How to install the 64-bit Adobe Flash Player 10 for Linux in Ubuntu Linux?

Update 2 May 2010: There is a repository for Flash 64bit at https://launchpad.net/~sevenmachines/+archive/flash Though I have not tried this, I suggest to give it a try. I tried this and it works like a charm. Uninstall flashplugin-nonfree, add the new PPA repository with sudo add-apt-repository ppa:sevenmachines/flash and then install flashplugin64-installer.

Update 10 Nov 2010: The package name changed to ‘flashplugin64-installer’. It was to be called -nonfree. The commands below have been updated. You can simply copy and paste. The latest Flash 64-bit for Linux is 10.2 d1161. See Tools→Addons→Plugins to verify the version.

Here are the commands

sudo apt-get remove flashplugin-nonfree flashplugin-installer

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:sevenmachines/flash

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install flashplugin64-installer

Original post: So you just read the announcement from Adobe for the alpha version of the 64-bit Flash Player 10 for Linux and you want to install in Ubuntu Linux?

Here is how to do it.

1. First, we understand that the flashplugin-nonfree package that is currently available to those with 64-bit Ubuntu Linux, installs the 32-bit version of Flash and uses the nspluginwrapper tool to make it work.
2. After some time, I expect that the flashplugin-nonfree will stop using nspluginwrapper and will simply install Adobe Flash Player 10 (64-bit) for Linux. So you need to have a look in your package manager and the package description in case flashplugin-nonfree has already been updated. If flashplugin-nonfree has been updated, stop reading now.
3. Close Mozilla Firefox.
4. Uninstall the flashplugin-nonfree package using your package manager, or simply running sudo apt-get remove flashplugin-nonfree
5. Download the alpha version of the 64-bit Adobe Flash Player 10 for Linux and extract the file from the archive. You will get a libflashplayer.so file, which is about 10MB is size.
6. If you want all users in your system to have this alpha version of Adobe Flash Player 10 for Linux, copy the libflashplayer.so file to /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/. The command is sudo cp libflashplayer.so /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/
7. If you want just the current user to try out the Flash player, copy the libflashplayer.so file to /home/yourUSERNAME/.mozilla/plugins/. The command is cp libflashplayer.so ~/.mozilla/plugins/
8. Check that in ~/.mozilla/plugins/ there is no dormant file with the name npwrapper.libflashplayer.so. A common issue with people who migrate their profiles is to perform a simply copy of the profile. The effect of this is sometimes there is an actual file called npwrapper.libflashplayer.so instead of a symbolic link. The result is that these people would end up using some old buggy version of nspluginwrapper which might be the cause of Firefox crashes! When you backup, use cp -a, so symbolic links remain symbolic links.
   
9. You can now start Mozilla Firefox. Visit about:plugins and verify that the version of Flash is something like Shockwave Flash 10.0 d20. Make sure there is no remnant of any other previous Flash player.
10. If you want to return back to the 32-bit Flash Player with emulation, remove the file we just added and install again the flashplugin-nonfree package.

The instructions for other distributions should be fairly similar.

Simos Xenitellis