Some controls on this presentation can't be activated - Boardworks

[markwilfan]

I'm running Windows 8.1 with the latest Flash player and also, Office 2016. When I open the Powerpoints from Boardworks I get prompted to make them a trusted document. I click OK and all animations etc work just fine.

 

Not sure if this helps anyone - maybe try making the single problematic Powerpoint into a trusted document in the Trust Centre and see if it works then?

 

I'm win 10 x64, Office 2016 x86, Lastest flash and I can replicate the issue

 

This tool though could be good to restore these files short term How to restore a PowerPoint file corrupted by Flash

 

I've also successfully "fixed" files by unzipping the pptx/pptm file and editing all of the activex$.xml files in ppt/activeX/

 

replace the content of them from this

 

 

to this

 

 

as per comment Alexey Malov's comment at 10:09:02 AM GMT+00:00 Sep 23, 2015 from here https://bugbase.adobe.com/index.cfm?event=bug&id=4062206

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

I'm running Windows 8.1 with the latest Flash player and also, Office 2016. When I open the Powerpoints from Boardworks I get prompted to make them a trusted document. I click OK and all animations etc work just fine.

 

Not sure if this helps anyone - maybe try making the single problematic Powerpoint into a trusted document in the Trust Centre and see if it works then?

 

I'm win 10 x64, Office 2016 x86, Lastest flash (mental me) and I can replicate the issue

 

This tool though could be good to restore these files short term http://www.ispringsolutions.com/blog/how-to-restore-a-powerpoint-file-corrupted-by-flash/

 

I've also successfully "fixed" files by unzipping the pptx/pptm file and editing all of the activex$.xml files in ppt/activeX/

 

replace the content of them from this

 

 

to this

 

 

as per comment Alexey Malov's comment at 10:09:02 AM GMT+00:00 Sep 23, 2015 from here https://bugbase.adobe.com/index.cfm?event=bug&id=4062206

Edited October 5, 2015 by markwilfan

[mrnoisy]

Evening all, skim read most of this thread as I tired, but we had similar issues with boardworks, their tech support basically said its a known bug in the latest flash version, and provided rollback instructions to a stable version until Adobe address the problem, hope that helps.

[Boardworks]

To clarify, there's a conflation of issues in this thread. If you are encountering an error message saying 'some controls cannot be activated' when opening a presentation then this is not caused by the current issue with ActiveX Adobe Flash Player 19 (19.0.0.185). This error message is a symptom of a number of different issues, of course we will try and offer support here but if you do encounter this issue then emailing [email protected] with your school name in the subject line and a description of the issue will mean we can support you directly.

 

The bug within Flash Player 19 leads to corrupt presentations which say they need to be Repaired when they are open (as the Flash objects have not been embedded properly). If you need to edit and save presentations with embedded Flash then rolling back to Flash Player 18 is the only workaround, though as Flash Player updates include security fixes, you need to be aware of the implications of doing this. If you just need to view the presentations and not edit them, then Flash Player 19 works fine.

 

This morning Adobe have said they have resolved the issue in Flash Player 19 and the fix will be in a beta release of the plugin today. If everything is OK, we would expect the fix to be rolled in to the stable update of the plugin, which will be next Tuesday.

Edited October 6, 2015 by Boardworks

[Boardworks]

A quick update, Adobe have just released a new Flash Player plugin which fixes this issue, the version is 19.0.0.207. You will need to update your ActiveX version of the Flash Player plugin which you can download from here https://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/otherversions/ - selecting "FP19 for Internet Explorer – ActiveX" from the second selection box. Edited October 13, 2015 by Boardworks

[CHiLL]

A quick update, Adobe have just released an update to Flash Player which fixes this issue, the version is 19.0.0.207. You will need to update your ActiveX version of the Flash Player plugin which you can download from here https://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/otherversions/ - selecting "FP19 for Internet Explorer – ActiveX" from the second selection box.

Thanks for for the link.

 

The updated version is now 19.0.0.207. Offline links (including MSI) can be obtained

 

Link to download requiring license removed

Edited October 14, 2015 by elsiegee40

[Boardworks]

Thanks for for the link.

 

The updated version is now 19.0.0.207. Offline links (including MSI) can be obtained here: Adobe Flash Player Distribution | Adobe

 

No problem, the distribution link is also a bit more useful for this forum so thanks for that.

 

Windows 8 and above will need to wait for Microsoft to publish the update via Windows Updates which should be tonight.

[Boardworks]

No problem, the distribution link is also a bit more useful for this forum so thanks for that.

 

Windows 8 and above will need to wait for Microsoft to publish the update via Windows Updates which should be tonight.

 

Microsoft have now released the updated Flash Player plugin for Windows 8 and above, it is KB3099406.

[clareq]

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I'm seeing this issue now on both Windows 7 and 10, running Flash 21 - any ideas?

[markwilfan]

Have you tried installing the new PPAPI flash? https://fpdownload.macromedia.com/get/flashplayer/current/licensing/win/install_flash_player_21_ppapi.msi

[clareq]

Just tried that - no joy

[clareq]

bump - anyone?

