Fixing Flash Player in Joli OS 1.2
Posted: June 16, 2011 Filed under: Jolicloud 81 Comments »I recently gave the Eee PC 701 to my mother, who took it to an “IT specialist” for repairs. The only repair it needed was a new charger, but the specialist, being the nice guy that he was, also installed Windows 7 on the thing. Ouch.
The charger he gave her was some sort of old camera charger (12V 2A) which did actually work, and eventually even started to charge the battery. It died, however, while I was touching up the Joli OS 1.2 install. 
Speaking of Joli OS, it has lots of some issues, the most notable one being the inability to install Flash. What happens is that the wonderful flashplugin-installer package tries to download the Flash plugin from archive.canonical.com, and it can’t find the file. Thing is, that method of installing Flash is an older one; the current one is downloading the adobe-flashplugin package from Canonical’s partner repository. Which Joli OS doesn’t use.
Now, after starting Joli OS, configuring Jolicloud, etc., hit Alt-F1 to bring up a terminal. Then copy-paste the following commands (to paste in a terminal, use right click -> paste; you’ll need to hit Enter to execute the final command, after the ones before it complete):
sudo -i
echo "deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu lucid partner" >> /etc/apt/sources.list
apt-get remove -y flashplugin-installer flashplugin-nonfree
apt-get update
apt-get install -y adobe-flashplugin
Copying and pasting the whole code block worked for me, but others had to copy and paste each line individually. Note: the second and third lines are actually a single line, and the >> is part of the command.
Before executing these commands: they shouldn’t have any side effects, but no warranty is given. I am not responsible for your system getting hosed.
If you find any problem (or want to thank me 
), leave a comment or follow me on Twitter. C’mon, it’s easy.
Thanks you, its perfect !!!
Thanks for posting nice now work.
Thanks for the post.
MY VLC player on does not play all movies smoothly on joli os
Is it because of my low 1GB ram
Should i upgrade it for a solution
Great i struggled with a whole day intil I found this
Many thanks for the fix!!
in order to fix Hulu Desktop app, do you know where libflashplayer.so installs to on the machine?
nvrmind, /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/flashplugin-alternative.so is what I was looking for.
I found this out by having to run the fix again after running the Restore Utility….Don’t run the Restore Utility.
THANK YOU!!!!
Thank you so much… I’m glad you are so awesome and posted this. I wish I could hug you.
In case you didn’t know, it worked for me.
Thanks a lot. It works.
That has done it for me too. Thanks.
Thanks! that fixed the flash on with my EeePC 900.
Working!! Thanks
Did the job. Thanks!
It work like a charm…thanks a lot =D
Didn´t work for me unfortunately. For some reason, I have to do a full reinstall. Flash works fine.. but Chromium is only version 10… version 17 is out now. So either I run a slow Chromium browser and therefore a slow OS, or I update my browser but then my flash is outdated. Even if I don’t update flash it still manages to update in the background somehow and just end up broken… with the message ‘The shockwave flash plugin has crashed’ all the time, with the image in the flash applet of a dead plugin box. Real bummer too, this OS was almost perfect. Might have to go for something else…. like Backtrack 5. The devs don’t seem to really give a crap about this OS anymore, no official forums, no real development. It’s taken years just for 2 releases and 1.2 is so old.. it’s based off Ubuntu 10 LTS… that’s ancient..
Thank you sir the fix worked I just needed to reboot at the end for the changes to take effect
Hi! Thanks so much for posting this advice. For me, I don’t think it has worked, so I must’ve done something wrong – I really don’t understand computers at all! After copying and pasting everything, the terminal reads:
claire@claire-jolicloud:~$ sudo -i
root@claire-jolicloud:~# echo “deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu lucid partner” >> /etc/apt/sources.list
root@claire-jolicloud:~# apt-get remove -y flashplugin-installer flashplugin-nonfree
Reading package lists… Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information… Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
fakeroot jolicloud-hardware nvidia-legacy-96-modaliases libnotify-bin nickel-browser-inspector user-setup bogl-bterm dkms libvpx0
localechooser-data nvidia-legacy-173-modaliases patch jolicloud-hardware-repo
Use ‘apt-get autoremove’ to remove them.
