14 August 2010

How to run Flash CS5 on Ubuntu (with Wine)

Updated on 2011-05-24

Flash CS5 on Ubuntu 10.04

After a couple of days testing and examining, finally, I have managed to run Adobe Flash CS5 on my Ubuntu machine. As I say "run", I mean that I did not succeed installing the application but I had to copy the installed files from Windows. However, it is worth noting that this is the first Adobe Flash version that runs with workable quality since Macromedia Flash 8. The last 2 versions (CS3 & CS4) is known to be useless when trying to run with Wine.

No more wandering, let's me show you the how to first and then comments later.

1. Install Adobe Flash CS5 on Windows

I installed Adobe Flash CS5 on my Windows XP virtual machine (32-bit). You can get the trial version of Flash CS5 here. I suggest you install everything in the package in the default installation path.

2. Export Adobe registry branch

- Go to Start > Run… > input regedit > OK
- In Regitry Editor, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE
- Select Adobe  branch > File > Export… > save the file as adobe.reg > store it some where so you can access from Ubuntu later.

Now, let’s get back to Ubuntu. I’m using Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid.

3. Installing Wine 1.3

By the time of this post, the official repository of Ubuntu only update Wine to version 1.1.34. So you need to add the ppa repository from WineHQ to get the latest version. Open the terminal and enter these commands:

~$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-wine/ppa
~$ sudo apt-get update
~$ sudo apt-get install wine1.3

By installing this version, you will also get winetricks installed. If you’re using other distro, go to this link to get your version of Wine.

4. Install subordinate Windows native libraries

It is recommended that you reset your wineprefix by deleting ~/.wine folder if you have testing something else before with wine. Then, use winetricks to install these libaries:

~$ winetricks vcrun2008 msxml3 atmlib gdiplus

The atmlib is kept in a large cab file so it is normal that you will experience a long progress downloading the 120MB cab file.

5. Replicate the installation in Ubuntu

Copy from Windows to Ubuntu :

  • “C:\Program Files\Adobe\" to "$HOME/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/Adobe"
  • “C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe" to “$HOME/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/Common Files/Adobe"
  • “C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Adobe\CS5” to “$HOME/.wine/drive_c/users/Public/Application Data/Adobe/CS5”
    (this is required for Java Runtime Environment)

Import the registry branch for Adobe:

~$ wine regedit adobe.reg
(assuming the file adobe.reg has been placed at your home folder)

Then you’re done. Here you can run the application from command line:

~$ cd "$HOME/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/Adobe/Adobe Flash CS5"
~/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/Adobe/Adobe Flash CS5$ wine Flash.exe

During the initialization, you may come across this error message:

Program Error_008

Just click Close and Flash CS5 will continue to start up.

For convenience, you can create a launcher to run Flash CS5 from your desktop:

6. Create desktop launcher

Right click on desktop and select Create Launcher
Enter the command as in the image:
Adobe Flash CS5 Properties_007
You can find the logo of Flash CS5 in: …Adobe Flash CS5/Common/First Run/StartPage/resources/images/appicon_xl.png

7. How to: resolve “Error initializing Java Runtime Environment”

When starting Flash CS5, you may experience this error message:

Selection_002

There are a few reasons that I can identify up to now:

- The bundled JRE of CS5 is missing:

Make sure you copy the jre folder from:
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Adobe\CS5
to:
$HOME/.wine/drive_c/users/Public/Application Data/Adobe/CS5

- Error reserving the memory for the Java Virtual Machine:

When you run Flash CS5 with command line, you may notice these error messages together with above message box:
Error occurred during initialization of VM
Could not reserve enough space for object heap

This is related to the –Xmx###m parameter in the JVM initial config.

To fix, open the jvm.ini file located at:
$HOME/.wine/drive_c/users/$USER/Local Settings/Application Data/Adobe/Flash CS5/en_US/Configuration/ActionScript 3.0/jvm.ini
(Assuming $USER is current user name)

Try editing the default line –Xmx128m NOT to a higher value BUT to a LOWER value.

When I set it to –Xmx64m, the problem is gone (my RAM is 2GB on a 32-bit Ubuntu)!

8. How to: Built applications cannot access online resources

(This solution is still in progress and can only resolve the issue partially)

When you build your application, the application will not be able to access online resources. This is because of the security sandbox which prevent local file access internet location. To solve, you can add trusted location to the Flash Player’s global settings.

