I can confirme the problem. The update to 11.5.31.138 creates the problem.

Nasty workaround:

chmod 000 $HOME/.config/google-chrome/PepperFlash

confirmed updated fedora 17, it just stopped working\

Confirmed, updated ubuntu 12.10, chrome 24.0.1312.57

[63:63:0202/111841:ERROR:ppapi_thread.cc(244)] Failed to load Pepper module from /home/sam/.config/google-chrome/PepperFlash/11.5.31.138/libpepflashplayer.so (error: /home/sam/.config/google-chrome/PepperFlash/11.5.31.138/libpepflashplayer.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory)

It happened to me too. Same error. I applied comment 1 "nasty workaround", and it works-around.

Hm, a better workaround seems to block only the directory 11.5.31.138:

chmod 000 $HOME/.config/google-chrome/PepperFlash/11.5.31.138/

I can confirm this behavior as well. The update to 11.5.31.138 creates the problem.

	Screenshot from 2013-02-01 20:31:07.png 33.4 KB View Download

	Screenshot from 2013-02-01 20:36:11.png 212 KB View Download

I can confirm the same...

rather than chmod 000 above, disabled plugin in chrome://plugins (click on +Details in top right, then Disable Shockwave Flash 11.5 r31. 

	Screenshot from 2013-02-02 14:58:31.png 31.3 KB View Download

Confirmed here too, using Chrome 24.0.1312.57 with Ubuntu 12.04.

Absolutely can confirm 11.5.31.135 changed to 11.5.31.138 using the current 26.0.1397.2 dev and Linux Mint 13 x64.

Going into chrome://plugins and disabling 11.5.31.138 and enabling 11.2 r202, then closing Chome and restarting Chrome enables both flash versions. Disabling 11.5.31.135 is impossible unless you don't close or restart the browser.

Does this problem occur on any and all Flash videos? Has anyone seen this on anything but Linux? Also, what version of Flash is installed for anyone with this issue?

Follow up - using Chrome Dev 26.0.1397.2 / Linux Mint x64 / Kernel 3.2.0-37

Can also confirm that previous flash version 11.5.31.135 worked flawlessly.

confirming for fedora 18 -unstable (installed after -stable quit working as well a couple hours ago, not sure if same issue). the "dirty fix" does indeed work.

ajnol...@chromium.org

Flash crashes on anything flash related or any page with flash such as the home page of Yahoo (ads crash).  Nothing flash related will load.

Hope this helps get to a fix.

Having the same problem.  Fix. Now.

Same issue. The workaround worked for me too.


Ubuntu x64 12.04 and 12.10 with Chrome Version 24.0.1312.57.

I have the same problem.Chrome Version 24.0.1312.57 Ubuntu 12.04

I have the same problem. Flash is not working any more in Google Chrome. Version 24.0.1312.57 Ubuntu 12.04

Was able to play YouTube videos this morning, ran into that issue later this night. 

Ubuntu 12.10 64-bit, Chrome Version 24.0.1312.57. Have not yet tried Chromium, about to attempt nasty work-around, I'd say this matter is relatively urgent 

Seeing the same thing. I was actually watching a youtube video, left for an hour, and attempted to play another video within the same browser session and started seeing "Couldn't load plugin"

24.0.1312.57 (Official Build 178923)
11.5.31.138
Ubuntu 12.04

Error:
[16:16:0201/222955:ERROR:ppapi_thread.cc(244)] Failed to load Pepper module from /home/david/.config/google-chrome/PepperFlash/11.5.31.138/libpepflashplayer.so (error: /home/david/.config/google-chrome/PepperFlash/11.5.31.138/libpepflashplayer.so: cannot open shared object file: Permission denied)

Another workaround that is less intrusive would be to disable the 11.5
version of flash under chrome://plugins

This is an odd error; I've got a friend experiencing this, and she's seeing "error: /home/[redacted]/.config/google-chrome/PepperFlash/11.5.31.138/libpepflashplayer.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory" even though that file exists.  She says all of the dependencies (as listed by ldd) also exist, and she can successfully dlopen the .so.