The following packages will be REMOVED
flashplugin-installer flashplugin-nonfree
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 2 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
2 not fully installed or removed.
After this operation, 225kB disk space will be freed.
(Reading database … 105068 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing flashplugin-nonfree …
Removing flashplugin-installer …
root@claire-jolicloud:~#
I don’t know what this means! When I start to close the terminal, it tells me that a process is still running, but nothing’s happened for over 15 mins. Do you know what I should do now? Also, do you know why this problem arose? I must’ve had Flash installed, because I’ve usually been able to watch video content on this computer. Has Joli Cloud messed up, and if so, will they fix it, without me having to reinstall Flash?!
Thanks so much if you’re still checking this and responding:)
That’s supposed to happen – the idea is that you’re removing flashplugin-installer and whatever else Joli installs by default and replacing it with Ubuntu’s package, adobe-flashplugin.
So you just have to run the other two commands as well:
apt-get updateapt-get install -y adobe-flashplugin
The running process is sudo, which you have to run to get the “#” prompt. If you see the prompt, you can close the terminal without any problem.
Hope this helps. Feel free to ask any other questions.
Hi Andy,
Thanks so much for your quick reply! My problem is still not resolved, but hopefully I’m getting closer…
I copied and pasted:
apt-get update
apt-get install -y adobe-flashplugin
and now the terminal is saying:
claire@claire-jolicloud:~$ apt-get update
E: Could not open lock file /var/lib/apt/lists/lock – open (13: Permission denied)
E: Unable to lock the list directory
claire@claire-jolicloud:~$ apt-get install -y adobe-flashplugin
I hit ‘return’, and more words appeared:
E: Could not open lock file /var/lib/dpkg/lock – open (13: Permission denied)
E: Unable to lock the administration directory (/var/lib/dpkg/), are you root?
claire@claire-jolicloud:~$
Please could you advise me what to do next?! And thank you again – I wouldn’t have any hope of fixing this without your help:)
Your problem here is that you’re running those commands as your own user,
claire. Administrative tasks like installing or updating packages have to be done using therootuser.On Ubuntu (and by extension Joli OS), you switch to the root user with the
sudo -icommand, which was the first step of my instructions. You probably started a new terminal and didn’t run it.So, to sum everything up, you have to run these 3 commands in a new terminal:
sudo -iapt-get update
apt-get install -y adobe-flashplugin
There is a graphical solution by the way, so don’t go thinking Linux is just about terminals, but it’s way more complicated for me to explain than the command line one. So yeah, hope this helps.
Hi again Andy,
Thanks for your patience! I’ve tried to follow this instruction by pasting everything (including sudo -i) into a new terminal. When I pasted in:
sudo -i
apt-get update
apt-get install -y adobe-flashplugin
then the terminal reads:
claire@claire-jolicloud:~$ sudo -i
[sudo] password for claire:
So I tried just pasting sudo -i into a new terminal, but I just get the same thing.
It seems that it really doesn’t want me to switch to the root user, for some weird reason!
Oh dear, and this is the easy version…
Thanks so much again if you know what I should do about this! It’s quite possible I’ve missed some fundamental thing that everyone else knows, because I really have no knowledge or understanding of computers. I didn’t even install this for myself!
It’s just asking you for your password, just type it in and it should work.
Oops! Yes, that helped!
Lots of progress now, but may I ask another question? It’s hopefully the last. In the terminal, lots of stuff has been generated, and the last chunk of it reads:
The following NEW packages will be installed
adobe-flash-properties-gtk adobe-flashplugin
0 upgraded, 2 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 6,722kB of archives.
After this operation, 18.1MB of additional disk space will be used.
Get: 1 http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ lucid/partner adobe-flashplugin 11.2.202.228-0lucid1 [6,591kB]
Get: 2 http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ lucid/partner adobe-flash-properties-gtk 11.2.202.228-0lucid1 [131kB]
Fetched 6,722kB in 4min 10s (26.9kB/s)
Selecting previously deselected package adobe-flashplugin.
