HP Solution Center has an issue. "FI" screen now pops up.

[Lunnon]

I tried the recommendation to upload HP Scan extended but it just took me to a blank screen in Edge and nothing further happened

[jf_x]

If you want to restore the HP Solution Center instead of switching to other scan tools, you can patch the Flash binary in order to remove the "time bomb".

I have written a tool for that. Check out the following Github page for more information: https://github.com/j-frei/HPFlashFix

[MDK46]

Same issue. Any Solution ?

[Lunnon]

I'm afraid that I couldn't get the hex program to initiate and I have no idea how to run in compatibility mode Windows 7.

[Lunnon]

My system, Windows 10 Pro would not allow Flashfix to load, I'm afraid, it blocked it.

[Lunnon]

I really think HP should take responsibility for this. It is their software and they should update it to make it work, it shouldn't be down to their customers to try and apply fudged solutions. To rely on Adobe Flash and then throw hands up in capitulation when Flash is withdrawn and the Solution Centre, their Solution centre, stops working, isn't acceptable. You wouldn't get away with that in an aeroplane, it would crash!!

[JimL3]

Thanks much to pcd_abreu for some very helpful work-arounds. I have them copied, but haven't attempted, yet, being a little fearful about messing with the Flash executable. I DO completely agree with Lunnon, though, on just who should be producing an official update on the Flash situation: HP. Get to it, HP. Why haven't we heard from you on this thread? Heads stuck in your computer screens?

[Lunnon]

Sadly, it is the way of the world with these large companies, they just don't care; they get the sale and then walk away. I have three printers affected on the same fashion. At least with Microsoft, you can contact their support centre without charge but HP, well, their lack of response and interest says it all sadly, especially when they want to charge you for a support call. I suppose the adage is, we shouldn't buy their product.

I welcome any other ideas as my 6300, 6500 and 8620 Pro are next to useless at the moment when it comes to scanning as the alternative is to individually scan, page by page, as the auto feed doesn't work without the Solution Centre.

Strangely enough when you uninstall and reinstall the printer drivers, the Solution Centre works for the test but that is all.

Come on HP, act professionally please and provide proper customer support, as there must by thousands of people similarly affected.

[Lunnon]

I have just tried HP Scan and Capture but, having asked me to stack my document for scanning, it promptly cancels itself. Does HP actually produce any software that works?

[William_Redingt]

Method 1 - You can remove the time bomb on flash manually using a hex editor program like HxD (https://mh-nexus.de/en/hxd/), searching the hex string "00 00 40 46 3E 6F 77 42" and replacing with "00 00 00 00 00 00 FF 7F".

links: gist.github.com/KuromeSan/56d8b724c0696b54f9f81994ae3591d1

           http://cache.tehsausage.com/flash/defuse.txt

Here are the paths of Adobe Flash Player ActiveX version:

C:\Windows\System32\Macromed\Flash\Flash64_32_0_0_465.ocx

C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash\Flash32_32_0_0_465.ocx

The name of the files can be different, just check if it has the extension .ocx

Copy to the desktop, edit it from there, and paste it back again.

Before paste, close any application that uses flash, like Internet Explorer or HP Solution Center.

You need administrator rights to paste into the System32 and SysWOW64 dir.

Method 2 - Or you can uninstall your current flash version using the uninstall program from Adobe:

https://fpdownload.macromedia.com/get/flashplayer/current/support/uninstall_flash_player.exe

or download the archived version: https://web.archive.org/web/20210202035540/http:/fpdownload.macromedia.com/get/flashplayer/current/s...

And then download the last Adobe Flash Player ActiveX version without the time bomb (32.0.0.371):

direct link to the ActiveX version 32.0.0.371 hosted by archive.org: flashplayer32_0r0_371_winax.exe

link to other versions: https://archive.org/download/flashplayerarchive/pub/flashplayer/installers/archive/

Install the file "flashplayer32_0r0_371_winax.exe", but if you are using Windows 8 or 10 you need to run in compatibility mode Windows 7.

To run in compatibility mode, you need right click the executable file -> select Properties -> Compatibility -> Compatibility mode -> Run this program in compatibility mode for: -> Select Windows 7 -> Then Ok. -> Execute the program.

Method 3 - Or download the last Adobe Flash Player ActiveX version (32.0.0.465) from Adobe's site:

https://fpdownload.adobe.com/pub/flashplayer/latest/help/install_flash_player_ax.exe

or download the archived version: https://web.archive.org/web/20210124174321/https:/fpdownload.adobe.com/pub/flashplayer/latest/help/i...

Install it, but if you are using Windows 8 or 10 you need to run in compatibility mode Windows 7.

And remove the time bomb using a patcher like:

https://github.com/KuromeSan/FlashPatcher/releases

https://github.com/j-frei/HPFlashFix

or use other trusted patches around, or remove the time bomb manually using the method that I mentioned above.

But remember, keeping a working version of Adobe Flash Player ActiveX after the EOL leaves supported browsers as Internet Explorer and your computer vulnerable to attacks using Flash applications. You can also disable the extension of Adobe Flash Player inside the Internet Explorer.

Method 4 - Change your computer date before the EOL (2021-01-12).

But this method will allow other versions of Adobe Flash Player keep working as Pepper Plugin Application Programming Interface (PPAPI) and Netscape Plugin Application Programming Interface (NPAPI), leaving others browsers vulnerable to attacks if they still support Adobe Flash Player Plugin.

Method 5 - Run your application using RunAsDate: https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/run_as_date.html using a date before the EOL (2021-01-12).