I tried the workarounds with no success and finally went to the software center, searched for flash and for some reason it showed that it wasn't installed.  It was working before the update-- I was watching videos!  Anyway, I installed it again and it worked.

Hope this helps someone!

William

Renaming the directory also works.

Here's the perverse bit: /opt/google/chrome/PepperFlash exists. It is version 11.5.31.137, and it works fine once version 138 is disabled. So why on earth is 138 installed to my home directory?

I tried removing 138 from my home directory and dropping it in /opt/google/chrome, which *seemed* to work, but it still showed up as 137 in about:plugins. As intrusive as the gross workaround is, it seems to be the best option now... except I assume a minor release like this is probably a security hole. Rolling back a security patch just to get Flash working seems like a bad idea.

Happened to me too. Confirmed here. I suspect it's because an out-of-band update.

Disabling the sandbox (not recommended) also fixes the issue.

I have the same problem with Chrome 26.0.1397.2 dev on Arch Linux.

Confirming the bug, Ubuntu 12.04 LTS. 

Confirming previous post that the following procedure appears to fix the problem.

Going into chrome://plugins and disabling 11.5.31.138 and enabling 11.2 r202, then closing Chome and restarting Chrome enables both flash versions. Disabling 11.5.31.135 is impossible unless you don't close or restart the browser.

Im having the same issue.  Started today.  Google Chrome 24.0.1312.57, Ubuntu 12.10 Kernel 3.5.0-23-generic  NO FLASH. I didn't realize I needed it so much.

I don't 11.2.r202. I have Adobe Flash Player - Version: 11.5.31.138 and /opt/google/chrome/PepperFlash/libpepflashplayer.so. And I can't disable one without automatically disabling both.

I am on Ubuntu 12.10 64bit and Chrome Version 24.0.1312.57

Confirmed. Same problem here @ Mint 14 (3.5.0-17-generic #28-Ubuntu SMP Tue Oct 9 19:31:23 UTC 2012 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux)

[55:55:0202/052943:ERROR:ppapi_thread.cc(244)] Failed to load Pepper module from /home/peter/.config/google-chrome/PepperFlash/11.5.31.138/libpepflashplayer.so (error: /home/peter/.config/google-chrome/PepperFlash/11.5.31.138/libpepflashplayer.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory)

well ... it does exist.

peter@mainframe:~$ ll /home/peter/.config/google-chrome/PepperFlash/11.5.31.138/ | grep flash
-rwxr--r-- 1 peter peter 16415376 Feb  2 04:12 libpepflashplayer.so

(currently modified to 744 which is not necessary obviously)

If you can't disable each flash version try this:
~/.config/google-chrome/PepperFlash contains version 11.5.31.138
If you rename this directory, Chrome will use the one located in /opt/google/chrome/PepperFlash which contains the version 11.5.31.137.

Unfortunately, 11.5.31.138 was pushed out via the component updater, and using plugins from the component updater doesn't work on Linux (and breaks stuff, due to the way plugins are loaded). :(

So deleting ~/.config/google-chrome/PepperFlash should fix things (unfortunately falling back to .137) ... and since we've stopped pushing .138, it won't reappear.

We're also receiving reports from Linux users in the help forum. We'll advise users to follow the steps in Comment #31

Reference: https://groups.google.com/a/googleproductforums.com/forum/#!topic/chrome/PEgELQH5zcg
https://groups.google.com/a/googleproductforums.com/forum/#!topic/chrome/fJN1d6_9u1E

I can confirm the same issue with Linux Mint Mate 14. Basically one minute Flash worked fine in Chrome, the next it didn't. Instead I got the message "couldn't load plug-in" as detailed above. Flash worked fine in Firefox. Following the suggestion in Message #31, I've renamed the PepperFlash folder to "PepperFlash2" and Flash works fine again (now running version 11.5.31.137 when I check under chrome://plugins. Earlier I had disabled Flash 11.5.31.138, which forced version 11.2.xx.xxx to work, but quality was degraded.   