There are 2 ways to do this:

  1. Using the Global Security Settings panel to add your working folder. However, this requires you install IE6 and Flash Player to your wineprefix. (How to do this is long and out of this post’s scope)
  2. Create new .cfg file at this location:
    $HOME/.wine/drive_c/users/$USER/Application Data/Macromedia/Flash Player/#Security/FlashPlayerTrust/
    If the folders are not there, create them manually.
    Each .cfg is a plain text document containing the path to your trusted folder. For e.g.: C:\

However, this just allow the application to access internet when testing in debug mode! There is still something wrong with the normal run.

Other comments:

Thanks to this how to for Photoshop CS5 in AppDB, I have come up with this procedure. However, you can use this procedure to run Photoshop CS5 as well. (I have tried)

Here’s my test report so far (deeper test update to come):

What works: most of the normal functionalities

  • All the drawing tools including 3D transform
  • All Panels: library, color, align, transform, AS editor…
  • Time line, layers, tweens
  • TLF text, Classic text
  • Open, Save, Build, Test run

What does not work:

  • If Java Runtime Environment fails to initialize, some components will not work
    - New TLF TextField
    - New AS editor (fall back to old one)
    - ActionScript will be ignored in the output application
    (See How to resolve “Error initializing Java Runtime Environment” above)
  • In the workspace, the contents are sometime clipped or hidden. But when I try scrolling or zooming, the contents appear fully again. This looks like being caused by the rendering library. (UPDATE FIX: View > Preview Mode > select Fast) 
  • The application can only start debug session once. If you attempt debug your application again, the application will notice that the debug socket is being used!

What was not tested:

  • Build a AIR
  • iPhone Packager
  • Some other unpopular functions

I will post my report to AppDB when getting some more test results.

Adobe Media Encoder CS5

I also tried Adobe Media Encoder CS5. It ran but I could only open videos in some kind of format (3GP, MP4). Others (MPG, AVI…) failed to open. It seems like this program requires some default encoders available in Windows (which are not in Wine).

Adobe Media Encoder CS5 on Ubuntu

I will investigate further to improve the usability but this progress is very satisfactory to me. Now I can work with most projects without starting the virtual machine.

Update 2010-08-16: Added …/CS5/ to the folders need to copy, added 7. How to: resolve “Error initializing Java Runtime Environment” and 8. How to: Built applications cannot access online resources.

Update 2010-11-22: Flash CS5 stops at "building workspace" while initializing if Wine version is 1.3.7. I have no work around yet so if you want to run Flash CS5, please stay at Wine 1.3.6. (Photoshop CS5 may start normally)

Update 2010-12-02: The startup issue discussed above was fixed since Wine 1.3.8. Wine 1.3.8 was released at the end of Nov ‘10. You can now upgrade Wine to latest version to enjoy Flash CS5 on Linux. It is not likely that this issue will occur again in future version of Wine.

Update 2011-05-24:
- I have just found out that if you switch Preview Mode to Fast (menu View > Preview Mode > Fast or Ctrl-Shift-Alt-F), the authoring stage will render much faster and virtually no more clipping issue.
- I have tried to run Flash CS 5.5 and Photshop CS 5.1 trial on Ubuntu 11.04 using the same procedure. They both started as expected with the trial reminder window as well. However, during working session, an error popup keep appearing after a while. To tackle this, use the winetrick suggested by a commenter below (thanks Endur)
$ winetricks nocrashdialog

[Vietnamese tags: Hướng dẫn chạy Adobe Flash CS5 trên Ubuntu (với Wine) | Làm sao để chạy Flash CS5 trên Ubuntu]

110 comments:

  1. Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaany thanks!!! From newbee Ubuntu lover and adobe cs professionalist.

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  2. Great job!!!

    Do you work with Pyramid Consulting?

    So do I - Lawrence in NY, NY.

    Small world!!!

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  3. @ Anonymous / Lawrence: Yeah, I'm currently working for PyCo Vietnam. How did you find this blog of mine? Do you use Linux? :D

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  4. Tnx a lot sir, work fine in my ubuntu 10.04 amd64 with wine 1.3!!!!

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  5. Do you know how I could use my Wacom working in Flash? You know pressure within

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  6. Could it be that, maybe, you can get the codecs going on by installing a codec pack with winetricks? Maybe the old klite codec pack?

