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Flash Player 9 Emerging Issues

Flash Player 9 Emerging Issues
Last updated: December 27, 2006

Adobe is aware of the following issues with Adobe Flash Player 9. Issues described in this document may prove to be platform- or system-specific and may not affect all users. Technical Support will update this document as we learn more about any of the issues, so check back frequently.

Flash Player 7 fails to auto-update to Flash Player 9
Topic update: December 27, 2006
Issue

Flash Player 7 fails to auto-update to Flash Player 9.

Reason

Adobe has changed the auto-update process for Flash Player. Files delivered by auto-update now have a digital signature applied. This change ensures a more secure download. The ability to handle these signed installers is not supported by Flash Player 7. This more secure auto-update is supported by Flash Player versions 8 and later.

Solution

If you are currently using Flash Player 7, then you can install the latest version from the Adobe Flash Player Download Center.

Flash Player 9 fails to install on Macintosh OS X
Topic update: November 28, 2006
Issue

Flash Player 9 may fail to install on Macintosh computers in several circumstances:

  • When one logged-in user leaves a web browser open, and then another user logs into the same machine and attempts to install Flash Player 9.

  • When one logged-in user installs a browser, but another user of that machine attempts to install Flash Player. This may result in two errors:

    "You do not have enough access privileges for this installation" and
    "Error creating file 1008:5, -5000 Access Denied error"
Solution

For details regarding this issue, see TechNote 4aa64290, "Flash Player 9 installation fails on Macintosh."

Flash Player confirmation page shows quotation mark (") after you install Flash Player
Topic update: July 21, 2006
Issue

After you complete the installation of the Flash Player ActiveX control in Internet Explorer for Windows, the post-installation test page shows a quotation mark (") where the test Flash movie should be. When you attempt to view other Flash content in Internet Explorer for Windows, you also see this missing content icon.

Reason

You may see this quotation mark (") when the Flash Player fails to install for the following reasons:

1. A damaged system registry or incorrect permissions in the registry

If the Flash Player fails to install on Windows Internet Explorer but it will install with other browsers on the same machine this may be due to an issue with the system registry. To find out more about this please see Troubleshooting the system registry issues that prevent Flash Player installation (TechNote 400116)

2. When installing an earlier version of the Flash Player:

If you previously installed a later version of Flash Player, you may be prevented from reinstalling that same version or an earlier version. For example, if you installed Flash Player 9,0,28,0, and then removed it, and attempted to install version 9,0,16,0 the installation would fail. This issue can cause the display of a quotation mark (") at the end of the installation where the Flash Player confirmation movie should appear. In some cases, during installation of Flash Player, instead of seeing a (") quotation mark you may see the confirmation movie that says, "Adobe Flash Player successfully installed". This movie may play even though Flash Player failed to register. You can confirm this by testing your Flash Player here.

Solution

This solution is for reason number 2 above.

Warning: The following solution involves the Windows System Registry. Editing or manipulating the registry incorrectly can result in serious system damage, which may require reinstallation of the operating system. If you arenot comfortable editing the registry then it's best to take your machine to a professional. If you choose to proceed, it is essential to create a complete system backup and a Windows System Restore Point before proceeding. Adobe Systems cannot be held responsible for damage resulting from this information.

To test for and resolve this issue:

  1. Choose Start > Run.
  2. Type regedit in the Open box, and then click OK to start the Windows Registry Editor.
  3. Navigate to the following registry key:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Macromedia\FlashPlayer\SafeVersions
  4. Right-click and delete the folder named Safe Versions.
  5. Using Internet Explorer for Windows, reinstall Flash Player 9 from the Flash Player Download page on the Adobe website at www.adobe.com/go/getFlashPlayer.
Flash Player 9 MSI installation issues
Topic update: July 21, 2006
Issue

Licensed users of the Flash Player Distribution License (www.macromedia.com/licensing) may download an MSI installer which can be used for distributed installations of Flash Player. In certain circumstances, the Flash Player 9 MSI may have the following issues:

