Flash Player 11.9.900.117 - a real deployable pkg

[jhalvorson]

The Flash Player 11.9.900.117 from Adobe Distribution site offers an installer for System Administrators. So far my testing shows it's the pkg we've been waiting for...
- mount the dmg - Renamed it "Adobe Flash Player (11.9.900.117).pkg"
- Dragged the pkg into Casper Admin
- Able to deploy to Macs with no user logged in = GOOD!
- Able to deploy to Macs with while a user is logged in, silent install with nothing visible to the user. =GOOD!
- Install during imaging with "installed to the boot volume at imaging time" option enabled = GOOD!
- (Not tested yet: via Self Service.)

They even mention system compatibility with Mac OS X 10.9, ahead of it's release.

I still need to package up and deploy the /Library/Application Support/Macromedia/mms.cfg to change the Updates to "Allow Adobe to install updates".

[nessts · Accepted solution]

Works in an imaging work flow from my testing.

[nessts · Accepted solution]

Works in an imaging work flow from my testing.

[tuinte · Accepted solution]

Self Service working for me. Almost brings a tear to my eye...

[donmontalvo]

I guess Greg Neagle can finally go on vacation. :)

[JPDyson]

Note that this seems to "fix" the problem with doing it the old way; auto-updater remains intact when deployed this way. I don't want Flash auto-updating out there in my environment, and I imagine others may feel the same way.

[alexjdale]

I assume everyone else had been doing it the old-fashioned way like I have, pulling the installer .pkg out of Adobe's custom installer app and deploying that? I will have to take a look at this method.

[haircut]

Re: Auto Updates, just create a /Library/Application Support/Macromedia/mms.cfg file with the following contents:

AutoUpdateDisable=1
SilentAutoUpdateEnable=0

Package that with Composer, deploy as part of your policy. Done!

Edit: Forgot to mention that the new installer "for System Administrators" does not modify your mms.cfg during installation; I'm paranoid and have been around long enough to distrust Adobe so I'll keep deploying it anyway.

[tuinte]

alexjdale:

No, it's even simpler than that!

Go to http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/ and click the "Are you an IT manager or OEM?" link. Sign up and you'll be given a link to download ready-to-deploy-as-is .pkg versions of the plugin.

[jhalvorson]

alexjdale: Yep, before today I was packaging the Install Adobe Flash Player.app within a folder called /private/var/tmp/flash and then using a post install script to call their installer. And before that, I was getting the pkg that was visible by doing the Show Package Contents. The methods have changed over time since the release of 10.0. My brain starts sweating recalling all the different ways.

[barnesaw]

This still begs the question of why they even HAVE 2 installers.

One standard, one non-standard. Why go to double the effort?

[donmontalvo]

@barnesaw Ineffective technical oversight on the installer development side? Lack of inter-team collaboration (silo effect)? The usual "we're drowing in money, let the Mac admins eat cake" attitude from a company that puts profit ahead of integrity (straight out of the McDonalds play book)...

This still begs the question of why they even HAVE 2 installers. One standard, one non-standard. Why go to double the effort?

[djdavetrouble]

barnesaw, They track you through the enterprise download section, probably to fill their sales database with new leads, and track usage. Also, on the consumer downloads, they have been bundling various crapware with the flash player installer (toolbars and stuff, the usual).

[Chriskmpruitt]

@bmwarren

After creating the mms.cfg file, when will it update? log-in? restart?. I am trying to test this on a older version of flash,to see if it will update. so far no luck

[haircut]

@Chriskmpruitt

Hmm, sorry for the confusion but the example mms.cfg I posted actually prevents any automatic updates. If you toggle the value of the two options, it should enable automatic updates. I'd caution against that in a managed environment, however. The schedule is controlled by a LaunchDaemon (com.adobe.fpsaud.plist) that runs once every hour to call /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Flash Player Install Manager/fpsaud which handles the actual update checking.

The functionality entirely depends on which older version of Flash you're using and what components were installed. The mms.cfg doesn't magically control the process. Without the above-mentioned LaunchDaemon and binary, it's not going to work.

[Chriskmpruitt]

@bmwarren

lol thanks for get back to me, i was beating my head against the keyboard.

Is there a way to set flash to auto update with no prompts? where the user has no idea that flash updates.