To manually uninstall the ActiveX control
1. Quit Internet Explorer, if it is open.
2. From the Start menu, choose Search> Files or Folders and search for flash.ocx (if you are removing Macromedia Flash Player 6) or swflash.ocx (if you are removing Macromedia Flash Player 5 or earlier).
Note: The name of the ActiveX control changed with version 6 to "flash.ocx". See Windows XP error installing Macromedia Flash Player ActiveX control (TechNote 16178) for details.
3. Note the path to the file. The path is typically:
C:\Windows\System\Macromed\Flash on Windows 95, 98 or WinME;
C:\WinNT\System32\Macromed\Flash on Windows NT or 2000;
C:\Windows\System32\Macromed\Flash on Windows XP.
If more than one copy of the file is found, note the paths to all copies of the file.
4. Select Start> Run.
In the Open field, enter the following command:
regsvr32 {path}\{filename} /u
Replace {path} with the path to the filename noted from step 3.
Replace {filename} with the filename noted from step 2.
For example, if you're uninstalling the Macromedia Flash Player 6 ActiveX control on Windows 2000, the path would be:
regsvr32 C:\WinNT\System32\Macromed\Flash\flash.ocx /u
5. Click OK. You should get a RegSvr32 dialog box stating that the executable succeeded. If it failed, double check the path and file name for your system.
6. Select Start> Find Files or Folders and enter flash.ocx (if you are removing Macromedia Flash Player 6) or swflash.ocx (if you are removing Macromedia Flash Player 5).
7. Right-click on the found file and choose Delete from the context (right-click) menu. If more than one copy of the file exists, delete each one.
8. Search for swflash.inf using Windows Find utility (Start > Find > Files or Folders). This file is used during the installation of the Macromedia Flash Player ActiveX control.
Right-click on the file and choose Delete.
Restart the machine.
regsvr32 c:\winnt\system32\macromed\flash\flash.ocx /u
If this was useful, or you have a question, let me know. [ more ]