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  7. if anybody has PS CS5 portable... just only run this part in terminal:

    winetricks vcrun2008 msxml3 atmlib gdiplus

    It will work perfectly fine afterwards, nothing else needed

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  8. Absolutely beautiful mate! I had nearly given up on using flash all togeather.

    By the way, I found this blog through Wine HQ.

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  9. Thank you very much, you made my whole day of effort marked by progress instead of a sense of despair and lost time! Now fortunately I have Flash CS5 running under Ubuntu 10.04.

    I used Windows 7 for installing Flash, and there was only one difference:

    in step "5. Replicate the installation in Ubuntu" the required directory

    "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Adobe\CS5"

    on Windows 7 is this one:
    "C:\ProgramData\Adobe\CS5".

    I keep wondering, how people manage to find which line and in which file should be corrected in order to get the desired result.. But I am so glad that people spend their time helping others, as you do!

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  10. Had this working (on maverick (10.10)) up until today (saw that wine updated itself to 1.3.6 this morning).

    Running Flash CS5 via wine via the terminal shows me:

    Call from 0x7bc49b50 to unimplemented function iertutil.dll.653, aborting
    err:module:attach_process_dlls "urlmon.dll" failed to initialize, aborting
    err:module:LdrInitializeThunk Main exe initialization for L"C:\\programs\\AdobeFlashCS5\\Flash.exe" failed, status 80000100

    A search returned results from a Japanese, a German and a Russian site about getting games to play on Ubuntu...

    I'll attempt to reapply the registry when I log onto Windows tomorrow.

    Anybody else run into this or figure out a work-around?

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  11. Hi Drew,
    I've just updated Wine to 1.3.6 on Ubuntu 10.10 and Adobe Flash CS5 still runs fine.
    Did you install any other dll via winetricks (as they are likely the cause)? I can only advice that you try to install Flash CS5 on a separated wineprefix so that other softwares and/or winetricks dll won't affect your installation.

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  12. hi. how did you install flash in your virtual xp machine? doesnt it require 1024x768 resolution? i can only set mine to 800x600. and the vram too i think needs 512mb. i only have less than the required as max. thanks!

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  13. Hi there,
    My original monitor resolution is 1280x1024 so virtual Win XP has maximum resolution of 1152x864. That bypass the minimum required resolution of Flash CS5. I'm not sure about the RAM required but also think it should be 512MB.
    If your computer has low hardware profile and cannot install Flash CS5 on virtual Win XP, I suggest you should dual boot to Windows and install it there instead.

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  14. Hi, I'm getting the following error:

    Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime Library
    Runtime Error!
    Program: C:\Program files\Adobe\Adobe Flash CS5\Flash.exe
    This application has requested the Runtime to terminate it in an unusual way. Please contact the application's support team for more information.

    Is there any way to solve it?

    Thanks

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  15. I've never seen this error message. If it is in Windows, I cannot help. If it is seen while trying to run the application in Ubuntu, please extract the error log in the terminal so that I can guess what's wrong with it.

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  16. Thanx so much... I have a trouble to find out adobe.reg. I do every step until last section of step 5. but there's an error: "ERROR:3, TRY TO INSTALL AGAIN THIS PRODUCT"; I have been checking the adobe.reg and edited. It shows as follow: "Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Adobe]

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Adobe\Photoshop]

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Adobe\Photoshop\11.0]
    "ApplicationPath"="C:\\Program Files\\Adobe\\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\\"
    "PluginPath"="C:\\Program Files\\Adobe\\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\\Plug-Ins\\"

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Adobe\Photoshop\11.0\ApplicationPath]
    @="C:\\Program Files\\Adobe\\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\\"

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Adobe\Photoshop\11.0\PluginPath]
    @="C:\\Program Files\\Adobe\\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\\Plug-Ins\\"
    "
    There is nothing about flash cs5. One problem is that I installed the Creative Suite 5 Master Collection. I hope your kind cooperation.
    Best wishes

    lovebolivia

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  17. Can you help me out? I followed all you're instructions to the letter, but flash cs5 isn't working.
    I have ubuntu 10.10, wine 1.3.7
    Problems: The red startup is cropped into a rectangle
    When Flash.exe is run in terminal, the last thing it says is

    fixme:advapi:SetNamedSecurityInfoW L"C:\\users\\Public\\Application Data\\regid.1986-12.com.adobe" 1 -2147483644 0xb3dad54 0xb3dad60 0xb3dae40 (nil)
    fixme:advapi:SetNamedSecurityInfoW L"C:\\users\\Public\\Application Data\\regid.1986-12.com.adobe" 1 -2147483644 0xb3dad54 0xb3dad60 0xb3da510 (nil)
    fixme:advapi:SetNamedSecurityInfoW L"C:\\users\\Public\\Application Data\\regid.1986-12.com.adobe\\regid.1986-12.com.adobe_MasterCollection-CS5-Win-GM-MUL.swidtag" 1 -2147483644 0xb3da524 0xb3da530 0xb3da578 (nil)

