Fix: Flash Player not Working on Microsoft Edge

Adobe Flash Player (also known as Shockwave Flash) is freeware software used to view multimedia, executing rich internet applications, and streaming video and audio. A lot of websites use Flash in their content as it is easy to use and provides a very enriching experience without much software and hardware demands.

Edge users might face a problem after their upgrade to Windows 10 when the videos stop working and the video box is replaced with a black screen. This issue can be due to a number of reasons ranging from the flash player not enabled to some wrong configurations on your computer. We have put together a guide to help you solve this problem.

Solution 1: Check if Flash is enabled on Edge

There can be many instances where adobe flash is not enabled on your Microsoft edge. We can check if it is properly configured and working by checking Adobe’s official site.

1. Open your Edge browser and navigate to Adobe’s help link to check if Flash is correctly enabled.
2. If you see a page like with a prompt “Something missing on your page” present at the right side of the address bar, it means that Edge is blocking Flash player from your machine.

3. Click the plugin button to open the menu and select “Always Allow”. This will automatically change the setting so Flash is always enabled on your Flash player.

4. Reload the website we just visited and click on “Check Now” button. This will check if your Flash Player is enabled on your browser. If it isn’t, follow the steps below to enable it.

5. Flash player is integrated with Microsoft Edge by default. We can check if it properly enabled from the settings. Click the menu icon present at the right side of the screen and select Settings from the list of options available.

6. Browse to the bottom of the Settings and select “View advanced settings”.

7. Now ensure that the checkbox “Use Adobe Flash Player” is enabled. If it disabled, enable and re-launch Edge after properly closing it using the task manager.

Solution 2: Disabling Click to Run settings

For users running advanced editions of Windows 10, the Group Policy Editor provides an option where you can disable the click-to-run setting permanently. This will enable to run all Flash content on your Edge without the prompt every time.

1. Press Windows + R to launch the Run application and type “gpedit.msc” in the dialogue box and press Enter.
2. Now navigate to the following path:

Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Microsoft Edge

3. Search through the items for “Configure the Adobe Flash Click-to-Run setting”. Double click to open its options.

4. Select Disabled from the three options. Press Apply to save changes and exit. You might require a reboot for the changes to be made completely.

Solution 3: Using Software Rendering

It is a known fact that Google Chrome requires hardware acceleration when available to run efficiently. The case is opposite for Microsoft Edge. It prefers software rendering to make its processes smoother and to make it work properly. We can try changing these settings through the internet options.

1. Press Windows + S to launch the search bar of your start menu. Type “internet options” in the dialogue box and open the first result.

2. Once in the Internet Options, navigate to the Advanced tab. The first checkbox will say “Use software rendering instead of GPU rendering”. Check that option and press Apply to save all changes.

3. Restart your computer to implement all the changes and recheck Flash on Edge.

Solution 4: Creating a new Local Account

It is possible that the problem you are facing is because of some error in your profile or the administrator hasn’t granted you access. If you are the owner of this computer and still couldn’t access the flash player on Edge browser, we can try making a new local account and checking if this fixes anything.

1. Open an administrator account. Type Settings in the start menu dialogue box and click on Accounts.

2. Now click “Family and other users” options present at the left side of the window.
3. Once inside select the menu, select “Add someone else to this PC”.

4. Now Windows will guide you through its wizard on how to create a new account. When the new window comes forth, click “I don’t have this person’s sign-in information”.

5. Now select the option “Add a user without Microsoft”. Windows will now prompt you to make a new Microsoft account and display a window like this.

6. Enter all the details and chose an easy password which you can remember.
7. Now navigate to Settings > Accounts > Your Account.
8. At the space beneath your account picture, you will see an option which says “Sign in with local account instead”.
9. Enter your current password when the prompt comes and click Next.
10. Now enter username and password for your local account and click on “Sign out and finish”.
11. Now you can easily switch to a new local account, and move all your personal files to it without any barriers.
12. Test Flash on the new local account before merging all your files and settings to the new account.
13. Now navigate to Settings > Accounts > Your Account and select the option “Sign in with a Microsoft Account instead”.

14. Enter your username and password and click Sign in.

15. Check if Flash is working on this account. If it is, you can safely delete the older account and continue using this one.

Solution 5: Prompting installation of Adobe Flash Player – Active X

We can try installing Adobe Flash Player – Active X on your operating system. This download is only available for specific versions of Windows operating system. If you don’t find it on your computer, you can skip this solution and follow the next one.

1. Go to the official Adobe website, select the operating system (as Windows 10) and select “FP 18 for Internet Explorer – Active X”. Click on the download button. If you cannot find this option for Windows 10, set your operating system as Windows 7 and search for the required file again.

2. After you run the installation package, you will see a window like this in front of you. Don’t worry, just exit the window and after re-launching Edge, check if Flash started to work as expected. You can follow the method of solution 1 to check if Flash is correctly running on Edge.

A computer restart might be necessary for the changes to take place.

Solution 6: Reinstalling Microsoft Edge

If all the above solutions don’t work, we can try reinstalling Edge. Do note that your bookmarks and saved settings might get lost. Before you proceed with the reinstallation, try updating your Windows using Windows Update and check Flash again. If it still doesn’t work, proceed with the reinstallation.

1. Press Windows + S to launch the Search menu of your start menu. Type “%appdata%” in the dialogue box and open the first result which comes forth.

2. The Windows Explorer might take you to the Roaming folder. If so, go back a folder and open Local.
3. Once in the Local folder, copy and paste the following name in the search bar present at the top right side of the screen and open the first result.

Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe

4. Delete all the contents of the folder or the entire folder itself. If the computer restricts you from deleting the folder, you would have to take ownership of the folder. Once you have taken ownership of the folder, delete and empty it from the Recycle bin.
5. Now press Windows + S and type “shutdown –r –t 00” in the dialogue box and press Enter. This will shut down your computer so save all your work before executing this command.

6. Once the computer is restarted, press Windows + S and type “powershell” in the dialogue box. Select the first result, right click and click the option “Run as administrator”.

7. Once in the elevated PowerShell, copy and paste the following command and press Enter.

Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register “$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml”}

This process might take a while as Windows installs all the missing default applications on all accounts. After the process is complete, reboot your computer and check if Flash started working.