Microsoft To Remove Flash Player From Windows Control Panel

On December 31, 2020, Adobe Flash Player will reach its end-of-life (EOL) date as reported earlier. The preparations have been going on for a long time. Microsoft is now removing the Flash Player display from the Windows 10 control panel.

That comes from a new report accordingly, the Windows team has already removed the Flash Player in the control panel in a Windows update. The corresponding cumulative update has been published for the release preview ring, so it is currently only available to registered Windows Insiders.

Control panel setting is gone

Interesting: The changes in the release preview ring are not yet documented, so we cannot refer to the official discontinuation, but the update will be released for all users in November. Because in the release preview ring, Microsoft tests changes that will be communicated to all users later on patch day. In the preview build, Microsoft silently removed the control panel setting that could be used to configure Flash Player for Windows 10. Microsoft has also removed all other Flash Player components from the Windows 10 installation media.

Remove Flash

The Flash Player will no longer be delivered with the next function update for Windows 10 in the coming year – which would not make much sense since the EOL date is December 31, 2020. Therefore it is no longer integrated into the 21H1 builds. However, Microsoft will also offer a separate, optional update that will remove Flash Player components from older versions of Windows 10. The date for the official end of Flash has long been fixed.

The first cleanups started in 2019, so for example Google’s web browser Chrome said goodbye to Flashback then. Adobe has provided a support page at the end of Flash with information on what is planned next. Users are also actively requested to uninstall Flash Player, if possible before December 31, 2020.