(Reading database … 105056 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking adobe-flashplugin (from …/adobe-flashplugin_11.2.202.228-0lucid1_i386.deb) …
Selecting previously deselected package adobe-flash-properties-gtk.
Unpacking adobe-flash-properties-gtk (from …/adobe-flash-properties-gtk_11.2.202.228-0lucid1_i386.deb) …
Processing triggers for hicolor-icon-theme …
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils …
Processing triggers for python-gmenu …
Rebuilding /usr/share/applications/desktop.en_GB.utf8.cache…
Processing triggers for python-support …
Setting up adobe-flashplugin (11.2.202.228-0lucid1) …
update-alternatives: using /usr/lib/adobe-flashplugin/libflashplayer.so to provide /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/flashplugin-alternative.so (mozilla-flashplugin) in auto mode.
Setting up adobe-flash-properties-gtk (11.2.202.228-0lucid1) …
root@claire-jolicloud:~#
root@claire-jolicloud:~#
Nothing else is happening now. In fact, the last line of text is repeated because I pressed ‘return’ to see if that would make something else happen. If I try to close the terminal, I’m warned that something’s still running. However, because I don’t see any more activity, I’m unclear. Do I need to do anything else? Thank you once more.
The detailed explanation is a bit technical, but you can exit the terminal without any problems at this point.
I had to play around with it a little more, but it finally worked! Thanks a MILLION!!! I just moved to a new country where I know nobody and hardly speak the language as yet, so there was nobody here I could get to help – you have done me an enormous favour:) Sorry it took so much questioning back and forth. But I’m so happy now:) Thanks:)
nice save man…its ashame this didn’t come from the folks at jolicloud…thanks alot!
It worked! Thank you so much! Bless you!
Thank you Very MUCH
. But like others I had to copy each line separately. But still works great.
Worked like a charm! Thanks for the fix, appreciate it.
Thank you! I did the lines one by one, and it worked like a charm!
Thanks for the fix. Couple of surprises:
Terminal wouldn’t accept all the lines together – had to paste 1 at a time (2&3 together!).
Some crap responses to update – stuff not found “something wicked happened …”
But overall fantastic! Great post
(Joli on Lenovo laptop)
Bro i would really appreciate if you could let me know if libreoffice works in joli os 1.2. if yes then how??… if not then which other package i should install so as to open office files
Jolicloud’s “app store” should include either OpenOffice or LibreOffice. You could also probably use Google Docs, but I’m not sure how well that would work for local files.
Click the green + (top left) and then “native apps”. In there you’ll find writer, impress and calc. Just click “add” for each and let it all sync. They’re the Open Office progs. I think Libre Office is coming with the new Ubuntu LTS release 12.04 in April; should be on Joli soon after.
its not working for me….says “Package adobe-flashplugin is not available, but is referred to by another package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source”
plz help
I just tried it on my eee pc 901 and I get the same issue as Atif. Is there a different location for the update?
This is extremely odd, the
adobe-flashpluginpackage is right here, it’s listed in the Packages file, everything should just work AFAIK.Would you mind running
lsb_release -aand posting the results here?Here is a copy and paste of my results
cp30@cp30-jolicloud:~$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Joli OS
Description: Joli OS 1.2
Release: 1.2
Codename: robby
cp30@cp30-jolicloud:~$
ok Andy, I think I know what I did wrong. Instead of inputting this command;
echo “deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu lucid partner” >> /etc/apt/sources.list
I did this.
echo “deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu lucid partner” /etc/apt/sources.list
I thought >> this meant continuation. Sorry and thanks for your help.
hi Andy i followed your steps on asus eeepc 701 4g but when all finished if i close terminal a message shows up saying there’s a running process, maybe i must command to reboot from terminal then? Sorry but i’m a total newbye on linux and thanks very much for your help!
