Flash Version - Self Service URL

dderusha
Contributor

In the past we used traditional Adobe Flash downloads. We are now using Adobe Flash ESR version - Extended Service Release The traditional Flash version is 17.0.0.134 and the ESR is 13.0.0.277. We are also using Self Service Plug-Ins. For the typical version, we had a adobe URL that would check the plugins and show the version installed. https://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player.html ....worked well. the user was part of the process and the url took them to a official adobe site to check the version. Unfortunately this site does not report the ESR version correctly. It only shows 13.0.0. Some users may see this and think that they are not on the latest version. We found another site - http://www.adobe.com/software/flash/about/ which DOES show the correct version for ESR, however at the bottom of the page it also shows the traditional Flash download, and the latest version number 17.0.0.134. If I was a user and saw that I was running version 13, and version 17 was available, I'd try and download it. Which we don't want. We like how the URL takes the user to a official adobe looking site. We could grab our Adobe Flash Extension Attribute and offer a button in Self service that will pull that EA into a jamfhelper notification hud, but we wanted to see what other admins are up to.
Suggestions?

9 REPLIES 9

mm2270
Legendary Contributor III

Hmm, so, can you clarify what it is you're looking to solve? Do you just want some way the user can check to see if they are running with the latest ESR version of FlashPlayer, and if not, direct them to a site where they can download and install the update?

dderusha
Contributor

We are looking for another method to check the version of ESR flash thats installed.
We liked going to adobes site for version verification, but we don't want the user to see the Non ESR versions.
Users are not admins.
Its really just a check for the users to see what version they have. We almost always have the latest version packed and ready to go in Self Service.

mm2270
Legendary Contributor III

OK, how about a dialog that comes up from a Self Service run policy showing them the version that's installed? Its pretty easy to pull the installed version info from a script and drop it into a dialog, like an AppleScript window or jamfHelper or cocoaDialog.
Or, is the issue that you also need it to verify they are up to date according to Adobe? If so, I can probably help put something simple together that would check the installed version of ESR against the "current" version from Adobe.

dderusha
Contributor

Right, we were thinking that as well.

Create a button in Self Service that pulls the EA data into a jamfhelper hud notification.

We liked how "official" the adobe site made the user feel when checking their version. Looking to see if anyone had a site they used to verify the ESR version.

mm2270
Legendary Contributor III

While its not a "check your installed version" page, this site shows the current ESR version, but unfortunately that info is down the page. Up top is the latest Flash Player version, so probably won't work for you-
https://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/distribution3.html

dderusha
Contributor

That's where we get the ESR :0)

thanks for looking with me @mm2270

mm2270
Legendary Contributor III

Yes, I figured that's where you grab the installation from. Just too bad its not really effective as a page to point to for checking on the current version for the clients. I looked to see if there was some kind of "anchor" for that section of the page you could link to to auto scroll to it, but it doesn't look like there is, so it will always just load the page with the top portion showing first :/

Safari's Installed Plug-ins page (file:///Applications/Safari.app/Contents/Resources/English.lproj/Plug-ins.html) doesn't show the full version information for Flash, so its kind of useless.

Unless someone has another page they know of to check the installed version, I don't think there's a good solution here, other than crafting your own dialog to show the user.

GaToRAiD
Contributor II

@dderusha try this link http://flashbuilder.eu/flash-player-version.html

mm2270
Legendary Contributor III

Unfortunately, that site does exactly what you might expect when the Flash Player ESR version is installed and not the regular version, which is, claims its out of date with red text and a link to "Update now"

I kind of doubt there is any page anywhere that would let you check only on the ESR version and not the full version, since its doubtful many environments are using only the ESR install.