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  18. One more thing: the last thing Abode Flash says is "Building Workspace".

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  19. I have the same problem since I upgraded Wine to 1.3.7. I haven't found a solution yet so if you want to start Flash CS5 successfully, please downgrade Wine to 1.3.6. That is the last Wine version which runs Flash CS5 properly.

    About the cropped splash screen, it is normal because I saw it too.

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  20. I'm not quite sure how CS5 Master Collection write to registry, but recently, I realize that, you don't even need to migrate the registry from Windows to Wine. I just copy the folders listed in step 5 and I can start Flash CS5. (That applies to single Flash installer, not sure about Master Collection)
    Make sure you use a fresh wineprefix and install needed winetricks.

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  21. I did that, and everything works now! But when I draw a shape, parts of it are whited out (especially towards the centre), and its difficult to dock a window. Any suggestions?
    Maybe I'll try using the stable version of wine, 1.2.1

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  22. WORKS WITH WINE 1.2 TOO

    Hi Thanh, got Flash CS running with Wine 1.2 on Ubuntu 10.10.

    I decided not to go to 1.3 as 1.3.6 is "harder to find" and 1.6.7 is the current version and apparently does not work.

    Your post is very clear and with all the steps involved you did an amazing hack and job.

    I have not tested Flash CS5 yet so I have no clue on stability and such.

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  23. Did some testing on Flash CS5 in Ubuntu, using Wine1.2. Take note that this is inside a Virtual Machine using VMware.

    Flash loads and compiles the old CS3 project I used for testing.
    The popup with the running SWF shows up.
    Then stuff freezes.

    I restarted Ubuntu.

    Here is my experience after restarting Ubuntu and Starting Flash.
    The CPU goes up to 100% while running Flash, spreading 50% between Wine and Flash CS5.
    I have no clue if this is due to Wine 1.2 (as it runs Flash "native" in Ubuntu it should not be) or to some other factor. Any experience from others here?

    The window presenting Flash is always on top. I can not get any other Ubuntu window to show up "over it". This means that when Flash "freezes" I can not do anything (like kill the process).

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  24. In Wine 1.2, there are a lot of Windows-native functions which are not implemented yet. That's why Flash CS5 does not run well as you describe. You may also need to install other winetricks to supplement the missing features in an old Wine.

    You still have the chance to install Wine 1.3.6 if you can find the deb installer some where or rebuild from the source archive: http://ibiblio.org/pub/linux/system/emulators/wine/

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  25. More detailed info:
    When no files are loaded, Flash takes between 15% to 24% of the processor dedicated to my VM.

    When I load a (CS3) project, the processor goes up to 100% and stays there, even though no actions are taken and hands are off Flash.

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  26. Oh Thanks !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    By following this I was able to install Adobe Dreamwaver CS5 in my Ubuntu 10.10 pc

    Again many many thanks

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  27. Hi!! first of all thanks for your tutorials!!

    I have a little question with it...My Ubuntu is the 10.10 64b version and my Windows 7 is 32b...i tried this tutorial with my Flash CS5 installation but doesn't works, is the problem the 64b version for Ubuntu and the 32b from Windows7? Is any solution for this or i should install Windows 7 64b too?

    P.D.: I'm using Wine 1.3.8

    Thanks for your help!!

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  28. As far as I know, Wine doesn't have a 64bit version. So, I guess your Ubuntu 64bit is hosting Wine in 32bit compatible mode. Theoretically, your Flash CS5 installation should be 32bit as well. But I'm not sure if this combination works. This case is out of my knowledge and ability to solve.

    PS: I also wanted to install Ubuntu 64bit but must stick with 32bit for now due to a lot of issues
    like this. Besides, some claim that 64bit doesn't process any faster in many common operations.

