Adobe Flash Player - installed version not recognised by Adobe website

Have you ever installed Flash in any way besides through the Software Center?

Can you go into Firefox, go to Tools > Add ons, click the Plugins tab, make the window large enough that all entries are visible at the same time, take a screenshot (tap the Print Screen key once), post the screenshot on the web (you can use a site like http://imageshack.us), and post a link to it here?

Please also let us know what web browser you are using, if it is not Firefox. (But even if you are not using Firefox, please still follow the above instructions, unless Firefox is not installed on your system at all.)

Finally, and most importantly, please open a Terminal window (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run this command by copying it to the clipboard, pasting it into the Terminal, and pressing enter:

lsb_release -a; uname -a; dpkg -l | egrep 'flash|gnash|swf|lightspark'

Then select all the text in the Terminal (Edit > Select All), copy it to the clipboard (Edit > Copy), and paste it here.

I think I have always installed Flash through the Software Centre, but I am not certain of that.

I have done a screenshot and uploaded it to imageshack. The link is:

 http://img560.imageshack.us/img560/5177/pluginsy.png

I am using Firefox.

The output from the terminal is:

No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 10.04.3 LTS
Release: 10.04
Codename: lucid
Linux esys-desktop 2.6.32-34-generic #77-Ubuntu SMP Tue Sep 13 19:40:53 UTC 2011 i686 GNU/Linux
ii adobe-flash-properties-gtk 11.0.1.152-0lucid1 GTK+ control panel for Adobe Flash Player pl
ii adobe-flashplugin 11.0.1.152-0lucid1 Adobe Flash Player plugin version 10
rc flashplugin-installer 11.0.1.152ubuntu0.10.04.1 Adobe Flash Player plugin installer
rc libswfdec-0.8-0 0.8.4-1build1 SWF (Macromedia Flash) decoder library
rc swfdec-gnome 2.28.0-1 Tools to play SWF files (Macromedia Flash) o
rc xul-ext-flashblock 1.5.12-1build1 mozilla extension to block Adobe Flash conte

Disable Shockwave Flash 9.0 r124 in the Plugins list in Firefox. Then quit Firefox, and run this command (you can paste it into the Terminal while Firefox is running, then quit Firefox, then return to the Terminal to press enter to run it):

sudo dpkg -P flashplugin-installer libswfdec-0.8-0 swfdec-gnome xul-ext-flashblock; sudo apt-get purge adobe-flash-properties-gtk adobe-flashplugin; sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get -y upgrade; sudo apt-get install adobe-flashplugin

You should copy that command from https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/flashplugin-nonfree/+question/176536 and not from your email, as if you copy it from your email, one or more spurious linebreaks will be inserted.

When running that command, you may be prompted for your password. As you enter it, you won't see any placeholder characters, like *. That's OK--just type it in and press enter.

Then go back into Firefox and see if the problem is fixed. If it is, you can mark this question as Solved. If it is not, then please select all the text in the Terminal (Edit > Select All), copy it to the clipboard (Edit > Copy), and paste it here.

Once you do fix this problem, and Flash 11 is installed and working on your machine, it is likely that you will then, as a result, be affected by bug 875538. If that happens, you can usually work around the problem by upgrading Firefox to version 7.0.1, which you can do as follows (but I highly recommend waiting until the current problem is fixed before doing this):

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mozillateam/firefox-stable; sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get -y upgrade

I tried that but it is still not working. The output from the terminal is:

