Chrome will prompt you to Click to enable Adobe Flash Player. Select the puzzle icon to enable Flash, and then select Allow or Block Flash for the website you’re currently on. If you want, you can review and/or remove websites for which you blocked or allowed from Flash settings. Adobe Flash is disabled by default in Chrome, Edge Chromium, and Firefox. Here’re the steps to enable Adobe Flash in Chrome, Edge, and Firefox. Adobe Flash has been a staple of creativity and video sharing for a long time in almost all major browsers. How to Run Flash on a Website When you visit a website that uses Flash, you see a “Plugin blocked” message at the right side of Chrome’s Omnibox or address bar. To enable Flash for the site, click the lock icon at the left side of the Omnibox (address bar), click the “Flash” box, and then click “Allow.”.
Adobe Flash Player is blocked and officially dead. What happens if you visit a Flash website in Chrome? If you’re trying to open a website that uses Flash, Chrome might tell you that you have to “Click to enable Adobe Flash Player,” like in the screenshot below. In other cases, you might see a popup with a similar message. The latest edition of Google Chrome has weakened Flash’s resolve to live longer and forced it to look for ways to unblock Adobe Flash Player on Chrome. In its blog post, Google announced that it had introduced a beta feature in Chrome that “intelligently pauses content (such as Flash animation) that is not primary to a web page”.
Adobe Flash Chrome Issues
Introduction
Neither SAP nor I can give any warranty or support for Adobe Flash and if you repeat any steps described here, you do this on your own risk.
As Adobe announced, Flash player support will be dismissed end of 2020/beginning of 2021.
If enterprises are running applications based on Adobe Flash, it is strongly recommended to migrate them and disable Adobe Flash Player on all clients, as also security fixes will be discontinued.
For some cases though, there might be no migration options due to several reasons – and in order to continue operations, it will then be necessary to keep Flash Player active for a number of clients.
This blog post shall give an overview about findings and the impacts of the Flash Player End Of Life (EOL), in case you require to continue running Flash-based applications in 2021.
SAP has published Notes regarding different products on this topic covering official information, e.g.:
The company HARMAN is taking over the official role of a distributor for enterprise customers and will deliver maintenance for Adobe Flash.
In case you are insecure, you should rather get in contact with HARMAN.
If you try to keep Flash running on your own, always keep in mind the security risk of running outdated or unpatched software – and secure it in other ways.
Announced facts about end of flash support
- Adobe will stop supporting Flash after December 31st, 2020
- Browser Vendors have announced to remove support for flash plugins and APIs starting early 2021.
- Chrome/Chromium: version 88+ will remove flash support January 2021
- Firefox: version 85 will remove flash support in January 2021
- Firefox Extended Support Release 78 (supported until June/October 2021) can further be used to run Flash
- Microsoft has announced to remove Flash with an optional Windows Update from installations and also shut down distribution sources
- Adobe Flash installations have a system-time-controlled “kill switch” that blocks functioning for most clients as of January 12th, 2021
- This can could be observed by setting a client’s time ahead to a later date prior to Flash EOL
- Technically the “kill switch” consists of an enforced allow-listing after EOL
- Adobe announced to shut down distribution sources beginning of 2021 which might stop online installers and referencing package distributions (e.g. on Linux) from working
Possible Mitigations
- Install Flash on your machines within year 2020
- In case you have problems installing flash on your machine, you can acquire full installers for your machine from help page, section “Still having problems”, at least until end of 2020.
- Update January 22, 2021: Adobe download pages seem inaccessible meanwhile, though I was still able to find trustworthy mirrors for the Flash Player installer
- Apply mms.cfg to disable the “kill switch” in client flash installations, according to Adobe Flash Admin Guide
- As of January 12th (after EOL), only allow-listed hosts are accessible as the Parameter “EnableAllowList=1” is enforced (page 31).
- Therefore, you will have to use the configuration file to allow flash usage specified hosts only with parameter “AllowListUrlPattern” – this also helps to reduce security risks of flash usage
- A Microsoft blog previews that a cumulative update or monthly rollup will remove policies regarding Flash Player as of summer 2021 for Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge
- By blocking or not installing the optional KB for removal, it might be possible to continue running flash in Internet Explorer or Edge legacy mode until summer, blocking the announced cumulative update/rollup even further
- Install a browser version that still supports flash and disable automatic browser updates
- Update January 22, 2021: Firefox ESR 78.6.1 still plays Flash content and is downloadable at Mozilla
- The open source community heavily increased push frequency on flash support, e.g. in Lightspark or Ruffle and might be a solution for a rising number of use cases while not having 100% coverage yet
An example of a working mms.cfg file can e.g. contain the following (replace the AllowListUrlPattern parameters with hosts and ports matching for your scenario):
Remark: In some older versions of Flash Player, still the deprecated wording is recognised exclusively. Therefore, in case of problems e.g. with older versions of Internet Explorer, you might have to replace EnableAllowList, AllowlistPreview, AllowListUrlPattern by EnableWhitelist, WhitelistPreview, WhitelistUrlPattern.
Location of the file can be derived from Adobe Flash Admin Guide. Examples:
- MacOS: /Library/Application Support/Macromedia
- Windows x86: C:WindowsSystem32MacromedFlash
- Windows x64: C:WindowsSysWow64MacromedFlash
Update January 22, 2021: The AllowListUrlPattern entries are obligatory for further use. Make sure all your systems are entered here.
I personally tested MacOS and Windows Server 2016 on my machines using the config above with Firefox ESR (version 78.5.0esr) – I cannot guarantee it working in your environment, but I will keep testing and add further information to this blog post.