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  29. Thanks for your quick reply!!
    I saw in the web that some people tells that ubuntu 64b doesnt works properly but i saw other people saying that works perfect...you know... hehehe is a madness :S
    I will keep trying!!

    Thanks again!

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  30. I can confirm the iPhone Packagers runs better than on Windows where crashes with out of memory error - Ubuntu 10.10 compiles IPA without any problem. No other settings necessary.

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  31. Hi, I have found out a temporary solution for the content clipping - View -> Preview Mode -> Fast
    Hope I helped you :-)

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  32. Ouch, sorry, the Fast view mode does not help in all cases :-(

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  33. It's good to know that iPhone Packager runs well. Now we can make iPhone apps on Windows & Linux. :D

    Thanks for the info.

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  34. i have VirtualBox with win xp sp2 installed, ubuntu 10.10, wine 1.3.10 and i'm trying to do this thing with adobe master collection: on my virtual machine everything works fine, but when i copy all folders and registry on wine only photoshop works, flash stops when is loading tools and the other programs don't even start, can you help me=

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  35. Its good, but you forgot to mention copying the other registries parts
    flex etc... otherwise this will stop working due to liscencine
    I recall another tutorial that mentions them. I think the other tutorial also mentioned to copy one of the folders over too.. regarding flex

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  36. what I was talking about before, regarding Macrovison FLEXnet (do we need to deal with this?)
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\FLEXnet Licensing Service –> flexnet.reg

    ow, mount the windows partition and copy this folders to the related wine folder:

    $ cp -R /mnt/windows/Program Files/Common Files/Adobe ~/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/Common Files/

    $ copy -R “/mnt/windows/Program Files/Common Files/Macrovision Shared” ~/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/Common Files/

    Correct?

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  37. Its kinda annoying how Adobe put the button on the wrong side. All close buttons should be on the left side. That is the correct way of computing. It would be nice if there was a way to switch them.

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  38. I'm currently running Flash & Photoshop CS5 successfully without above step. Maybe missing this step is causing the error message every time I start those programs but they start up eventually.
    Will try your step and see if the error message go away. Thanks for sharing that.

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  39. I'm mostly using this for Dreamweaver and Fireworks. I've been able to get CS3 CS4 and CS5 working by using a lot of trial and error. Nearly 50 go and bad installs so far. WInebottles have become useful. http://wibom.sourceforge.net/ and http://linux-tipps.blogspot.com/2009/03/how-to-make-your-own-wine-bottles.html
    In addition to what you mention here:
    vcrun2008 msxml3 atmlib gdiplus
    I had to install other things with winetricks as well, but I'm unable to pinpoint exactly what. I've done things like installing .net frameworks, vbrun stuff, corefonts, tahoma, rbg-smoothfonts, sometimes ive used the directx things (d3dx9..) but im not sure they are required. other vcruns and vbruns, other msxmls4and6 but again, not sure if they are required.
    Someday, when I have time, I would like to pinpoint everything and create a cool tutorial.
    It was your post that inspired me to give all this a try. Now I have Dreamweaver and Fireworks running so I can get on with my work. I'm actually quite upset with Adobe not making this software for Linux. I find it very irresponsible of them to ignore the Linux developers crowd. I would gladly buy it. But in this manner, I'll proudly remain a Pirate and show others how to do it. I'm eventually going to try to master using GIMP and stuff. It just I've been using Dreamweaver and Fireworks for nearly 10 years and its just a part of my work flow.

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  40. This is very awesome, i had to delete ubuntu cause i had to work with .fla files. Im going to try it right now hope it works.

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  41. Hi,
    Your error message is quite general. You should start the program from terminal to see more detailed error outputs.
    Anyway, try to install Flash CS5 on a fresh wineprefix, i.e you delete folder $HOME/.wine and run ~$winecfg. Then follow closely the steps I wrote.

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  42. hi. thanks for replying. i finally installed Flash CS3 on my guest XP. just had my guest machine to full screen so it went into 1366x768 then i kinda did some command like this:
    VBoxManage modifyvm “guestXPmachine” --memory 1024
    VBoxManage modifyvm “guestXPmachine” --vram 256

    cant set the vram to higher than 256 though. but atleast it ran.

    ill go try install CS5 and follow this tutorial and see what happens. thanks a lot. :D good luck 2 me.

    -jeraldo

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  43. its saying "the adobe application manager is needed..." ?? help pls.

