Flash Player not working in Windows 8.1 (Internet Explorer 11)

Question

Hi,
I cannot get Flash Player to work in IE 11 on Windows 8.1 (on a Surface Pro). This has been going on for a while, and I was hoping that  I've tried the usual suggestions from this community:
Ensure it's not disabled: the control is enabled.
ActiveX filtering is OFF
Removed IE as a feature and reinstalled it
I tried reinstalling the latest MSU with Flash Player (13 now) from Microsoft's site (KB 2942844, 64-bit) and that installation fails. Attempting to install the Debug version from Adobe (also an MSU) fails as well.
Before I did the above tests, I did notice that my ActiveX control was not from Microsoft or Adobe, it was from an unknown vendor. On another system, it reads it's from Microsoft Windows Third Party Application Component.
Is there a way to clear this out and then hopefully successfully install the MSU?
Please don't suggest to run Firefox or Chrome. I know I can do that, I am looking for a solution to run Flash in IE.
SA.

Answer 1

Speedbird_186 wrote:
I tried reinstalling the latest MSU with Flash Player (13 now) from Microsoft's site (KB 2942844, 64-bit) and that installation fails. Attempting to install the Debug version from Adobe (also an MSU) fails as well.
There are two registry keys and the KB patch that MUST BE manually removed before you can manually replace Flash Player ActiveX in Windows 8 or 8.1. I did it one time on a test machine and it was a MAJOR P.I.T.A.
Before I did the above tests, I did notice that my ActiveX control was not from Microsoft or Adobe, it was from an unknown vendor. On another system, it reads it's from Microsoft Windows Third Party Application Component.
ActiveX is a software framework created by Microsoft that adapts its earlier Component Object Model (COM) and Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) technologies for content downloaded from a network, particularly in the context of the World Wide Web. It was introduced 1996 (it's old enough to vote now - Yay!!!) and is commonly used in its Windows operating system. In principle it is not dependent on Microsoft Windows, but in practice, most ActiveX controls require either Microsoft Windows or a Windows emulator. Most also require the client to be running on Intel x86 hardware, because they contain compiled code. Adobe doesn't own or develop ActiveX. They write conformed code with it for the IE plug-in.
Is there a way to clear this out and then hopefully successfully install the MSU?
No. The ActiveX Flash Player plug-infor Win 8 or 8.1 can ONLY be modified, updated or repaired via Windows Update. You may need to repair IE first: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/318378  That'll fix the plug-in (in most cases) in Windows 8 & 8.1
Please don't suggest to run Firefox or Chrome. I know I can do that, I am looking for a solution to run Flash in IE.
Here's something to consider: Internet Explorer 11’s Many User-Agent Strings
Microsoft is already trying to convince websites you visit THAT YOU ARE USING SOMETHING ELSE.
Microsoft "rewrote" the User-Agent Strings for the abomination they call their latest and greatest browser.
User-Agent Strings are what websites use to identify the browser you're using and provide the proper content for it's browser engine, like ActiveX stuff, and Flash or HTML5 video.
Thanks to the "geniuses" in Redmond, WA, the User-Agent Strings for IE11 (which has a Trident engine), ID it as either "Gecko" (Firefox) or "Webkit" (Chrome, Opera, Safari).
Trouble is: when the site the directs to the content for one of these two engines, the Trident engine in IE can't intepret it and the site then sees IE as an "unidentified" browser.
The problem with an unidentified browser is that the plug-ins in that browser aren't recognized either, so even though you're up to date, it says you need the latest Flash Player when you use IE11. Or the content just doesn't play.
YouTube... has converted to HTML5 video so if it doesn't detect Flash Player, it can display HTML5 (MP4) video which requires no plug-in to play. Not everyone has converted to HTML5 yet, though.
Facebook and other game sites can't do that, because HTML5 doesn't apply to games... only video.
Microsoft has no plans to "fix" the mess they've created because they think it's a great idea to block you out of content in the websites you visit.
They recommend using "Compatibility View" and pretending that you're using an older verison of IE...
Problem with that is that it's seen limited success, and you have to enable it for EVERY page that has problems... individually.
I'm not big on "pretending" so I recommend using another browser, even if you don't like the idea. Since most of the websites you visit with IE11 already see it as Firefox or Chrome, you might as well actually be using one or the other.
Firefox (from Mozilla)
Opera (from Opera)
Safari (from Apple)
Chrome (from Google)
ANY of those will work where IE11 won't, with the Flash Player Plug-in (For all other browsers), and Chrome doesn't even need that because it has its own Flash Player plugin built in.