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Why doesn’t Flash work in IE9?

Question:

About a month ago, my Flash player stopped working in IE, but it's still
working in Google and Firefox. When I'm using IE and I need Flash player, my
error message states I need a newer version. When I try to update, Adobe
advises that I already have a newer version than the latest one on their site.
Do you have any suggestions that can help me figure this out? I've done a
number of troubleshooting efforts and none have worked.

In this excerpt from
Answercast #53
, I look at Flash problems in Internet Explorer and possible
ways to fix it.

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Flash problems

Well, aside from simply sticking with Google and Firefox, the only thing
that really comes to mind would be to completely uninstall all versions of
Adobe Flash.

Look in Control Panel - Add/Remove
programs
(or Programs if you're using Windows 7.)
Look for Flash, uninstall all them all; uninstall them all completely.

Thorough uninstall

Consider even grabbing a copy of Revo Uninstaller and making sure that they're thoroughly
and completely uninstalled.

Then go back to IE first and have it try to automatically install Adobe
Flash. It may work.

If not, to be honest, I think things get too complicated and I really, at
that point, would start relying on Chrome and Firefox as much possible for
anything that requires Flash.

Repairing IE

Yea, something's kind of screwed up in IE. There's certainly no easy way to
replace it.

  • File Checker: You could certainly try running the system file checker.

  • Repair: I don't think that this is worth it - but you could
    probably try a repair install of Windows.

That's about what it's going to take. But ultimately, I think, with so many
alternatives available (in the form of Chrome and Firefox)... that it's an
easier approach to take. That will be the one I recommend.

Next from Answercast 53 - coming soon: How do I resize this partition that Windows can only resize so far?

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5 comments on “Why doesn’t Flash work in IE9?”

  1. Don’t know if I’m talking complete nonsense but maybe re-registering the dll and ocx files in Internet Explorer might help. Usually helps when I have problems with Explorer. You can do it with the free utility Iobit Advanced System Care.

    Reply
  2. Christo, I like your thinking but unfortunately Internet Explorer and Explorer are two completely separate things, presuming when you say Explorer you are not just shortening Internet Explorer.

    Explorer (or to be more precise), Windows Explorer, is basically what you use to browse through all of your files on Windows OS, whereas Internet Explorer is the web browser that comes preinstalled Windows. Therefore, I highly doubt your method would work :’)

    Reply
  3. I have the same problem sometimes. I get out of IE (or Firefox) and restart it, if that doesn’t work, I reboot my system (usually does the trick), but if that doesn’t work, then I uninstall and reinstall the Flash software. A pain – but when you need your Flash…

    Reply
  4. Unfortunately this user has got a bit of a problem because sometimes you NEED IE. I have several sites used with my business that only work properly with IE. An example being when you activate HP warranties. Firefox leaves out vital boxes that only show in IE. I haven’t checked whether these work in Chrome yet. So far I have about 8-10 sites that only work in IE. So if this user was me I would have to find a fix.

    Reply

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