Kurt's Thoughts

Once again, Adobe Flash has me baffled.

This time it’s with the LeapFrog Connect, the software that is required to configure & upload software to the “My Own Leaptop”, “LeapPad”, the “LeapFrog Explorer”, among other LeapFrog electronic products for young children.

THE ISSUE:  LEAPFROG CONNECT WON’T RECOGNIZE MY INSTALLATION OF ADOBE FLASH PLAYER
So the LeapFrog Connect software requires Flash.  Fine – during it’s installation it says that it needs to execute the installation.  The only problem is that once the software states that Flash Player is required, it opens up Internet Explorer & sends you to http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer and has you installing Adobe Flash Player 11 or whatever.  After verifying that the player works within the web page by displaying some sort of Flash animation, it returns you to the LeapFrog Connect software…

…and the LeapFrog Connect software promptly says, “Adobe Flash failed to install properly.  LeapFrog Connect cannot continue.”

THE PROBLEM:  WRONG FLASH PLAYER INSTALLED
I went through and uninstalled, and reinstalled, and then did what Adobe calls a FULL uninstall through a special Adobe Flash Uninstaller program.  But ultimately, it turned out that:

• I’m running Windows 7 64-bit Edition
• Windows 7 64-bit Edition has TWO versions of Internet Explorer available.
  • Internet Explorer 9.0 32-bit (x86)
  • Internet Explorer 9.0 64-bit (x64)
• LeapFrog Explorer uses Internet Explorer 9.0 64-bit & Adobe Flash Player x64
• 99% of the world uses, by default, Internet Explorer 9.0 32-bit

When a browser opens up, it opens up a 32-bit version of Internet Explorer 9.0 and installs the 32-bit version of Adobe Flash Player.

When you return to LeapFrog Explorer, it is using the 64-bit version of Internet Explorer 9.0 and requires the 64-bit version of Adobe Flash Player.

So naturally, the software thinks the installation of Adobe Flash failed since it still can’t see Flash.  It’s not that Flash hasn’t been installed however… it’s just that the wrong EDITION has been installed.

THE SOLUTION:  MANUAL INSTALLATION OF ADOBE FLASH PLAYER x64
You basically have to manually pop out to the desktop and run Internet Explorer 9.0 64-bit Edition manually and do the installation of the Adobe Flash Player for x64 manually.

1. Click START BUTTON –> All Programs –> Internet Explorer (64-bit)
2. Type http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer into the Address Bar of Internet Explorer when it comes up.
3. Follow the instructions during the installation. (But be sure to not install Chrome or you’ll take 4x as long to complete the installation all just to get browser you don’t really need for this exercise)
4. You may need to close the Internet Explorer 9.0 64-bit window at some point during the Adobe Flash Player installation (it’ll tell you on the screen) to allow the Adobe Flash Player installer to finish.  This is normal.  Once completed, a browser window should open with an Adobe Flash animation that demonstrates that Flash is now working within IE 9.0 64-bit Edition.
5. Go to the desktop and double click on “LeapFrog Connect”.  LeapFrog Connect should have put a shortcut on your desktop to allow you to run the software.  If it’s not there, go to START –> All Programs –> LeapFrog Connect –> LeapFrog Connect

The software should now run and no longer give you the message that Adobe Flash Player needs to be installed.

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 14th, 2012 at 11:09 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.