add-on. No luck!

One final desperate move: just in case, I just opened the following menu on my browser:

"Tools -> Internet Options -> General -> Delete"

and deleted everything. Then, I downloaded the offline installer of Adobe Flash Player from the following link:

http://www.adobe.com/support/flashplayer/ts/documents/tn_19166/Install_Flash_Player_10_ActiveX.zip

And finally, I closed the browser and executed the installer (btw, since the offline installer does the task of uninstalling any previous version of the add-on, I skipped that part and let it do it for me).

When the process ended, I just reopened IE8, visited Youtube again to find this time that everything simply worked just fine!

I don't know if this workaround will work for you, but if you happen to experience a similar situation then just give it a try.

Well, that's it for today. I hope you find this post useful.

Stay tuned,
~Pete

> Link to Spanish version.

56 comments:

  1. Thanks very much. This fixed the problem for me also.

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  2. Thank you so very much Pete you really helped more than you can imagine!

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  3. wow thanks!! been trying to sort this for ages!

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  4. Another big thank you to you. I have been trying to fix this for days and totally devoted today to it. Been trying everything I could think of and been on the phone for help for a couple of hours. This was going to be my last attempt; and boy was I surprised when it finally did work. You are amazing.
    Thank You!!!

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  5. Great find! Worked like a charm for me. Paul

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  6. Wow-Thanks so much. I couldn't open up videos in the blog I go to after installing IE8. Thought I tried everything and when I tried to explain it to people they sounded like I was speaking a foreign language. Thanks again-saved this page in my favorites.
    Horsehead

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  7. yes this worked. Thanks man. Whats wrong with these IE people!!!

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  8. Thank you very much!!!!!!

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  9. Had similar problems and went the route of using the Flash unistaller from http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=tn_14157

    Re-installing Flash 10 from the online page did fix it then.

    For the record the detailed symptoms in my case:
    - I could see most Flash content, but not the SWF in one of my favourite iGadgeds for which only EMBED tags where used, not Object tags
    - I could not view SWFs dragged from the desktop into IE8
    - All of the above worked on other machines with IE8
    - In my case the Ad-on Manager showed me a Shockwave Flash object of version 9.x.x.x despite the fact that I had upgraded to Flash 10 and both the Flash player page and the context menu showed me that I had Flash 10.
    - Only after completely de-installing and re-installing Flash 10 do I see version 10.x.x.x in the Add-on Manager now and everything works fine.

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  10. Thanks guys for your comments. Glad it helped.

    "For the record the detailed symptoms in my case:"

    Thanks for sharing!

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  11. Yay!! Thanks so much, Pete. It worked. I can finally see what all the fuss is about over Susan Boyle. ;)

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  12. Thank you so much! it worked great!

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  13. Another Way: Just log-off your account and open your session with ADMINISTRATOR account (if you don't have, create one and open your system with it). Install the flash active-x from this account. Then return to your normal account, internet explorer should work fine, if not, check (from manage add-ons menu) that Shockwave Adobe Flash Object is enabled, sometimes it returns as disabled)

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  14. Thank you! You are my new BFF. :)

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  15. Great piece of information mate!!!! Worked for me too!!!!! All this while I was using Mozilla browser since IE was giving problem. Now I can switch back to IE & keep Mozilla as backup :-)

    Thanks a ton!!!!

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  16. After hours of searches and days of frustrating attempted fixes this worked! Thank you

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  17. Pete.
    Thanks for posting this.
    Finally ended lots of frustrating faffing about for me!

    Gracias,

    Simon.

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  18. Thanks bro, it works!

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  19. this worked for me as well.

    remember to go back and enable it though :)

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  20. OMG! Thank you soooooooo much. I tried a whole lot of other "fixes" from other sources and none of them worked, but yippee yours did!If only I had found you first it would have saved countless hours and headaches.

    What is up with IE8 failing on such a large scale? Millions of people have had the same issue. What a mess! This happened when my automatic updates installed IE8. Phoey on Microsoft!

    Thanks again, you ROCK!!!!!!

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  21. I hate to say it, but this solution did NOT fix the problem on my computer. Back to the drawing board for me I guess...

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  22. I've spent the last 5 days trying to fix this and your solution helped me IMMENSELY...

    Thanks!

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  23. Buggy software is the norm! Marketing 1st quality 5th - Adobe and Micr$soft slogan!

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  24. under add-ons, check that the flash player is allowed to run on ALL web sites -- that was the problem I found on my setup, only a few sites were listed. This fixed it for me.

