How to Enable Flash in Chrome

Tips for enabling Adobe Flash Player for all or selected websites

Adobe
by Simon Matthew Chandler
Updated April 10, 2018

Adobe Flash Player is great for playing games, audio and videos over the internet, but sometimes the failure to enable or upgrade it means it doesn't always work. This can even be the case when your browser is Chrome, which features its own built-in version of Flash.

Let's take a look at enabling Flash in Chrome and some useful tips on what to do when Chrome Flash doesn't work properly.

How to Enable Flash in Chrome

Enabling Flash in Chrome is easy, as illustrated below:

  1. Launch Chrome.
  2. Type "chrome://settings/content" in address bar.
  3. Scroll down to and click the Flash option.
  4. Using the first option, switch on Ask first (recommended), otherwise choose Block sites from using Flash.

How to Block and Allow Websites Use Flash in Chrome

It's also very simple to block certain websites from using Flash, or to always let them use the media player:

  1. Launch Chrome.
  2. Type the desired website's address in Chrome's address bar and press the Return key.
  3. Click the padlock icon on the far left of the address bar.
  4. Click the two opposing vertical arrows on the right-hand side of Flash.
  5. Select Always allow on this site if so desired, or Always block on this site if you want to stop Flash from running on the website. Choose Use global default if you want your default Chrome Flash settings to decide.

How to Check Your Version of Flash or Upgrade Flash Player

Most of the time, enabling Flash in Chrome and choosing to block or allow certain websites should be enough for Flash Player to work normally. However, in rare cases Flash might not work even when it's been enabled.

Often, this is because the user needs to upgrade Flash Player, since they don't have the latest version. To check which Flash version you have and to update if need be, you should do the following:

  1. Type (or copy-paste) "chrome://components/" into your address bar in Chrome.
  2. Scroll down to Adobe Flash Player.
  3. Click the Check for update button beneath the Adobe Flash Player heading
  4. If "Status" reads "Component not updated" or "Component updated," user has the latest version.

Flash should work properly on websites after doing this, although you may have to reload any website you were on immediately prior to updating before Flash content can be loaded.

How to Install Flash Player or Reinstall It

Another possible solution when Flash Player is crashing or not working on particular websites is to reinstall it.

  1. Type (or copy-paste) https://adobe.com/go/chrome into your Chrome address bar.
  2. Select your computer's operating system (e.g. Windows or macOS).
  3. Select your browser: for Chrome choose PPAPI.
  4. Click on the Download Now button and follow the installation steps.

What Else Can I Do When Chrome Flash Isn't Working?

If neither of the above two solutions work, then one other approach is to update your version of Chrome.

  1. Launch Chrome.
  2. Click the ⋮ symbol on the right-hand side of the address bar.
  3. If you see an Update Google Chrome option, click it. Otherwise you already have the latest version.

This pretty much covers all the 'logical' reasons for Flash Player not working on Chrome, even after it's been enabled. That said, there still might be at least a couple of further explanations for persistent problems.

One is that an extension you have running on Chrome is, for whatever inexplicable reason, interfering with Flash Player and preventing it from working properly. You could try typing "chrome://extensions/" in the Chrome address bar and deactivating apps on a trial-and-error basis to see if the situation is improved.

Other than that, if a particular piece of Flash content doesn't work even though you've tried everything, it just might be the case that the problem lies with the piece of content rather than with your version of Chrome or Flash Player.