Thanks removing ~/.config/google-chrome/PepperFlash fixed the problem for me.

Renamed ~/.config/google-chrome/PepperFlash

~/.config/google-chrome/PepperFlash-old

worked

Hope later someone will give an idiot-friendly fix. It's not as though the problem is entirely new.
Makes me wonder what direction the corporation is headed.

Confirmed Ubuntu 12.10 64bit with

Google Chrome	24.0.1312.57 (Official Build 178923)

Also, Removing the directory ~/.config/google-chrome/PepperFlash fixes the issue.

yep removing the directory works. What a dumb problem.

Did nobody test this change

Confirmed Xubuntu 12.10 64-bit with Google Chrome 24.0.1312.57. Removing the directory ~/.config/google-chrome/PepperFlash fixes the issue.

Confirmed uubuntu 12.10 64-bit with Google Chrome 24.0.1312.57 (Official Build 178923) . Removing the directory ~/.config/google-chrome/PepperFlash fixes the issue.

Google Chrome "Stable" channel strikes again.

"Hope later someone will give an idiot-friendly fix. It's not as though the problem is entirely new."

It started today and a few-click fix has been stated over and over:

1. chrome://plugins/
2. Click on "+Details" in the top right-hand corner.
3. Under "Adobe Flash Player (2 files)", "Disable" version 11.5.31.138

	Screenshot from 2013-02-02 20:38:39.png 24.2 KB View Download

Alistair did you remove or rename
~/.config/google-chrome/PepperFlash

also on 10.04

Come on, what the heck?? :( No problem fixing it myself but maybe not for all of my not so computer wise friends, on whose computers i installed Ubuntu and Chrome.. It's saturday, and i REALLY don't feel like getting calls from angry ppl complaning about that "linux shit that you installed on my computer".. PUSH OUT A FIX FAST!

Thank you

No, Carl - I just clicked "Disable" for the Pepper plug-in.

I wouldn't advise removing or changing permissions of plug-ins that were installed either manually or by your package-manage. Removing it would have the same effect but I don't see the point when this issue has only just been introduced and seems like it'll affect everyone using Adobe's Flash plug-in for x86_64 Linux so it'll probably be fixed very quickly. :-)

#31 did the trick.
If you can't find the folder: "Ctrl + . " shows hidden files 

birdstr...@hotmail.com: Send your friends an e-mail or tell them to watch
YouTube with Firefox this weekend as it is saturday and maybe no one is
patching this right now.

Removing the ~/.config/google-chrome/PepperFlash folder makes Chrome use the one still in /opt/google/chrome/PepperFlash/ which is 11.5.31.137. Disabling it like Alistair did gives us the old 11.2 one (last NPAPI one for Linux)

Alistair, the problem is i uninstalled firefox :P I guess i could explain how to install FF from the Software Center but like i said some of them are not so computer wise :)

32 bit Debian Linux - current stable release

Could not load plugin problem. Solution for above

sudo apt-get remove google-chrome-stable
sudo apt-get purge google-chrome-stable

download latest .deb package

sudo dpkg -i google-chrome-stable_current_i386.deb

This installed Chrome release

google-chrome-stable (24.0.1312.57-r178923)

which fixed the problem.

After install chrome://plugins/ reports Flash Version

Adobe Flash Player (3 files) - Version: 11.5.31.137
Shockwave Flash 11.5 r31


Has Google released a fix

Better to copy ~/.config/google-chrome/PepperFlash/11.5.31.138/* to /opt/google/chrome/PepperFlash before chmod 0 11.5.31.138 subdirectory.

All you need to do is delete the PepperFlash directory in your ~/.config/google-chrome/ directory. They are no longer sending out .138 so chmodding and copying etc is not needed anymore.

Thank you for the info

chmod -R 0700 $HOME/.config/google-chrome/PepperFlash
rm -rf $HOME/.config/google-chrome/PepperFlash

No update :)

+linux sandbox people. This is Linux only, so can you think of a recent change that would have regressed this?

