Cannot install LDD on Win10 version 1809 or later

[Terbos]

It looks like Microsoft has finally removed and/or broken support for ActiveX Flash in Win10 1809 (and 1903).  This prevents installing LDD because the LDD installer checks for Flash, tries to install/update it, and always fails.  It is not possible to install Flash separately as was the old fix.  ActiveX Flash simply doesn't exist for Win10 any more.

Fortunately, it does not break existing installations.  So if you already have LDD installed, make sure you're up to date before upgrading to Win10 1809.

Does anyone know someone who's on the LDD team who can work on updating the LDD installer to not have the Flash requirement?

Thanks,
Terry

[roland]

Why does it need flash?

Is it only the installer whom refuses to proceed because of missing flash? If so you might fool it by copying some registry keys or folders from an older machine.

[Terbos]

I have no idea why it needs Flash.  I've been running the 3D CAD part of LDD just fine on a machine that was upgraded to 1809 (LDD was installed before the upgrade).  But I've only been creating models in the tool.  It's quite possible that the Flash features are for either of the "View/Explode Model on a Planet" or "Building Instructions" features.  I haven't tried those yet to see if they still work.

While it might be possible to cheat by copying files and registry entries from another machine, I can't imagine most people being able to do that.  That's kind of the whole point of the installer.

I'd still very much like to get word back to the LDD team that they've got work to do.

Terry

[Terbos]

Turns out that the actual problem is that the LDD installer has an old version of the Flash ActiveX installer bundled and it misidentifies the Win10 version of Flash as "older" when it's really not.  Then it breaks trying to "update" it.

Until the LDD installer is updated with the newer version of Flash, instructions for unpacking the installer and pulling the application folder out manually are available in this thread:

 

 

 

[SylvainLS]

1 minute ago, Terbos said:

Until the LDD installer is updated with the newer version of Flash

Don’t hold your breath….

[mocbuild101]

As far as I know, the only possible need for Flash would be to view the HTML instructions that can be exported from LDD, so unless you use that feature, there's really nothing lost by just extracting the program files with 7-Zip (except the ease of installing).

Edited November 1, 2018 by mocbuild101

[SylvainLS]

You don’t need Flash for the HTML LDD produces.  It’s just images and a bit of HTML + Javascript to show them.

I believe it’s simply a case of unneeded dependencies added by their automatic tool that creates their installer, or a “let’s be safe and leave it there, it won’t hurt because who doesn’t need the last version of Flash anyway?” attitude.

[jptoutant3d]

• open the installer file with winrar. 
• delete install_flash_player_active_x.exe  replace with another installer.exe file from adobe site.
• rename that other flash installer by "install_flash_player_active_x"
• even if the flash install fails it will continue to install Lego designer fine.

enjoy it

[grego18f]

On 3/28/2019 at 4:59 AM, jptoutant3d said:

• open the installer file with winrar. 
• delete install_flash_player_active_x.exe  replace with another installer.exe file from adobe site.
• rename that other flash installer by "install_flash_player_active_x"
• even if the flash install fails it will continue to install Lego designer fine.

enjoy it

Thank you! It works like a charm :)