Matt
That’s because the root shell you started with “sudo -i” is still running. You can quit it by running the “exit” command or hitting Ctrl-D. Closing the terminal while that shell is running shouldn’t cause any problems either, though.
Yo thanks man worked great!
P.S. where do you find this info?
Trial, error, and a few well-placed web searches.
Thank You so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I want a few weeks with out flash. thank you!!!!!
You’re the Boss!! Now it works perfect. Thanks a lot!
I start using Joli from version 1.1 but once update to 1.2 this problem occur, stop it for a while and trying Ubuntu 11.04, but look heavy in my Acer netbook, install again this Joli 1.2 but still this problem not solve by Joli teams. Thanks, you a really a problem solver… wonder why Joli Teams never fix this issues..
Andy you just saved my bacon!!! decided to install Jolicloud on my wife’s netbook, everthing worked apart from Adobe FLASH!!
You da MAN!!
sweet, thanks!
it updated to flash 11.0.1.152
thx
Many thanks ! You are an artist ! Jolicloud did not give the tip to those who told about this problem
Great work sir, I was struggling for lot time and it simply worked ………. Thanks a lot
fixxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxed, thanks a lot
exelent!! works!! thanks!
You RAWK. Thank you.
Problem solved…..in a flash ! Merci beaucoup ! 3 am…. can i go to sleep now ?
Note: On my wife’s Dell Mini 1012 this worked fine except that 720 is very jerky (as is to be expected). But 360 was excellent. However, on my Nokia Booklet 3g Sound stopped working altogether. Could not even get my dog to bark in the Sound Prefs. Fix for the Nokia was to reboot. I rebooted from within Terminal after following your directions. For some reason things were wonky. But a second reboot via the power switch fixed everything. However, even with the wonderful GMA500 Poulsbo nightmare chip support that Joli gives, HD is still not a do-able thing. Second and third reboots on both netbooks do not help this at all. But anything at 360p works very smoothly now on both machines. I will apply this to the Joli partition on my MacBook and report back here. Oh, and my Acer AOA150 ZG5 (but everything works on the Acer most of the time, regardless of the distro. Except the mic, which has never worked with anything — probably not connected properly… hmm…)
Thanks for sharing your findings with us all!!!
You are the man!!!
Perfecto!
works great for me! Tnx guy
Yay! Thanks Andy
Thank you!!!!!
thanks mate, i was trying for a week following most of the forums, none worked, but this worked like cheese.
thanks again,
shridhar
Thank you! Worked perfectly.
works for me. thanks!!
I tried it three times,but unfortunately It still doesn’t work
Any specific error? If not, maybe the last line didn’t run?
Thank you SOOOO Much !!! It worked like a charm the second time, there must have been some permission issues the first time..
I tried what Joli recommended and it didn’t help. Almost gave up on Joli OS. Your fix worked like a charm. Thanks a million.
I actually love you for this! Thanks so much!
Yesterday suddenly youtube stopped working, it said there was a missing plugin; but i am the usual mac user (i use joli OS in a little netbook) who only knows how to switch the computer , soi was trying to download the plugging, lost in a hell of different versions for linux, until i found your weblog and now everything is ok.
Thank you very much.
Just a note: the Flash website is useless for Joli OS, because the “download” is actually an apt: link to the “adobe-flashplugin” package from the partner repository. Which, as I explained above, is disabled in Joli.
Thank you so much! I couldn’t find help anywhere else! Now Joli 1.2 is actually usable
Luc Feys Belgium
Many thanks, you are fantastic!
Thanks! So glad I found this post!
Fantastic worked a treat…Thanks
Thanks so much! This worked perfectly.
nice! now work…thanks
gread… all of my jolicloud needs flashplayer is now running! thanks!!!
This totally worked for me!! I just installed Joli last night and out of the box flashplayer was not working – I was bummed. I also hate dealing with issues like this, especially when it is touted that everything works! Anyway, it was a quick and easy fix, and now Joli is all I would want it to be!!
nice one – that is the fix, works better than the joli’s recommendation
Excellent, this fixed it! Thanks for posting!