  1. When you run the Flash Player 9 MSI silently using the /quiet or /qn switch, the uninstaller built into the MSI to remove previous Flash Players fails to be silent and prompts an "uninstallation complete" dialog.
  2. If the Flash Player folder at C:\Windows\System32\Macromed\Flash contains a FlashPlayerTrust folder with config (CFG) files, that folder will be removed. Placing config files in this location is a technique used to allow all users on the machine access to local CD drives and other Flash Player settings (see "Security Changes in Flash Player 8" on the Adobe website at www.adobe.com/devnet/flash/articles/fplayer8_security.html for more information.)

Note: This issue should not affect you if you installed Flash Player 8 or 9 from the Internet. Only machines with Flash Player 8 installed by the MSI installers should observe this issue. The Flash Player Active X control version 8.0.24.0 (the Flash8a.ocx file) released in April 2006 may cause this issue if Flash Player 8 was installed by the MSI installers. Machines with the refreshed version of the Flash Player ActiveX control (the Flash8b.ocx file) should not experience this issue.

Solution

You can use the Microsoft Windows Installer Cleanup Utility to resolve the silent removal issue and the removal of FlashPlayerTrust issue. For more information, see article 290301 on the Microsoft website at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301/en-us.

However, using the Microsoft Windows Installer Cleanup Utility introduces a new issue. After you run the msizapp.exe portion of Microsoft Windows Installer Cleanup Utility, the Flash8.ocx file remains in the folder in a locked state.

To resolve all of the above Flash Player 9 MSI Installation issues, modify your Flash Player MSI distribution to use the following multiple steps, in this order:

  1. Run Msizap.exe T {5E8A1B08-0FBD-4543-9646-F2C2D0D05750}. This removes the damaged registry items causing the initial silent installation and FlashPlayerTrust failures.
  2. Run either Flash Player Uninstaller OR the Flash Player Admin uninstaller to remove Flash8a.ocx:
    • Find information on the Flash Player Admin uninstaller in TechNote 4da116d3, "Installation issues with Flash Player 7.0.63.0 or 8.0.24.0 and later."
    • Download the Flash Player Uninstaller v3.0.0.19 from TechNotetn_14157, "How to uninstall the Adobe Flash Player plug-in and ActiveX control."

    Note: Uninstfl.exe is included with previously successful Flash installations. To unlock and delete Flash8a.ocx, run it with -q as follows:
    Uninstfl.exe q Flash8a.ocx
     
  3. Finally run Flash Player 9 MSI with /quiet or /qn. This should run silently and not effect FlashPlayerTrust.
Flash Player 9 breaks SwishMAX SWF playback
Topic update: July 20, 2006
Issue

SWF files created with Swish MAX do not play in Flash Player 9.

Solution

This is an issue with content created by Swish MAX (http://www.swishzone.com/). SWiSHZone released a new version of SWiSH Max build on June 29, 2006, that corrects the issue. SWiSHZone has also released new builds of other affected products and a tool that patches existing SWFs so you can fix your content even if you have lost the original SWI file.

Flash Player 9 breaks Flex Builder 2 debug player
Topic update: July 3, 2006
Issue

When you run Flex Builder 2 in debug mode, you may receive the following error message, "Installed Flash Player is Not a Debugger. Flex Builder cannot locate the required debug version of the Flash Player. You may need to install the debug version of the Flash Player 9.0 or reinstall Flex Builder. Do you want to try to debug with the current version?"

Solution

For more information on this issue, see TechNote 758bf58b, "FlexBuilder 2: Installed Flash Player is Not a Debugger."

Scaling pixel-snapped FlashType
Topic update: June 28, 2006
Issue

When you use FlashType pixel-snapped fonts, the spacing is different when you scale a 12 point font to 200% than when you change the font size to 24 points.

Solution

For details regarding this issue, see TechNote 505ecb19, "Scaling a pixel-snapped FlashType is not equivalent to changing the font size."

