How to Install Adobe Flash Player Without Installing Adobe’s DLM (Download Manager) Browser Plugin

Most of us use Adobe Flash, that’s simply a fact of the internet.  YouTube, Hulu, Pandora, and dozens of other sites currently use Flash to provide you with interactive media and applications, and until HTML5 (hopefully) gives us a viable alternative, we’re stuck with it in many ways.

Don’t get me wrong – I don’t mind Flash.  What I dislike is when Adobe starts forcing me to install an intermediary application, Adobe DLM, to install Flash instead of directly installing the software.  For those of you that have been on the internet for a while and remember “download manager” applications, when was the last time you needed one in the age of high speed internet?

I’m sure Adobe has plenty of reasons for wanting you to download and install two applications instead of just one, but I’m not having it.  And unfortunately for all of us, the default (and only obvious) way to install Flash is to install the Adobe DLM plugin to your browser.  You’ll probably notice this little yellow bar at the top of your browser when you try to install Flash:

Even I am tempted to quickly grant access to Adobe DLM so I can get my Flash fix on.  But you can install Flash without Adobe DLM with just a few steps:

Installing Adobe Flash Player without Adobe DLM

Step 1: Instead of installing Flash from the normal installation page, head to the Flash troubleshooting page.  You can alternatively get to this location from the normal installation page by clicking the link “click here for troubleshooting information” as shown below.

Step 2: On the troubleshooting page, click the link that says “Troubleshoot Flash Player installation”.  I haven’t tested this in other operating systems, but I was presented with a specific Windows link.  Please post in the comments if you’re using another OS and see something different.

Step 3: Skip all the steps presented on this page and instead click the link that says “Download Flash Player with the manual installer”.

Step 4: Select the correct file for the browser you are using.  One file is for Internet Explorer, the other is for all other browsers.

Now just install Flash as usual.  It was a little more work, but now you are only installing the software you wanted to use in the first place.  Hooray!

If you’re using Firefox and have installed Flash in the past, you can check to see if Adobe DLM was installed by going to Tools –> Add-ons and locating it in the list.  From this menu it can be disabled and/or removed.

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23 responses to “How to Install Adobe Flash Player Without Installing Adobe’s DLM (Download Manager) Browser Plugin”

  1. How to Install Adobe Reader Without Installing Adobe DLM (Download Manager) Browser Plugin | Techerator

    […] a quick follow-up to my previous article about installing Flash player without installing Adobe’s DLM browser plugin, I’ll cover how to avoid installing this unnecessary intermediary software when installing […]

  2. Jonathan Paul Avatar
    Jonathan Paul

    This has been an annoyance of mine for some time. Thanks for the article Evan.

  3. DaveP Avatar
    DaveP

    There's an even easier way. Go to the site using IE. Click on “Different operating system or browser?” And ask for the Firefox download. It will then let you download the file directly. You can flip the browsers to get the IE download as well.

  4. Evan Wondrasek Avatar
    Evan Wondrasek

    Great tip, thanks Dave!

  5. MA Avatar
    MA

    Thank you for putting this out in step format like this. I knew there had to be a way to still get to the manual download, but they’ve obviously hid it quite well on purpose to make it hard to find. Kind of like the option for Google Images being all the way at the bottom now for “original” mode. Same concept.

    Thanks again.

  6. Gary Avatar
    Gary

    Thanks for the Flash install tip. My ie8 was constantly freezing up. Hopefully this was the main reason for it.

  7. julia Avatar
    julia

    Tried, downloaded great, but I still havent got adobe flash it has not worked?? dont know wat to do, when i go into ad or remove programmes it is there but has no size or mb it is blank

    Julia

  8. Edwstn Avatar
    Edwstn

    I’m going to try your suggestion. I have a crazy problem. I have Comcast high speed internet service, but I can’t get Flash Player to work on it. I’ve tried everything – putting on add-ons and taking them off – until I’m blue in the face. However, when I switch to MSN on my comptuer,
    I get flash player just fine. I don’t think I’ll ever figure out why. I don’t have Firefox or Gougle search engines and don’t want them. I once had them both and got rid of them. They overloaded my computer with a bunch of junk. However, I’m going to try your suggestion to see if I can get the Flash Player to work on my Comcast connection for the first time. If not,
    I’ll stick with it working on my MSN connection. If my terminology is not right, I think you probably get my point. Either way, I’ll let you know how it turns out.