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  25. Thank You! Thank You! I've been struggling with this for 2 weeks, since I got a new laptop.
    Thanks again!

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  26. wow..at last..thank you so much

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  27. Thank you!!!! an answer that's not only easy but actually worked!!!

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  28. Nice blog you got here. I'd like to read more concerning this theme.
    By the way look at the design I've made myself High class escort

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  29. 2 days of fury and frustration solved in a trice! Words cannot express my gratitude but thank you.

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  30. Thank you. This fixed the problem for me too. I think there must be some settings (such as Add-on setting) from Flash Player need to be adjusted. I don't know what they are and how to, but the reinsall of Flash Player handled it.

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  31. Okay im trying to install the older version, but it keeps closing telling me that there is a newer version available. but i dont want the new one! :/ i HATE IE8

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  32. YES!! Thank you from the bottom of my heart <3

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  33. I have tried a variety of fixes because could not view videos with Flashplayer anymore since downloading IE8. None worked until I followed the posted recommendation, used the link to download current Flashplayer from Adobe site and deleted the temporary files in IE8. A million thanks!!!

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  34. This worked for me yesterday and then this morning we were back to no ability to view videos. I have repeated the fix to no avail. I have downloaded and re-downloaded and uninstalled and installed flash player, updated it, cleared browser, blah blah. Cannot view videos. Whatelse can I do? Should I uninstall ie8 and just reinstall 7?

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  35. Hi there,

    I tried clicking the link provided and it says that it is not the current version or something like like.

    I have been wanting to use youtube for ages now and can't fix the problem no matter what I do.. I have installed and uninstalled, downloaded debugger thingys..

    I am going mental trying to fix it.

    Please help me

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  36. hi all ... this fixed the problem ... but after 30 i refresh youtube page then .. it's back again same problem ... and every (images vedios texts .. ) out of place so plz help

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  37. out of place problem just on youtube site

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  38. http://esbuah.wordpress.com

    tkx bro...
    i really need this for my ie8...

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  39. Try this link that goes to the current installation:

    http://fpdownload.adobe.com/get/flashplayer/current/install_flash_player_ax.exe

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  40. Thanks - worked for me too! After trying multiple fixes via google help.

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  41. Quote Steve Jobs: " Apple does not support Flash because it is so buggy. Whenever a Mac crashes more often than not – it’s because of Flash. "

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  42. thanks - this worked. Adobe should pay you the monehs.

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  43. I unfortunately have Windows 7 with an updated IE 8.0 64bit browser, and the 64bit browser doesn't play almost any videos and it is impossible to revert back to IE 7.0 or IE 8.0 32bit browser. So,basically, everyone with Windows 7 and IE 8.0 64 bit browser can say bye-bye to youtube (flash is working on a 64 bit solution). Also, many other sites don't work and I even have to watch streaming netflix with Microsoft Silverlight on other browsers. Microsoft doesn't even seem to realize these problems and has made it impossible to go back to 32 bit IE 8.0 or IE 7.0. Can't believe that blockbuster only uses IE, good luck...another great move by blockbuster...how long will they last?

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  44. After hours and hours of installing, uninstalling, tweaking, going through reams of "expert solutions" with no results, here in plain and simple steps I found something that worked at the first attempt. Thank you so very much.

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  45. I know this is an old post but I just came upon it today and really helped me out. I was going nuts trying to fix the issue with no luck whatsoever and this worked like a charm in a matter of seconds after speding a few hours trying everything. Thanks so much!! Hope you get this.

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  46. Working for three days trying to solve this problem. Along comes your article and--zip--five minutes later videos are now playing. Thanks a million!

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  47. Nice work on putting together a very interesting post. Fabulous ideas and very helpful information. Well thought out and well written.

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  48. Is it just me, or are companies like Adobe outdated and ancient dinosaurs that have lost touch with their base?

    I'm trying to install Flash by "downloading". The perverted "download manager" they shove down my throat, which then insists I do it as an ActiveX-install in IE. Then it just chokes because "IE is already open", and then do not allow any more "installs".

    I wish Adobe a nice descent into oblivion.

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  49. I tried the method in the opening post & still no luck.
    Some Youtube will open full size, others don't; web pages with a flash or similar link now scroll eratically. Yet Firefox is OK.

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  50. Great man, I worked for me thanks.

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  51. Thank you so much! It was really helpful!

    Visit:- Mozilla Firefox Support

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  52. Great blog about adobe flash player thank you for this post

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  53. Great blog about adobe flash player thank you for this post

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