[clareq]

Some more information - it appears to be just this boardworks flash file - other flash files work. When I click on the properties sheet for the boardworks file it's blank

[CHiLL]

Some more information - it appears to be just this boardworks flash file - other flash files work. When I click on the properties sheet for the boardworks file it's blank

Hi @clareq. We haven't experienced this issue since I last posted in this thread, but one thing we did discover is that it can only take one bad version of Flash on one computer to corrupt the Boardworks file. So if just one of your clients opened the Boardworks file with the bad version of Flash, that is it for the Boardworks file. Once the file has been corrupted, there's no way to fix it, other than restoring from a previous version that wasn't compromised.

[clareq]

Worth bearing in mind - I had, as part of my testing, removed and reinstalled flash on any machine that was having problems opening the file, so hopefully I found the culprit.

[bluevanman63]

We are using Office 2016 and have encountered this issue.

When the Boardworks file was opened in Powerpoint 2016 it opened in Compatability Mode and the active content did not work.

The only way that i found that was succesful was to save the file as a "PowerPoint Macro-Enabled Presentation".

This file then opened correctly, after first requesting permission to display active content.

Hope that this helps.

[_Rob_A_]

Hello,

Not sure if this is sorted, but I´d like to contribute in any case.

1. using Win 10

2. saved as .pptx

3. added folder to Trusted Locations and ticked the box where it said 'include subfolders'

4. after closing the presentation and opening it again, all animations worked fine.

[DrBeaker]

Hello,

Not sure if this is sorted, but I´d like to contribute in any case.

1. using Win 10

2. saved as .pptx

3. added folder to Trusted Locations and ticked the box where it said 'include subfolders'

4. after closing the presentation and opening it again, all animations worked fine.

 

What version of Flash did you have installed to get this to work?

 

My test today which seems to have worked.

 

Windows 8.1, Office 2013.

 

1. Installed Flash player

2. Saved the PowerPoint file (which was in .PPT format) as .PPTX format to a new folder.

3. Opened the newly created PowerPoint file (saved in .PPTX format)

4. The Boardworks animations work fine.

 

 

I wonder how this is going to work when Flash is stopped from next year? https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/25/16026236/adobe-flash-end-of-support-2020

 

EDIT:

Tried again on another machine (Windows 8.1, Office 2013) and didn't have to put the folder to Trusted Locations.

Edited June 12, 2019 by DrBeaker

[localzuk]

I wonder how this is going to work when Flash is stopped from next year? https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/25/16026236/adobe-flash-end-of-support-2020

They don't sell CD editions any more - its all online via Doddle.

[TechMonkey]

They don't sell CD editions any more - its all online via Doddle.

 

I've been wondering the same as we still have a few floating about. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

[DrBeaker]

They don't sell CD editions any more - its all online via Doddle.

 

Yeah that's what my research led me to. Yet another online subscription based model.

 

Don't tell me I'm the ONLY one who has to deal with this legacy stuff? I'm under no illusions that staff will have converted everything to another format by the time Flash stops being supported.

 

I've been wondering the same as we still have a few floating about. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

Same as @localzuk. That's what my research led me to.

[localzuk]

Don't tell me I'm the ONLY one who has to deal with this legacy stuff? I'm under no illusions that staff will have converted everything to another format by the time Flash stops being supported.

 

Oh yeah, we have lots of legacy Flash stuff, but most of our departments have been moving over to web based stuff - its more up to date and more modern.

[DrBeaker]

Oh yeah, we have lots of legacy Flash stuff, but most of our departments have been moving over to web based stuff - its more up to date and more modern.

That's the point I made to staff etc - the content in them is static, doesn't get updated and any PowerPoint files which have any "boardworks" content in. Some of the content itself is now at least 11x years old if not older and runs on Adobe Flash which after 2020 will not work.

[TechMonkey]

We sent an email out at the beginning of the year to tell staff that Flash would die next year and that they needed to check their resources and any issues or queries to come to us. I'll send out a reminder before Summer and then it will be up to them to come and talk to us. I've also been chasing suppliers to ask when they will be Flash free, with the implied threat of not renewing subscriptions. Most have been open and understanding, all except OU.

[evasion]

As for Boardworks message "Some controls on this presentation can't be activated. They might not be registered on this computer" please download flash.reg from Boardworks website:

https://www.doddlelearn.co.uk/boardworks/ (issues within the presentation)

or directly from:

https://boardworkseducation.app.box.com/s/bb7e190rbpcoeborza09fv2ldvaro38z

and merge in computer registry.

Presentations will work after that - tested on Win10 LTSC & Office 2019 64 bit.

Also on the warning pop up please select the button "I recognize this content. Allow it to play."

[DrBeaker]

As for Boardworks message "Some controls on this presentation can't be activated. They might not be registered on this computer" please download flash.reg from Boardworks website:

https://www.doddlelearn.co.uk/boardworks/ (issues within the presentation)

or directly from:

https://boardworkseducation.app.box.com/s/bb7e190rbpcoeborza09fv2ldvaro38z

and merge in computer registry.

Presentations will work after that - tested on Win10 LTSC & Office 2019 64 bit.

Also on the warning pop up please select the button "I recognize this content. Allow it to play."

 

 

Nice , but at some point though teachers have to move into the present time and realise not everything will be carried across. E.g. How many of us still use VHS tapes etc instead of DVD, Blu-ray or streaming services. So information moves to a superior delivery platform or system.

 

I know Canon once stated for scanner support that they couldn't support their products "ad infinitum" on newer systems despite the fact they worked on older ones. They simply said, tough - buy a new scanner. So we can't possibly support systems "ad infinitum" either as the support costs, time and labour etc will just be ridiculous.