Microsoft: Flash Player will be removable in autumn, support will end in 2021

[German]Microsoft points out in a new post that support for the Adobe Flash Player will generally be discontinued at the end of 2020. Then the Flash Player will be removed from Windows 10. Users should be able to uninstall the Flash Player from autumn 2020, the company announces.

Planned Flash support end

Adobe had already announced in July 2017, together with technology partners like Microsoft, that Adobe Flash Player would no longer be supported after December 2020. The decision to discontinue support for Flash Player was made by Adobe due to the lower usage of the technology and the availability of better, more secure options such as HTML5, WebGL and WebAssembly.

In the blog post Fake News: Flash is dead? No it's fading out is planned 2020 I mentioned the announcement of Flash support end. And Microsoft had outlined the roadmap for phasing out Flash.

• In 2017 and 2018 Microsoft Edge asked the user to display Flash content in the browser, and Flash has been updated so far.
• Since 2019, Flash is deactivated by default in Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer. However, the user can activate Flash in both browsers. Then Microsoft Edge asks at each session whether Flash content of a site should be executed.
• From late 2020, the ability to run Adobe Flash in Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer will be removed in all supported versions of Microsoft Windows. 

This was the status until now and Microsoft has only provided Flash with security updates. Now the next step has been announced.

Microsoft details the end of Adobe Flash

In the blog post Update on Adobe Flash Player End of Support, Microsoft then confirms that support for Adobe Flash Player in the Microsoft Edge (both the new Microsoft Edge and Microsoft Edge Legacy) and Internet Explorer 11 will be terminated at the end of 2020.

• After December 2020, Microsoft will no longer provide a "Security Update for Adobe Flash Player" for Microsoft Edge Legacy and Internet Explorer 11.
• From January 2021, Adobe Flash Player will be disabled by default and all versions older than KB4561600 (released in June 2020) will be blocked.
• Downloadable resources related to Adobe Flash Player hosted on Microsoft websites will no longer be available.

In the fall of 2020, Microsoft will provide an update entitled "Update to remove Adobe Flash Player" through the Microsoft Update Catalog, Windows Update and WSUS that permanently removes Adobe Flash Player as a component from Windows. This update will be offered as optional under Windows Update and WSUS in early 2021 and will be recommended a few months later. Please note that this update will be permanent and cannot be uninstalled.

In the summer of 2021, all APIs, Group Policy, and user interfaces that specifically govern the behavior of Adobe Flash Player will be removed from Microsoft Edge (legacy) and Internet Explorer 11. This will be done via the latest "Cumulative Update" on Windows 10 platforms and via "Cumulative Update for Internet Explorer 11" or "Monthly Rollup" on Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012 and Windows Embedded 8 Standard. The "Update to remove Adobe Flash Player" will also be included as part of the "Cumulative Update" and "Monthly Rollup" from this point on. If you are working with Adobe to continue receiving support, you should not be affected by these changes. (via)

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