  9. Edwstn Avatar
    Edwstn

    Thanks for your advice, but I’m just a computer novice. I was the guy that said I could get the flash player to work on MSN but not on Comcast. It’s obviously some technical problem. I
    checked out my programs on my hard drive, and I see I have flash player and Active 10X. When I tried your technique it said to uninstall flash player and I didn’t want to because I was afraid I’d do something wrong and have trouble getting it back. Anyway, at least I can get flash player on MSN so that’s where I see my U-tubes and videos. I’ll live without seeing them on
    Comcast. That’s the price you pay when you’re not very good at this high-tech stuff. Thanks anyway.

  10. juliet Avatar
    juliet

    Tried, downloaded great, but I still havent got adobe flash it has not worked?? dont know wat to do, when i go into ad or remove programmes it is there but has no size or mb it is blank from juliet

  11. Evan Wondrasek Avatar
    Evan Wondrasek

    Hi Juliet,

    You may want to try uninstalling it if it is accessible in your Add or Remove Programs menu and install again.

    1. KDSilverBrush Avatar
      KDSilverBrush

      I have the same problem Juliet has/had. I have tried for 3 years to fix it, thats right #3 YEARS !!!! I have tried ALLLLL the fixes , more than once !!! NOTHING works. I did find a blog, years ago, with a link, that fixed it right away. But to find that again is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Is there someplace I can buy an installation disk for Adobe Flash Player ?

  12. Avatar
    Anonymous

    Otherwise a more easy approach to achieve it…
    If you want to install latest flash player 10.1.85.3 plug-in for your Firefox without administrator rights in three easy steps and that too without adobe download manager visit http://abtevrythng.blogspot.com/2010/10/flash-player-installation-without.html#ixzz12zSYsDLj

  13. Canton Christmas Avatar
    Canton Christmas

    Adobe sucks! I do they think people want to deal with this? everytime I click on firefox this Adobe DLM come up, Flash still doesnt work. HTML5 is there it needs to go

  14. Nettty993 Avatar
    Nettty993

    THANK YOU SO MUCH

  15. Asfasfd Avatar
    Asfasfd

    thanks!! I hated DLM with all my heart!!! I just want Flash , don’t want any other c***

  16. Harish_matta Avatar
    Harish_matta

    Fantastic! Exactly what I was looking for, and it worked! Many thanks!

  17. Gert Avatar
    Gert

    But still there is the question what the use is of the DLM? In my experience it’s only creates problems and installing the flash player does take longer with DLM than without.

  18. 4feline Avatar
    4feline

    Thanks for your splendid solution!

  19. Explorer Avatar
    Explorer

    Using direct link is faster:
    http://fpdownload.adobe.com/get/flashplayer/current/install_flash_player.exe http://fpdownload.adobe.com/get/flashplayer/current/install_flash_player_ax.exe http://download.macromedia.com/pub/flashplayer/current/uninstall_flash_player.exe

    This is Windows version. Adobe keeps updating the files pointed by this link so people can make sure they will get the latest version.

    1. Explorer Avatar
      Explorer

      UPDATE:

      Since Flash Player 11 comes with both 32bit and 64bit versions, the download links for them are a little different:

      http://fpdownload.adobe.com/get/flashplayer/current/install_flash_player_32bit.exehttp://fpdownload.adobe.com/get/flashplayer/current/install_flash_player_64bit.exehttp://fpdownload.adobe.com/get/flashplayer/current/install_flash_player_ax_32bit.exehttp://fpdownload.adobe.com/get/flashplayer/current/install_flash_player_ax_64bit.exe

      The 3 links in my above post will still work, but you’ll end up getting Flash Player 10 instead of 11.

  20. scrawny Avatar
    scrawny

    Thanks for the article but it might need updating (those steps didn’t seem to work for me). What ticks me off about adobe flashplayer DLM is the fact that it doesn’t use the Firefox connection settings to download the flle (such as the web proxy I use). Anyway… I found the files I needed at: http://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/archived-flash-player-versions.html

  21. Larry Foster Avatar
    Larry Foster

    for some reason I can not get flash player on my computer, I down load it and when I push install the install screen comes up black and does nothing. Anyone know why.

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