KB4051613: Adobe Flash Player Windows Update

KB4051613  -- Update for Adobe Flash Player: November 1, 2017 -- is a new Windows Update that resolves Adobe Flash Player issues.

The update is available for all versions of Windows that include Adobe Flash Player natively. What's particularly interesting about that is that Microsoft released the patch not only for Windows versions that it supports, but also for versions of Windows that it no longer supports.

The company released the KB4051613 update for the following client and server versions of the Windows operating system: Windows 8.1, Windows 8.1 RT, Windows 10 RTM, Windows 10 version 1507, 1511, 1607, 1703 and 1711, Windows Embedded 8, Windows Server 2012, Server 2012 R2, Server 2016.

Windows users who use another version of Windows need to download the latest version of Adobe Flash Player from the Adobe website instead and install the update manually. 

KB4051613

The update is available as a standalone download from Microsoft's Update Catalog website, but also distributed via Windows Update.

Microsoft's Knowledgebase support article reveals little about the update other than that the "update resolves issues in Adobe Flash Player".

Adobe however published the following information about the Flash Player update on October 25, 2017 which provides some information on the fixes it includes:

In today's release, we've updated Flash Player with an important functional fix impacting Flex content and recommend those users impacted update.

The update fixes the Flash Player crash in the VMware vSphere Web Client that users who installed the Flash Player version 27.0.0.170 experienced.

It is unclear if the update fixes other issues, but neither Microsoft nor Adobe mention any. Assuming that the update fixes only the crash issue in VMware, there is little reason for users and administrators who don't work with VMware to install the patch right away.

As usual, it is a good idea to back up the system before you install updates to it. While most updates will install fine and without issues, there is always the chance that things will go badly and the backup gives you an option to restore the system to the previous state.

Make sure you read the paragraphs under "important" on the Knowledgebase website. Basically, what these state is that you will have to install language packs anew after installing the update, and that the update KB2919355 is a prerequisite for pre-Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016 systems.