Firefox and Adobe Flash Post 2020 and MORE

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Question: Is there a use for Adobe Flash beyond the year 2020?

Answer: YES THERE IS A USE FOR IT! So everyone with a comment: "Shhhhh..." Think about all those silly camera manufacturer that utilized Flash to display video in browsers. Oh, and it turns out Flash v54 exists as does a Chinese version in late 2023.

Objective

Install Adobe Flash 11.9 for Firefox 52.9.0 ESR on Windows 10 (and Windows 11)

Downloads

Terminology

A PlugIn is an 'major' external piece of software like Adobe Flash, etc., whereas an Extension is a 'minor / small' piece of software

Flash: Extracting Files from Installation File

"Extracting" all of the Adobe Flash 11.9 Files doesn't seem to be possible. There just doesn't seem to be a direct way to do this. UniExtract and other failed to extract the contents. Research indicated there might be a method, but it seems to rely on a developer version of Flash which requires a license (good luck getting that).

So how can it be done? Use a Windows XP virtual machine as a surrogate by installing Flash, locating the files, and then copying them to another machine.

Location of Adobe Flash Files after installing on Windows XP: C:\Windows\System32\Macromed\Flash

Installation

  • Install Firefox 52.9.0 (32 bit version) into a unique Folder (C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla - 52.9.0 ESR as a suggestion to keep it separate from a 'contemporary' / current version of Firefox)
  • Use Firefox Profile Manager to create a separate Profile for 52.9.0 ESR (again to keep it separate from the 'contemporary' / current version of Firefox): "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -p
  • Copy extracted Adobe Flash files to (again to keep it separate from other Firefox versions): C:\%AppData%\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\WhatEverPathToFirefoxeESR52.9.0Profile.Firefox CLASSIC 52.9.0 ESR\plugins
  • Start Firefox 52.9.0 ESR
    • Enable Shockwave Flash in PlugIns
    • about:config: extensions.blocklist.enable (set it to zero)
    • Disable Flash Protected Mode in Options (in Tools, Addons, More (Shockwave Flash))

And it should work. If not, see items in Other Information

Other Information

  • Firefox Plugin Folder for Windows that applies to all installations of Firefox (not a good idea for Flash, so use the above recommended Profile Path):
    • For 32-bit Firefox on a 32-bit Windows OS: C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\plugins
    • For 32-bit Firefox on a 64-bit Windows OS: C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\plugins
  • Windows Folder where Adobe Flash leaves behind its "Deadman Switch" even after being uninstalled (this can be deleted): C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash
  • Possibly search for other instances of NPSWF32_32_0_0_465.dll and delete those folders too
  • Flash Registry Locations that can be deleted
    • Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Macromedia\FlashPlayerPlugin
    • Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Macromedia\FlashPlayerPlugin
  • Flash Emulators / Substitutes that do NOT work (at least for Surveillance Cameras): Flash Player, Flash Player 2021, and Ruffle
  • Firefox Plugin Information (better to use config:support, plugins Button in Firefox): C:\%AppData%\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\WhatEverProfileName\pluginreg.dat

Informational Links

Another Challenge

...and even more: VLC, RTSP PlugIn? As of 09.2023, nope. Even tried on Windows XP with Firefox 27 and VLC 2.2.8, AddIn shows up as enabled, but does not work.

Downloads: http://download.videolan.org/pub/videolan/vlc/

NPAPI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NPAPI

Last version to include the NPAPI Plugin: VLC 2.2.8

Research indicates that a specially formatted webpage must be created to 'allow connect with' the VLC PlugIn for Firefox, as opposed to the plugin just working with an RTSP PlugIn inside a browser.

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