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  44. thanks. This was really helpful.

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  45. Where do I put the adobe.reg? I don't understand what you mean by "home" folder

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  46. That means you place the adobe.reg at your Linux user's home folder. For e.g. if your user name is "user", it is normally at: /home/user.
    FYI, it is where you can refer to in command line as ~

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  47. The error message during the initialization of Flash CS5 can be removed / disabled:

    $ winetricks nocrashdialog.

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  48. oh ok, Maybe i should try that, i still am not able to get it to run, it temms me to uninstall and reinstall

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  49. Do You think it matters that i'm using linux mint?

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  50. I'm so jealous! I've tried and tried and tried this with (a licensed version of) Master Collection CS5, borrowed from the Windows partition of my machine, because I'd really like to stop dual booting for stuff like Flash. But I just can't get it to work, even though I am the smartest person in the universe.

    Configuration error
    Please uninstall and reinstall the product.
    Blahblah, Error: 3

    I thought either it just works, or I'll have some FLEXnet annoyances because of licensing (theoretically one can simply reactivate in Ubuntu because licenses allow 2 simultaneous activations iirc). But I get this configuration error, what is this?

    If some blog owner tried this in a modern way (meaning originally using Windows 7 x64), please be so kind an blog about it in detail! ;P

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  51. 21 tries later, I've got Flash Builder working. But for Flash, after the ignorable crash, I get a second crash:

    "Runtime Error! This application has requested the Runtime to terminame in an unusual way."

    Any Ideas?

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  52. Nope. All I can advice is you should try with a fresh wineprefix, install the exact winetricks listed in the tutorial (no more or less) and follow the steps closely.
    You can also try starting the program with command line and observe the console messages dumped to the terminal. Maybe the error is hinted in those messages.

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  53. I followed the Flash Builder article again with the downloadable Flash demo using the exported registry branch (not necessary for FB) and that made it work!

    Note1: A few winetricks aren't working and require a scavenger hunt to immitate what it is supposed to do.
    Note2: The demo version is only a partial victory, my wife is still complaining. I mean.. the licensed version. It wants me to reinstall.

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  54. About 64 bit try to but another copy of Adobe files under
    $HOME/.wine/drive_c/Program Files (x86)/Adobe/Adobe Flash CS5
    it work in Fedora 15 alfa Gnome 3 unde intel i5 (64 bit)
    it took me 2 days to understand where is the problem

    Thanks Thanh for you hard work

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  55. Thanks for your nice tip about running CS5 on 64 bit Linux.

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  56. what happen if i just install flash cs5 in ubuntu and no in the virtual box? it's obligatory to install it on virtual box first?

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  57. AFAIK, you cannot install Flash CS5 (run through the installer) on Ubuntu w/ Wine. That's why you'll need virtual box to have a full windows virtualization to install Flash CS5 first, then copy the installed files and folders to Ubuntu. If you don't like using virtual box, you can install Flash CS5 on a Windows partition.

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  58. Hi Adam,
    I've managed to make Fireworks CS5 run, but it seems that the properties panel is not updating (when I select for instance an object, the properties panel stays the same). Do you experience this issue ?

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  59. gundam- I have been all over the net trying to find an Adobe professional who uses Ubuntu- I am seriously considering making the switch to Ubuntu now since Mac is too expensive and I hate Windows, but I can't do it if Adobe Creative Suite doesn't work perfectly... Are you able to use all the adobe programs in Ubuntu, and be as productive as if they were running under Windows or Mac OS? 

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  60. Fantastic.

    New user to linux and had no idea running Flash CS5 was possible.

    Thank you.

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  61. I was wondering, has anyone figured out how to make it so images don't get cut off while your working on them?  I don't mind the lag when using it, but the pictures getting cut off for no reason sucks.

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  62. Please read my update on 2011-05-24: switch Preview Mode to Fast (menu View > Preview Mode > Fast or Ctrl-Shift-Alt-F).

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  63. I just wanted to post this here as it is the best how to run Flash CS5 out there.

    For all the android developers out there:
    just download the extension from torrent (unfortunately since it come with CS5.5, it is not available freely anymore) and redo the steps mentioned by Thanh Tran and you'll be able to develop and publish abode air for android on your Ubuntu!!!

