Microsoft Edge, Internet Explorer to Stop Supporting Adobe Flash Player by End of 2020

Microsoft had originally announced its plan to end support for the Flash player back in 2017 along with other tech giants.

By Tanishka Sodhi | Updated: 7 September 2020 17:25 IST

Microsoft will be ending support for Adobe Flash on Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer 11

Highlights

Adobe Flash Player will be disabled by default
Users would be prompted to uninstall Adobe Flash Player later this year
Microsoft had announced this plan back in 2017

Microsoft has announced that it will be ending support for Adobe Flash Player on Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer 11 by the end of 2020. Users will no longer receive security update reminders. The Adobe Flash Player will be disabled by default, and versions older than the KB4561600, released in June 2020, will be blocked. Microsoft had originally announced its plan to end support for the Flash player back in 2017 along with other tech giants, and is reinforcing the same plan.

Microsoft announced in a blog post that it will be ending support for the Abobe Flash Player after December 2020, due to the diminished usage of the technology, and the availability of better, more secure options like HTML5, WebGL, and WebAssembly.

In a coordinated announcement with Adobe, Apple, Google, Facebook, and Mozilla, Microsoft had said in 2017 that it would end support for Adobe System's Flash by the end of 2020.

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As per Microsoft's schedule of changes, the removal of Adobe Flash will go into effect with the release of Microsoft Edge v88.

An update titled “Update for Removal of Adobe Flash Player” will be made available via Microsoft Update Catalog, Windows Update and WSUS, which permanently removes Adobe Flash Player as a component of the Windows OS devices.

Adobe said in a blog post that it would continue to issue regular Flash Player security patches while maintaining operating system and browser compatibility through the end of 2020. Users would be prompted to uninstall Adobe Flash Player later this year. Adobe is providing support options for those who seek assistance or will need the flash support for certain business applications.

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Microsoft said that in order to aid such customers, Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer 11 would allow Adobe Flash Player to load as a plug-in via the Internet Explorer mode feature. Once you make the switch from Microsoft provided Adobe Flash Player, it will be treated as any other third-party plug-in, and will not receive Customer Support from Microsoft.

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