Operands in file names cause SWF failure
Topic update: June 28, 2006
Issue

Some operations involving JavaScript (such asexternalInterface calls) fail in Microsoft Internet Explorer if the Flash Player movie (SWF) file name contains an operand such as en dash [-] or forward slash [/].

Solution

For details regarding this issue, see TechNote 4b687833, "Operands in file names cause SWF failure in Internet Explorer."

Unable to obtain ID3 tags from MP3s loaded into SWF
Topic update: June 28, 2006
Issue

You are unable to obtain ID3 tags from MP3s loaded into SWF.

Solution

For details regarding this issue, see TechNote 50c96388, "Unable to obtain ID3 tags from MP3s loaded into SWF."

FileReference.download() failure
Topic update: June 28, 2006
Issue

FileReference.download() in SWF file fails. A browse dialog is generated but the dialog box and listener events do not fire.

Solution

For details regarding this issue, see TechNote 3637d5c3, "FileReference.download() in SWF file fails."

getURL behaves differently in Flash Player 9 than in earlier versions of Flash Player
Topic update: June 28, 2006
Issue

In Flash Player 9, calling getURL (or its ActionScript 3.0 equivalent, navigateToURL) with a window name of "_self," "_parent," or "_top" no longer works when the calling Flash Player movie (SWF) file is located in a different domain than its hosting HTML page, or when the HTML parameterAllowScriptAccess is set to "never."

Solution

For details regarding this issue, see TechNote 50c1cf38, "Links from SWF in HTML page no longer functional."

ActionScript 2 components may fail when loaded to Flash Player 9 SWF
Topic update: June 28, 2006
Issue

If you load a Flash Player movie (SWF) containing ActionScript 2 (AS2) components into an ActionScript 3 (AS3) SWF, and then unload the SWF containing the original components and load another SWF with AS2 components of the same class, some components may fail.

Solution

For details regarding this issue, see TechNote 54e2eda3, "ActionScript 2 components may fail when loaded into an ActionScript 3 SWF."

MouseMove events stop firing
Topic update: June 28, 2006
Issue

MouseMove events assigned to display objects stop firing when the mouse moves off the display object to which it was assigned.

Solution

For details regarding this issue, see TechNote 69a2ae4b, "MouseMove events unexpectedly stop functioning."

Unloading from Loader fails to close streams
Topic update: June 28, 2006
Issue

If you load a Flash Player movie (SWF) to a Loader instance and then use unload()to remove that instance from the Loader, open net streams within the loaded SWF remain open.

Solution

For details regarding this issue, see TechNote 6a360ede, "Unloading from Loader instances does not close net streams."

Camera, Microphone, other classes retain properties after first SWF loaded
Topic update: June 28, 2006
Issue

After you load a SWF that sets certain properties such asmic.rate, subsequent SWF loads attempting to reset the same properties fail. The initial value set by the loaded SWF remains the default value for the duration of the parent movie.

Solution

For details regarding this issue, see TechNote 6ac523c7, "Camera, Microphone, other classes retain properties after first SWF loaded."

getBytesLoaded fails for MP3s over HTTP server using chunked encoding
Topic update: June 28, 2006
Issue

When you load MP3s from an HTTP server using chunked encoding,getBytesLoaded always returns a value of zero.

Solution

For details regarding this issue, see TechNote 6ac6a344, "getBytesLoaded fails for MP3s over HTTP server using chunked encoding."

Progress Bar component doesn't show gradual update in Flash Player 9
Topic update: June 28, 2006
Issue

The ActionScript 2.0 Progress Bar component should increase gradually from 0% to 100% to reflect how much content has been loaded. With Flash Player 9, the Progress Bar remains at 0%, and then suddenly jumps to 100% after all content is loaded.

Solution

For details regarding this issue, see TechNote 6a620259, "Progress Bar does not show gradual progress in Flash Player 9."

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Document Details

ID:4a8d52ae
OS:Mac OS (All)
Windows (All)

Products Affected:

flash
flashplayer