Thanks  guys Nasty workaround really worked for me 

@cpu - Or maybe it's a component updater issue?

i just actived the flash player 11.2 and i still wait for fixing the problem 

Verified this is a component update bug, not a sandbox issue. A fix is being developed.

ubuntu 12.04

delete the PepperFlash directory in your ~/.config/google-chrome/ directory

Until this is fixed, just an FYI that from YouTube you can append &html5=True to any URL and bypass Flash or use &webm=1 in any YouTube search to find supported videos. HTML5 / WebM video is superior anyway. Flash needs to die...

 Issue 173847  has been merged into this issue.

Hope this is fixed soon. I have been unable to procrastinate without youtube. I have gotten so much done this morning and that's just not the person I want to be. 

Same problem on windows =|

Same Problem on Arch Linux x86_64, work around is working.

Re: comment #64 - If you're having an issue on Windows please file a separate bug detailing exactly what it is. This bug refers to an issue on Linux that cannot occur on Windows.

PLEASE STOP reporting that you have the same problem or that the workaround works. We know. Every time you comment here, you send out 100 emails.

2 other things:
Why is this issue still "Untriaged"?
Folks here might be interested in http://www.youtube.com/html5

HTML5 is not the best choice for majority flash webpage

Good.  100 emails deserve to be sent because this hasn't ACTUALLY been fixed yet.  A manual workaround is NOT acceptable.  If we want to move linux forward as an operating system, people need to realize that the average computer user is NOT going to dig through forums to find a solution, then go through and delete files to fix things.  These sort of things need to be fixed by the people who created the bug in a very timely matter (aka within a couple of hours, TOPS)!

can confirm and reproduce problem.
Google Chrome 24.0.1312.57 (Official Build 178923)
running on Ubuntu 12.04 
Shockwave Flash 11.5 r31     Version: 11.5.31.138

Keep seeing "couldn't load plugin" on youtube.  With HTML5 enabled in Chrome, SOME youtube videos will play, but certainly not all of them.

I am waiting for fix also. The Original flash plugin have the bad color problems. I am using a completly custom Kernel and started have the same problem. Flash plugin does not load.

Waiting for fix!

How do you delete the PepperFlash folder? I dont have the option when right clicking. Im using Ubuntu 10.04

you can delete the folder with a rm -rf in the command line.  rm -rf ~/.config/google-chrome/PepperFlash/

For the bad color just right click in the video and tell it to disable hardware acceleration for now.  

Or just delete the files inside of it...

Home Folder / control H to show hidden / .config / google-chrome / PepperFlash

Can confirm the issue have the same problem with Ubuntu 12.10

Best solution: uninstall chrome and reinstall, that it work fine again (least for me)

Confirming the problem appeared on Beta Chrome on openSUSE 12.1, and removing  ~/.config/google-chrome/PepperFlash fixes it.

It seems to be the latest version (11.5.31.138) of PeppeFlash that is borked,
future proof workaround, this will make chrome use the base version of PepperFlash
found in /opt/google/chrome/PepperFlash until a new version is pushed

Just removing the PepperFlash dir will only work for a short whie,
the faulty dir is recreated fairly quickly.

fix it like so: 
rm $HOME/.config/google-chrome/PepperFlash/11.5.31.138/*
chmod a=rx $HOME/.config/google-chrome/PepperFlash/11.5.31.138

if you do as the previous suggestions chmod 000 .../PepperFlash
all future updates will fail !

It is true that it will recreate the PepperFlash dir, but it won't fetch .138 for now. Deleting the PepperFlash dir is just a catch-all fix.

#43 fixed the issue for me.
Thanks.

Thanks for workaround/tip #31 - Flash 11.5.31.137 is working fine (CentOS6-up-to-date).

11.5.31.138 isn't working for me ! all steps thay i found it for sloving the problem is not working :( i still wait the update

Delete Pepperflash folder worked for me. Delete PEPERFLASH from this directory and restart Chrome. This worked for me.