(Reading database ... 208936 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing flashplugin-installer ...
Purging configuration files for flashplugin-installer ...
Removing libswfdec-0.8-0 ...
Purging configuration files for libswfdec-0.8-0 ...
Removing swfdec-gnome ...
Purging configuration files for swfdec-gnome ...
Removing xul-ext-flashblock ...
Purging configuration files for xul-ext-flashblock ...
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages will be REMOVED
  adobe-flash-properties-gtk* adobe-flashplugin*
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 2 to remove and 1 not upgraded.
After this operation, 17.7MB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y
(Reading database ... 208935 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing adobe-flash-properties-gtk ...
Removing adobe-flashplugin ...
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils ...
Processing triggers for python-gmenu ...
Rebuilding /usr/share/applications/desktop.en_GB.utf8.cache...
Processing triggers for hicolor-icon-theme ...
Processing triggers for python-support ...
Hit http://archive.canonical.com lucid Release.gpg
Ign http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ lucid/partner Translation-en_GB
Get: 1 http://security.ubuntu.com lucid-security Release.gpg [198B]
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-security/main Translation-en_GB
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-security/restricted Translation-en_GB
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com lucid Release.gpg
Hit http://archive.canonical.com lucid Release
Get: 2 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid/main Translation-en_GB [62.9kB]
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-security/multiverse Translation-en_GB
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-security/universe Translation-en_GB
Get: 3 http://security.ubuntu.com lucid-security Release [44.7kB]
Hit http://archive.canonical.com lucid/partner Packages
Get: 4 http://security.ubuntu.com lucid-security/main Packages [216kB]
Get: 5 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid/restricted Translation-en_GB [2,332B]
Get: 6 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid/multiverse Translation-en_GB [37.7kB]
Get: 7 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid/universe Translation-en_GB [33.9kB]
Get: 8 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com lucid-updates Release.gpg [198B]
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/main Translation-en_GB
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/restricted Translation-en_GB
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/multiverse Translation-en_GB
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/universe Translation-en_GB
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com lucid Release
Get: 9 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com lucid-updates Release [44.7kB]
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com lucid/main Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com lucid/restricted Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com lucid/multiverse Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com lucid/universe Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com lucid/main Sources
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com lucid/restricted Sources
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com lucid/universe Sources
Get: 10 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com lucid-updates/main Packages [522kB]
Get: 11 http://security.ubuntu.com lucid-security/restricted Packages [14B]
Get: 12 http://security.ubuntu.com lucid-security/multiverse Packages [4,537B]
Get: 13 http://security.ubuntu.com lucid-security/universe Packages [88.6kB]
Get: 14 http://security.ubuntu.com lucid-security/main Sources [67.2kB]
Get: 15 http://security.ubuntu.com lucid-security/restricted Sources [14B]
Get: 16 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com lucid-updates/restricted Packages [3,998B]
Get: 17 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com lucid-updates/multiverse Packages [10.5kB]
Get: 18 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com lucid-updates/universe Packages [231kB]
Get: 19 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com lucid-updates/main Sources [204kB]
Get: 20 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com lucid-updates/restricted Sources [1,850B]
Fetched 1,577kB in 5s (272kB/s)
Reading package lists... Done
W: Duplicate sources.list entry http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid/universe Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/us.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_lucid_universe_binary-i386_Packages)
W: Duplicate sources.list entry http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid/universe Translation-en_GB (/var/lib/apt/lists/us.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_lucid_universe_i18n_Translation-en%5fGB)
W: Duplicate sources.list entry http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/universe Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/us.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_lucid-updates_universe_binary-i386_Packages)
W: Duplicate sources.list entry http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-security/universe Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/security.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_lucid-security_universe_binary-i386_Packages)
W: You may want to run apt-get update to correct these problems
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages have been kept back:
  guile-1.8-dev
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 1 not upgraded.
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
  adobe-flash-properties-gtk
Suggested packages:
  konqueror-nsplugins msttcorefonts ttf-xfree86-nonfree xfs
The following NEW packages will be installed
  adobe-flash-properties-gtk adobe-flashplugin
0 upgraded, 2 newly installed, 0 to remove and 1 not upgraded.
Need to get 0B/6,555kB of archives.
After this operation, 17.7MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y
Selecting previously deselected package adobe-flashplugin.
(Reading database ... 208921 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking adobe-flashplugin (from .../adobe-flashplugin_11.0.1.152-0lucid1_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package adobe-flash-properties-gtk.
Unpacking adobe-flash-properties-gtk (from .../adobe-flash-properties-gtk_11.0.1.152-0lucid1_i386.deb) ...
Processing triggers for hicolor-icon-theme ...
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils ...
Processing triggers for python-gmenu ...
Rebuilding /usr/share/applications/desktop.en_GB.utf8.cache...
Processing triggers for python-support ...
Setting up adobe-flashplugin (11.0.1.152-0lucid1) ...
update-alternatives: using /usr/lib/adobe-flashplugin/libflashplayer.so to provide /usr/lib/iceape/plugins/flashplugin-alternative.so (iceape-flashplugin) in auto mode.
update-alternatives: using /usr/lib/adobe-flashplugin/libflashplayer.so to provide /usr/lib/iceweasel/plugins/flashplugin-alternative.so (iceweasel-flashplugin) in auto mode.
update-alternatives: using /usr/lib/adobe-flashplugin/libflashplayer.so to provide /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/flashplugin-alternative.so (mozilla-flashplugin) in auto mode.
update-alternatives: using /usr/lib/adobe-flashplugin/libflashplayer.so to provide /usr/lib/firefox/plugins/flashplugin-alternative.so (firefox-flashplugin) in auto mode.
update-alternatives: using /usr/lib/adobe-flashplugin/libflashplayer.so to provide /usr/lib/xulrunner/plugins/flashplugin-alternative.so (xulrunner-flashplugin) in auto mode.
update-alternatives: using /usr/lib/adobe-flashplugin/libflashplayer.so to provide /usr/lib/midbrowser/plugins/flashplugin-alternative.so (midbrowser-flashplugin) in auto mode.
update-alternatives: using /usr/lib/adobe-flashplugin/libflashplayer.so to provide /usr/lib/xulrunner-addons/plugins/flashplugin-alternative.so (xulrunner-addons-flashplugin) in auto mode.

Setting up adobe-flash-properties-gtk (11.0.1.152-0lucid1) ...

"I tried that but it is still not working."