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  64. minor correction lol!!

    download the adobe air for android extension

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  65. Thank you for sharing this!! i was able to run flash but i have to first open it several times because it keeps crashing at the "Program Error" prompt but i think i can live with that lols. i'll try to fix the several dll problems

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  66. Great tutorial!  But the initializer keeps failing when it says "initializing tools".  What can I do to fix this?

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  67. Can you try running the program via command line? Then let me know what's the error message in the terminal when it fails to initialize .

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  68. it works! this's really helpful.. but one thing,, that i could not make the launcher for the flash.exe. it said "Failed to execute child process "/home/gorel/.wine/drive_c/Program" (No such file or directory).. "

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  69. Looks like the command in your launcher misses the quotes (") around the path to Flash.exe. There should be ones because the path has a space at "Program Files".

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  70. I was able to run Flash the first time around... now when I try to run from command line

    wine: cannot find L"C:\\windows\\system32\\Flash.exe"

    Any reason why this would be happening? The commands were copy/pasted directly.

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  71. Did you run the program with the full path to Flash.exe?
    The command line to run Flash CS5 should be:
    $ wine "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Flash CS5\Flash.exe"
    If your Flash is CS 5.5 then the command is:
    $ wine "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Flash CS5.5\Flash.exe"
    (With the quotes)
    It is assumed that you installed Flash in the default folder.

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  72. I got it running, but mouse dragging doesn't work. I noticed another person has this issue. I posted the complete dump from the terminal here:
    http://forum.winehq.org/viewtopic.php?p=71176#71176

    Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

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  73. Hi,

    I started up Fireworks and cannot use mouse drag indeed. However, I'm sorry that I can't help you with this error since I don't use Fireworks. I've been using Flash & Photoshop and they were working pretty well so far although sometimes I have to reverse Wine back to an older but more compatible version.

    The drag issue may also be caused by Unity/Compiz (if you happen to be using Ubuntu). You may try Ubuntu Classic Desktop or Unity 2D and see if this issue is gone.  

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  74. Hi,
    I couldn't run it, it cited an error 3 and says I must reinstall. DId not have this problem in windows. Could it be a registry problem? Thanks.

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  75. Not likely a registry problem. Although the registry step is there (which is based on the Photoshop tutorial), I myself often skip this and still run it successfully.

    From what you said I can only advice that the setting up should be done in a completely new wine prefix (delete the ~/.wine folder); install ONLY the winetricks stated.

    If they don't help, try an older version of Wine (still Wine 1.3, but not the latest) because sometimes the new version of Wine introduce regression bugs. If you are using Ubuntu 11.10, you should downgrade Wine to 1.3.28 (for this moment) as I'm also having problem with latest Wine version. Please Google search how to downgrade your Wine with Ubuntu PPA.

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  76. Cheers, it seems to work now!

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  77. Hmmm, what would you recommend if flash crashes after that warning screen comes up (which you described) while "initialising tools"?

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  78. It still doesn't seem to work in the older wine distros.

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  79. Try $ winetricks nocrashdialog
    to see if it solve your problem.
    If not, install Wine 1.3.28. 

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  80. Works for me, thanks very much!

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  81. I can get almost all CS 5.5 products to load, but can get past "a problem has occurred with the licensing of this product."
    Any ideas?  

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  82. Try delete this folder:
    /home/[user_name]/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/Common Files/Adobe/Adobe PCD
    (the folder named "Adobe PCD")
    That will reset user's licensing data.

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  83. The latest version (1.4-rc3) won't allow me to use Flash CS5.5. It was
    working perfectly before I upgraded. The problem is I can't get past the
    "the program flash.exe has encountered a serious problem and needs to
    close..." screen. After clicking close as suggested, the program never
    loads. I even ran winetricks nocrashdialog and the dialog didn't come
    back, however, the program still doesn't run.



    I removed wine 1.4 and am compiling the source for 1.3.37 to see if it
    fixes the issue. Will post results. If anyone has an idea how to get
    past the dialog on wine 1.4-rc3 that'd be great!

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  84. Going back to Wine 1.3.37 worked. I'm on Ubuntu 11.10 x64 and I had to uninstall wine from the software center. Then download the source from: http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/wine/wine-1.3.37.tar.bz2

    I then had to build wine (search on google or wherever on building programs)

    then I installed winetricks from the software center, followed the instructions as before. I received a "licencing error" and the program quit. Then I reopened Flash and the same error popped up and I hit enter to dismiss it, Flash continued loading, another message popped up, hit enter to dismiss it again, and now it's working fine!