Internet Explorer still works for me as well – while Chrome and Chromium Edge updated in my environment and are not capable of running flash anymore.
Due to availability and support timeframes, I’d go for both Firefox ESR and Internet Explorer.
Summary
If you need to continue using Browser-Flash applications in 2021, you have a few options to do so.
According to the announced information, for working environments there should not be an impact before January 12th.
- HARMAN can help you with a supported enterprise distribution of Flash Player as “Packaged Browser” solution
- If you have got Flash already installed on your machines, it might be sufficient to block updates for one specific browser such as Chrome, Chromium-based browsers (like e.g. the new Microsoft Edge) or Firefox (ESR) and apply an mms.cfg as in the example above
- If you are using Microsoft Internet Explorer or Edge Legacy mode, make sure to not install or block the Windows updates containing the removal of Flash as well as Flash integration components on the clients where you need to continue running flash. In any case you will have to add an mms.cfg as above
If you have got a working environment, it might be beneficial to save a backup/snapshot of it – in case you need to restore due to a failure or by error installed an update removing functionality.
I will update this blog post with findings that arise in the future, as the current situation is only a preview on the options available.
Changelog:
- January 22, 2021: Added a few more findings and statuses across the guide, fixed allow-list-related statements
- January 29, 2021: Added more precision explaining the “kill switch”
- March 1, 2021: Added remark regarding non-documented, older wording for mms.cfg thanks to Marek’s comment
Adobe Flash Chrome Workaround
As you know Adobe Flash is no longer played on Google Chrome web browser as ever since the new update arrived, the problem with this aspect is that there are more than 80% of contents out on the internet that requires you to enable the Adobe Flash mode in the Google Chrome browser. Without it being there, suffering the web is quite a bit of difficult task.
However, you can make changes and get it to work on the Google Chrome browser. Follow the rest of the contents on enable flash player chrome.
What Happened? Why Is Adobe Flash No Longer Available In Google Chrome?
Well, flash is not exactly gone. What happens is that Google Chrome does not permit it to play. When you get to a website that requires you to play flash contents, this is what you see on the screen, “Flash was blocked on this page”.
Even if you attempt to enable it again, you’ll get the following message:
“Flash player will no longer be supported after December 2020”. Google declared that Flash will be taken down from the Google Chrome web browser and this is not only from Chrome but also from Mozilla firefox.
Adobe, on the other hand, has already made plans to end the Flash by the year 2020. However, it will not disappear completely. You’d be able to play it on Internet Explorer.
How To Enable Flash In Google Chrome Web Browser?
Here are some tricks on how to enable flash in chrome that you can use to how to enable flash player in chrome browser. Hence, go through them in the order:
Method 1: Unblock The Flash-Based Website
When you open the browser and surf the net, you’ll come across the website that cannot open without you enabling the flash. Now you’ll find a warning sign on the right side of the address box that says, “Plugin Blocked”.
To be able to enable Flash in order to use the website, here’ s what you can do for how to allow flash on chrome:
On the left side of the address box, there is an icon of a lock. Click on it and then from the drop-down menu, select the option called “Allow”. Now that you’ve allowed it, Google Chrome will ask you to reload the web page that you’re on. When the browser asks you for a confirmation, click on the button called “Reload”.
Now when the browser reloads, the flash won’t play unless you manually allow it to from the following box. The next box will say something like this, “Flash was blocked on this page”. Under which, there is an option called “Run Flash this time”. Click on it.
The unfortunate aspect of this method is that you will not be able to have this change for the next time you open the browser after closing it. You’d have to repeat this step for each time you open Google chrome and visit websites that require flash to be played.
Method 2: Let Chrome Ask You To Enable Flash
Here’s another thing that you can try doing. Instead of enabling Flash manually for each and every website, you can let Google Chrome ask you. The good thing about this option is that it is unlike the previous method. Google Chrome will keep the changes saved for the next session.
Whenever you surf the net and get a notification saying that the flash was blocked, go to the icon of the plugin, and then choose the option called “Manage”. Now you’d be redirected to the settings page for flash.
From there, you can click on the option called “Advanced”. Then click on the option called “Privacy & Security”. Now click on the option called “Site Settings”. Then finally choose “Flash”.
Now there will be an option called “Ask First”. Toggle it. Now anytime you go to any website that would require you to play Flash, you’ll get a notification on the top asking you to permit flash to play or not. Click on the button called “Allow” to enable flash.
Method 3: Unblock Websites
This method is solely meant fi you’ve accidentally blocked websites from running on flash. In that case, here’s’ what you can do to change the permission for flash:
At first, launch the Google Chrome web browser and then go to the “Settings” of the Google Chrome browser. Now scroll down to the bottom of Settings and then click on the option called “Advanced”.
Then go to the option called “Privacy & Security”. From there, select the option called “Site Settings”. Now in the section of Permissions, choose the option called “Flash”. Then the next thing to do is go to the section called “Block or Allow” and check if there are any websites under restriction. Now click on the icon of trash so that you can get the website out of it.
Now exit the settings and then restart the web browser. Now you’d be able to go to the websites that use flash.
Adobe Flash Chrome Settings
Conclusion
Adobe Flash Chrome Download
These were the few tips that you could use to make flash on the google chrome web browser. However, there is no surefire way to enable it automatically. Flash is going with the rise of fo javascript and HTML5 players. If you still prefer flash over HTML5 or javascript, go through the aforementioned tips and get started!