Is it only still reporting major version 9 in System > Preferences > Adobe Flash Player, or is Flash 11 still not working when you actually try to play videos in Firefox?

Sorry, I should have been more explicit. System>Preferences>Adobe Flash Player is still reporting version 9, and Flash is still not working when I try to play videos.

I'm not highly familiar with Flash 9 (it's been a while since Adobe has supported it), so you'll have to bear with me.

Let's find out what is providing Flash 9, so we can remove it definitively.

First, let's find out what the executable is called that provides System > Preferences > Adobe Flash Player. Please open a Terminal window and run:

ps ax > ~/1

Then run System > Preferences > Adobe Flash Player. Then, without quitting out of that, run this in the Terminal (you can press the up arrow and just change the 1 to a 2):

ps ax > ~/2

Now you can go ahead and quit out of the window that was created by running System > Preferences > Adobe Flash Player. Then run this in the Terminal:

diff ~/1 ~/2

Then select all the text in the Terminal (Edit > Select All), copy it to the clipboard (Edit > Copy), and paste it here.

Please also let me know if the problem occurs in Firefox if you log in to your Ubuntu system using a different user account (if you only have one user account, you can create a second one for testing purposes: System > Administration > Users and Groups), and if the problem occurs in a different browser on the original user account (you can install a second browser to test if you only have Firefox installed; for example, to install the Chromium browser, install the package called chromium-browser). I am not proposing using a different user account or a different browser as desirable solutions to your problem--these are just diagnostic steps to help figure out where the problem lies.

I ran diff ~/1 ~/2, the output is:

144c144
< 2216 tty8 Ss+ 2:09 /usr/bin/X :1 -br -verbose -auth /var/run/gdm/auth-for-gdm-TyE7mq/database -nolisten tcp
---
> 2216 tty8 Rs+ 2:10 /usr/bin/X :1 -br -verbose -auth /var/run/gdm/auth-for-gdm-TyE7mq/database -nolisten tcp
165c165
< 2393 ? S 0:33 /usr/lib/gnome-panel/wnck-applet --oaf-activate-iid=OAFIID:GNOME_Wncklet_Factory --oaf-ior-fd=18
---
> 2393 ? S 0:34 /usr/lib/gnome-panel/wnck-applet --oaf-activate-iid=OAFIID:GNOME_Wncklet_Factory --oaf-ior-fd=18
197c197,198
< 5053 pts/0 R+ 0:00 ps ax
---
> 5055 ? S 0:00 flash-player-properties
> 5056 pts/0 R+ 0:00 ps ax

I have three user accounts. This problem only occurs in one account, the others are OK.

I installed Chromium browser as you suggested. When I tried to use Google Streetview I got the message "Flash plug-in was blocked because it is out of date". It works OK in the other accounts.

It seems that you have Adobe Flash 9 installed, just for your user. Removing it should fix this problem.

What is the output of this command?

which -a flash-player-properties; file `which flash-player-properties`; locate flash-player-properties

Output is:

/usr/bin/flash-player-properties
/usr/bin/X11/flash-player-properties
/usr/bin/flash-player-properties: ELF 32-bit LSB executable, Intel 80386, version 1 (SYSV), dynamically linked (uses shared libs), for GNU/Linux 2.6.9, stripped
/usr/bin/flash-player-properties
/usr/share/applications/flash-player-properties.desktop
/usr/share/icons/hicolor/16x16/apps/flash-player-properties.png
/usr/share/icons/hicolor/22x22/apps/flash-player-properties.png
/usr/share/icons/hicolor/24x24/apps/flash-player-properties.png
/usr/share/icons/hicolor/32x32/apps/flash-player-properties.png
/usr/share/icons/hicolor/48x48/apps/flash-player-properties.png
/usr/share/pixmaps/flash-player-properties.png

Does the output above help us to locate the source of the problem or is more information required?

This question was expired because it remained in the 'Open' state without activity for the last 15 days.

I'm still having problems. Does the above output get us any closer to finding the solution?

Today I tried working through the Firefox Troubleshooting Information files and discovered a spurious folder called /.mozilla/plugins which only existed for one user account. I have temporarily renamed it and the problem has disappeared. If there are no adverse effects in the next few days, I will delete it.

Thanks for trying to solve this problem. Hopefully all is now OK.

It seems like there might be a conflict between the Flash player versions installed on your Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid system. To resolve this issue, you can try the following steps:

First, uninstall the existing Flash player by opening a terminal and running the command: sudo apt-get remove flashplugin-installer

Next, remove any residual files by running: sudo apt-get autoremove

Once the uninstallation is complete, restart your browser.

Now, you can try reinstalling Flash player using the Ubuntu Software Centre or Synaptic Package Manager, ensuring that you choose the latest version available.

By following these steps, you should be able to resolve the conflict and have the correct and updated version of Flash player installed on your Ubuntu system, allowing you to use Google Streetview without any issues. For more visit : https://esoftcage.com/adobe-dreamweaver-cs6/