    Hope this helps someone

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  85. You can simply write this command instead: sudo apt-get install wine1.3=OLD_VERSION 
    This will downgrade wine to OLD_VERSION that is available in the apt-cache.
    To see available version, run:
    $ apt-cache showpkg wine
    and see the list of reversible versions.

    For example, for now I use:
    $ sudo apt-get install wine1.3=1.3.28-0ubuntu2~oneiric1

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  86. I had the same problem as jeraldo. All you have to do is download Adobe Application Manager from here:

    http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=4773

    and then install it:

    wine ApplicationManager2.0_all.exe

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  87. If you're using 64bit version and it crashes with Error: 3, you have to copy the "Adobe PCD" folder from "Program Files (x86)/Common Files" to "Program Files/Common Files"

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  88. If you're using 64bit version and it crashes with Error: 3, you have to copy the "Adobe PCD" folder from "Program Files (x86)/Common Files" to "Program Files/Common Files"

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  89. If you're using a 64-bit version of Adobe Flash CS5 and it crashes with Error: 3, you have to copy the "pcd.db" file located in "Program Files (x86)/Common Files/Adobe/Adobe PCD" to "Program Files/Common Files/Adobe/Adobe PCD" (you may have to create that folder first).

    It is important, that you only copy that file and not the whole "Adobe PCD" folder, as it may cause Photoshop to crash.

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  90. Hey when I highlight the document tab, the destination of the file comes up and then never goes away. When I open other programs it stays on top and won't go away unless I close the program. Anyone else experience this?

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  91. Jesús Antonio Castañeda GarzaMarch 12, 2012 at 9:35 AM

    Thanks, I have installed Flash CS5 and Fireworks CS5 in ubuntu 11.10 and works fine

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  92. Jesús Antonio Castañeda GarzaMarch 13, 2012 at 2:25 AM

    Hi, i need to import audio files, and I have this error.

    Could you help me?

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  93. I can import mp3 on my Ubuntu 11.10 64-bit. May be Flash needs an mp3 transcoder provided by the OS. Could you try install the package "ubuntu-restricted-extras" with the Software Center and then restart Flash.

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  94. I have had this issue for many versions of Wine and still cannot find a workaround. Try moving the mouse over another control so the tooltip will appear shorter and less obtrusive.

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  95. Jesús Antonio Castañeda GarzaMarch 13, 2012 at 10:59 AM

    After install "ubuntu-restricted-extras" I'm still having the same problem. Could you tell another solution?

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  96. Maybe I'm wrong about an mp3 transcoder in that package. This thread http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1117283 says that you need to install:
    $ sudo apt-get install ffmpeg libavcodec-extra-53

    In addition, I just tried and failed to import a variable bitrate (VBR) mp3. Then I use Audacity to convert it to a constant bitrate (CBR) mp3, I can import it to Flash. (I do have "ffmpeg libavcodec-extra-53" installed on my Ubuntu)

    So after all of these, I'm not sure it is the missing mp3 transcoder or your mp3 is VBR. Please try both yourself and let us know.

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  97. Very Thanks, works this process to dreamweaver, thanks agan

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  98. It looks like when I highlight the "x" and then click it doesn't close but rather drops down the "close" thing and stays there. Then the file destination goes away. This is in wine 1.4

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  99. Just find a workaround for the tooltips problem. That is disabling the tooltip once and for all (since you are used to the interface already).
    Follow this link for the instruction:
    http://superuser.com/questions/186026/photoshop-wine-tooltip-doesnt-go-away-problem

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  100. BRAVO ! ! !
    This only helps me to prove that Linux is not unusable OS and some people in Ukraine will be silenced by this info... Thnks for this folks!

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  101. I just tried deselecting that option with no avail... =/

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  102. Also whenever I try opening an fla file, it throws me a DDE error and then opens Flash (but not the document I asked for...) 

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  103.  Thank you for noticing the small difference when we had Windows 7 used in this installation instead of Windows XP!

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  104. yeah! thanks for this 

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  105. thank you for the info... Anyway is there any way for CS6 to work ? Nightboy97 from http://www.beststuffisfree.co.cc

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  106. I followed the exact same instructions, but I also installed msxml6, vcrun2003, vcrun2005, and vcrun2010 with Winetricks. Works flawlesly.


    Currently using ArchLinux updated up to July 5, 2015, and Wine 1.7.46

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