How Do You Update Flash in the Chrome Browser?

Looking to play your favorite video online but find that Chrome doesn’t support it?

Most of the times, you get a pop-up notification asking you to update the Flash Player on your Chrome browser so you can access certain visual content.  Updating each time manually though isn’t a good idea – a reason you need to toggle on the automatic update option in settings.

However, what do you do if your Chrome refuses to play the latest flash videos – even after you have updated it to the latest version?

It happens, even with your latest Google version, your Flash player might be an update behind, and you wouldn’t be able to play your favorite videos.

How do you update?

Forcing an update on to Chrome is not very easy, but simple enough once you get the hang of it.

The standard method of updating is to do it from the Browser settings itself. You need to go to the Help section and then click on the About Google Chrome option.

Is there an alternative?

Apart from this method, you can avail a second system, which Google uses in relation to updates.

Chrome is one of the biggest and most complex browser packages. Most of us use it regularly to access the Internet for all kinds of purpose. It has a large storage filled with files and most of them in this second system is located in the browser cache.

This system does not administer a complete refresh process for even very small changes. It is responsible for all the smaller updates that are a continuous necessity.

Chrome has certain parts, which can update as individual components and this system performs this task. The Flash Player, which comes embedded in Chrome can hence also be updated with the help of the system.

Google, in one of their support articles, advocates this method stating how you can carry out Chrome updates on Windows, has advocated this method.

The Chrome Component Updater has been particularly designed to let the Chrome engineering team update specific parts of Chrome quickly. Unlike the full browser update, it works only when the browser itself is in operation and also utilizes lesser bandwidth.

The interface to the Chrome Component Updater can be accessed through the URL, chrome://components.

The type of operating system decides how many components your Chrome browser will have. For example, there are eight components on Windows 7 but nine on Windows 8.1.

The Chrome Flash Player is usually denoted by, “pepper_flash”. You will find a grey button with the words, “Check for update.” Once you click on it, the Chrome Component Updater will search for any available updates. Moreover, it will do everything required for the download and installation of this new update.

If it is a large update, then it might take some time and your screen will flash the message, “Component Downloading.” You will find a message alerting you to the update of the component once the process is finished. In case you do not have any pending updates, then a popup will appear when you click the button telling you that the component has not been updated.  

Using backdated Flash on the Chrome browser can be problematic. Check for updates now!