%LocalAppData%\Google\Chrome\user data\  

#88, this methode is valable only for Windows, this issue is affect Chrome 26 under Linux and not under Windows

#89 Well hang on a second there, lambda. It happens for me too on Chrome 24 (stable channel) with 32-bit Linux 3.5. Should I file a separate bug for each kernel and processor that I use too? :( Comments regarding Windows must surely be useful information here since it doesn't seem like the kernel was at fault, but Chrome.

Meh, whatever I guess, as long as it gets fixed soon. :-)

#90 I understand what you means, so the problem is the flash 11.5.31.138 is worked before installing the latest kernel 3.8.0-4, i mean, the Windows version now is still using the 11.6 Flash so thers's no issue about flash on Windows because the 11.6 working fine, under linux there's bugs that affect the sound quality too

Have same problem, using Ubuntu 12.04

Tried this solution and it works
copy past first point in chrome address bar and work on the following.

1. chrome://plugins/
2. Click on "+Details" in the top right-hand corner.
3. Under "Adobe Flash Player (2 files)", "Disable" version 11.5.31.138

The steps in comment #93 worked for me on Ubuntu 10.04 and seem the most sane of the solutions, at least to me...

Is there a way to download an older libpepflashplayer.so? When I disable v11.5.31.138 Flash resorts to a non-pepper based plugin at v11.2 and the performance is horrible. The version in my /opt/google/chrome/PepperFlash/ also appears to be at v11.5.31.138

Victor: I grabbed v11.5.31.137 out of google-chrome-beta version 25.0.1364.58-r179520 from pool/main/g/google-chrome-beta/google-chrome-beta_25.0.1364.58-r179520_i386.deb on Google debian repo for Chrome:

deb http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main

Note that I tried *everything* I could think of to be able to put it in ~/.config/google-chrome/PepperFlash/11.5.31.137 but it keeps getting overwritten by 11.5.31.138, I guess in some automatic/background upgrade process. Despite my comment in #94, I ended up using "chmod 000" to get Chrome to use 11.5.31.137 from /opt/google/chrome/PepperFlash/ ...

Lester: Thanks. That worked. I run with the unstable version and since the PPA didn't have the previous package containing *137, I assumed stable and beta didn't either. 

I first deleted the PepperFlash fold but Google Chrome still couldn't load the plug-in. After following Alistair's instructions, it worked. Thanks!

There seems to be a good amount of conflicting information IMO.

Rename or Delete of
~/.config/google-chrome/PepperFlash

Yes, the folder will reappear but you will find it is empty. 
If you rename the original folder like me, you will notice that folder is not empty.

Since I renamed the original problem folder, I have NOT had to do the fix process again and have not had any problems at all.

 Issue 173825  has been merged into this issue.

I tried this...
rm -rf ~/.config/google-chrome/PepperFlash
didn't seem to work so I tried this:
https://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=173790#c43
it works now.

Agreed with #103

We should be able to get this fixed on the Stable channel today, and the Beta channel tomorrow.

Apologies for the inconvenience.

Stable build 24.0.1312.68 has been pushed out to Linux to fix this problem.

Dharani/Anthony, we're still receiving reports from Linux users who have updated to 24.0.1312.68, but report that the Flash plugin still doesn't load.

Deleting the PepperFlash folder as mentioned in Comment 31, still resolves the issue.

Reference: https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/chrome/PEgELQH5zcg

24.0.1312.69 is pushed to Linux yesterday morning. It should fix the problem. Could you please check with users if they are still seeing the issue with latest one?

Will do. Thanks Dharani!

 Issue 174686  has been merged into this issue.

Only one user has chimed in on the forum after Feb. 8 mentioning needing the workaround on .69:

"Chrome 24.0.1312.69 on LMDE and had to perform rm -R  ~/.config/google-chrome/PepperFlash. I restarted Chrome and it fixed Flash"

Should this bug be marked Fixed?

To be clear, I was referring to users quieting down after Feb. 8 in the Chrome Forum thread:

https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/chrome/PEgELQH5zcg

I think we can mark this as Fixed, yes.

 Issue 173800  has been merged into this issue.

 Issue 174105  has been merged into this issue.