You may have noticed Flash is blocked by default in Chrome if you are a Chrome user. Google doesn’t like Flash due to the security flaws in Flash. Therefore, it will do everything possible to make Flash unavailable.
Flash is still widely used on many sites. Flash is not used by all popular sites like Facebook, Instagram, and others. It is used by many sites, but some smaller and more established sites have not switched to HTML 5. For example, I’m taking a Cisco course at my community college. To complete the assignments, I must log in to Cisco’s NetAcademy website. Some questions are too difficult to view and answer with Flash.
You can do a Google search to enable Flash in Chrome and you will see many articles telling you to either download Flash from Adobe’s site and install it (which won’t work), or to open a Chrome Tab and go to Chrome://plugins (which won’t work anymore). Chrome 57 has changed the way you can manage plugins. Instead, you will get a ” This website cannot be reached” message
This is very confusing and unintuitive. I used to go there to enable Flash or disable Flash depending on my needs. It seems that they only require you to activate it on the sites where it is required. This article will explain how Flash can be enabled for the sites you require it to function and how to disable it otherwise.
Check out Chrome Flash Settings
Let’s first check Flash settings in Chrome. This can be done in a few places. Type chrome://flags in a new tab.
Make sure Prefer HTML and Flash content is run when Flash setting has been set to Allow . Type chrome://components in a new tab. Click the Check for Update button under Adobe Flash Player.
Click on the Chrome menu button in the top right corner and click Settings.
Scroll to the bottom and click Show Advanced Setting. Scroll down and click Content Setting under Privacy.
Scroll down in the popup dialog until you see Flash. Be sure to select the Ask box before you allow Flash sites to run (recommended). You can block Flash completely in Chrome by selecting Block Flash. Except for a valid reason, such as Chrome being used in a virtual machine or other situation, Allow Flash should not be selected.
Flash Sites
Here comes the fun part. Flash can only be enabled for certain sites in order to make it work. Flash is not available for all sites. You can specify a Flash site by clicking on the Manage exceptions link under Content Setting – Flash, as shown in this screenshot.
As you can see, the NetAcad website I mentioned earlier has been added with Behavior set Allow. This is cumbersome as you have to go to the Setting page. It is easier to allow Flash to run on a site by going to it and clicking on the icon in the address bar.
If the connection is secure, the icon will be either a lock icon or an information icon. You can view a variety of settings that you can set up for this particular site by clicking on the icon. Flash will be at the bottom. It should default to Use global default (Ask), which means that the browser will ask you if Flash is required for any site with Flash content.
My experience is that the browser doesn’t ask me to enable Flash content, even though there is Flash content on the site. To enable Flash, I must select the Always Allow on This Site option. Flash content may not appear correctly if you close the tab and then reload it.
That’s it. This should clarify Flash’s operation in Chrome 8.0. It’s likely to change soon so I’ll make sure to keep this post updated. Post any questions in a comment. Enjoy!