For those unaware, back in July 2017, Microsoft, along with Adobe and their industry technology partners, had announced that Adobe Flash Player will no longer be supported after December 31, 2020. The decision to end support for Flash Player was made by Adobe due to the diminished usage of the technology and the availability of better, more secure options such as HTML5, WebGL, and WebAssembly. As a result, Microsoft had decided to end support for Adobe Flash Player on Microsoft Edge (both the new Microsoft Edge and Microsoft Edge Legacy) and Internet Explorer 11 at the end of 2020. “To help keep our customers secure, Microsoft will remove the Flash component from Windows through the KB4577586,” notes the update to a previous Microsoft blog post. In other words, once the KB4577586 update releases on the public channel, it will remove Flash from Windows 10. According to Microsoft, the KB4577586 “Update for Removal of Adobe Flash Player” will be included in the Preview Update for Windows 10, version 1809, and above platforms, starting in June 2021. It will also be included in every subsequent Latest Cumulative Update. Further, the KB4577586 “Update for Removal of Adobe Flash Player” will be included in the Latest Cumulative Update for Windows 10, version 1607, and Windows 10, version 1507, starting in July 2021. The KB update will also be included in the Monthly Rollup and the Security Only Update for Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012, and Windows Embedded 8 Standard. Additionally, please note that updating to Windows 10, version 21H1 or later will also remove Flash Player. For more information on Windows 10, version 21H1, you can click here. You can also remove Flash Player manually anytime by deploying KB4577586, which is available on the Catalog. However, a support page for the update notes that if you have installed Adobe Flash Player manually from another source, it will not be removed.
