Microsoft has released the KB4577586 update to remove Adobe Flash from Windows and prevents it from being installed again.
In September 2020, Microsoft announced that an optional update would be released in the fall to uninstall Adobe Flash Player and prevent it from being installed again on the same device.
Today, Microsoft has released the "Update for the removal of Adobe Flash Player: October 27, 2020" KB4577586 update to remove Adobe Flash from all versions of Windows 10 and Windows Server.
This optional update is only available via the Microsoft Catalog, and once installed, cannot be removed afterward.
Those who wish to install Adobe Flash Player on a device with this update have to reset the device to an earlier restore point or install a fresh copy of Windows 10.
What Flash components are removed by this update?
Once installed, Microsoft states that Adobe Flash Player will be automatically removed by the update, but is not clear as to what exactly is removed.
In our tests, the Flash Player (32-bit) version bundled in Windows 10 and managed via the Control Panel is removed by this update.
The Adobe Flash Player component built into Microsoft Edge and other browsers, though, was still installed after installing the update. We were able to test this by enabling Flash in Edge and checking at https://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player.html before and after installing the update.
Finally, any standalone versions of Adobe Flash Player that you have installed will not be removed by this update.
Microsoft states they will make this update available via WSUS and Windows Update to perform wide-scale removal of Flash Player in early 2021 after Flash reaches the end of life.
Thx to Ross and John_C for their assistance.
Update 10/27/20: Added information about Adobe Flash Player module in Edge not being removed. Further clarified what is removed by this update.
Comments
rawData77 - 3 years ago
Why am I not surprised that MS messed this up. It is pretty clear that MS has completely given up on any form of adequate testing and debugging before pushing deployment to the GA.
Nighthawke1701b - 3 years ago
So how do we run flash-based apps from here on out?
forum11 - 3 years ago
You don't, at least not on the mainline OS by early next year when Flash is finally EoL'd. This has been coming for a very, very long time - Far too long if you ask me.
noelprg4 - 3 years ago
the KB4577586 update only removes the embedded ActiveX version of Adobe Flash, Lawrence.
It does NOT remove the PPAPI and NPAPI versions of Flash
MS Edge Chromium uses PPAPI version of Flash - that can be uninstalled separately with Adobe's uninstall_flash_player.exe app
Lawrence Abrams - 3 years ago
Thanks. We updated the article to explain this last night. Still a confusing advisory.
redwolfe_98 - 3 years ago
i didn't see where the article said that only the activex version of flash player is removed.
i use an activex-killbit to kill the activex version of flash player.
dotan10 - 3 years ago
Will future MS updates force the removal of the Adobe player? If I don't remove it manually, will I still be able to use the flash player?