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chrismid259
Participating Frequently
July 7, 2012
Answered

Bridge's parent application is not active

  • July 7, 2012
  • 14 replies
  • 156400 views

Hi,

I've suddenly come across a problem with Adobe Bridge where it isn't allowing me to open .CR2 files into Camera Raw. When I right click on an image in Bridge, an error message pops up:

"Bridge's parent application is not active. Bridge requires that a qualifying product has been launched at least once to enable this feature."

Originally, I opened Photoshop CS6, then File > Browse in Bridge. I've have opened ACR hundreds of times on this computer so I don't understand why it wants me to open it to be able to use it. I've opened a RAW file from Windows explorer, but when going back to Bridge, the same error occurs.

Does anyone know what the problem is here and how to fix it?

Running Windows 7, Photoshop CS6 64-bit, ACR 7.1, Bridge CS6 64-bit.

Thank you!

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Nikolay Boyukliev

I found an answer that has worked for a lot of people and, more importantly, worked for me in a flickr post by girl_of_tea - http://www.flickr.com/photos/norkabizi/5159300558/

It says

app.box.com/s/kr8t53nudkf14vdweckm

Download the amtlib.dll file in the link above and paste into C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Bridge CS6 (64 Bit) ( replace the old one )


Pygmaeous wrote:

I found an answer that has worked for a lot of people and, more importantly, worked for me in a flickr post by girl_of_tea - http://www.flickr.com/photos/norkabizi/5159300558/

It says

app.box.com/s/kr8t53nudkf14vdweckm

Download the amtlib.dll file in the link above and paste into C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Bridge CS6 (64 Bit) ( replace the old one )

This solutions works for me! Thanks!

14 replies

J
JAS99
New Participant
January 25, 2024

Download the amtlib.dll file in the link above and paste into  Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Bridge CS6 (64 Bit) ( replace the old one ). Make sure Bridge Application is closed first. Works like a charm! The original file is corrupt.

J
JAS99
New Participant
January 25, 2024

app.box.com/s/kr8t53nudkf14vdweckm
Download the amtlib.dll file in the link above and paste into  Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Bridge CS6 (64 Bit) ( replace the old one ). Make sure Bridge Application is closed first. Works like a charm!

DMerces
DMerces
Participating Frequently
February 5, 2017

Worked as a charm! Thank you very much.

G
gqimages
New Participant
October 14, 2016

I was just having the same problem, October 13, 2016 at 8:56 pm. I just updated my Adobe Raw software and it corrected everything.

O
olegz5287574
New Participant
November 25, 2015

for me it's not work if I download amtlib from above link (bridge take startup mistake and won't load), but I take this file from Lightroom place to bridge and solve problem.

    L
    lynnjmk
    New Participant
    October 29, 2015

    This happens to me too with raw files..  The only way I've found round it is to open bridge, highlight the images you want to process, right click and tick open in photoshop cc or whatever and it kick starts in bridge.  I'm not sure if this would work with jpegs though.

    balazskeisz
    balazskeisz
    New Participant
    November 21, 2014

    Brilliant for me, too!! Thanks!

    L
    lksjdflksjdflkjslkd
    New Participant
    July 30, 2014

    This whole problem is crap, I haven't changed anything on my install and have been running the same way ever since I've had it. Where the hell is the Adobe employee with the freaking information what is the point of this forum?

      L
      lksjdflksjdflkjslkd
      New Participant
      July 30, 2014

      why are we relying on people who don't work at Adobe to fix these problems, do they not comment here?

        J
        jpipersimmons
        New Participant
        September 5, 2013

        The partial solution is in Photoshop (not Bridge). Try Edit>Preferences>Camera Raw and change the JPEG and TIFF Handling choices to "Automatically open all supported JPEGs" (or TIFFs in its box.) The from the box selection is "Automatically open JPEGs with settings"

        After making the change when I double clicked the image in Bridge it opened both Photoshop and Camera Raw. I still get the "Bridge's parent appilication is not active." When I use the File menu or the Ctrl R shortcut.

        C
        captainskyler1969_
        New Participant
        September 13, 2013

        Wow! Finally! An answer that worked! Figures it would be the very last one. Thank you Jpipersimmons for posting it! I bow to thee.

        I literally tried every recommendation suggested in this forum room to fix my problem and not one of them worked for me. I was dealing with a Bridge that would not allow me to access Camera Raw by d/c on an image. So now when I d/c on an image it opens in both Photoshop and Camera Raw.

        I do not want to want underscrore the suggestions that other memebers made because they seemed to have worked for some people. But I did notice that members were not strictly addressing Photoshop/Bridge CS6 and so perhaps your recommendations only will work for that version. I do not remember if the option you suggest changing is the same in earlier versions of Photoshop. I would say to other members, take a moment to look and see if their Photoshop version (if earlier than CS6) has this option. Thanks again!

        P
        pignanny1
        New Participant
        September 20, 2013

        For those of you who are still experiencing the issue where you cannont open a jpg within bridge when you right click on and select open in camera raw. There are a few very important things to understand.

        1) You very probably have a both a 32 AND 64 bit version of photoshop installed on your computer and most of you are using the 64 bit version.

        2) That said Bridge is a 32 bit application. What you need to do to correct the problem is make sure the AMTLIB.DLL file is the same for both Bridge and the 32 bit version of Photoshop. Backup your existing files if you are nervous.

        3) Once the AMTLIB.DLL is the same in both applications, start the 32 bit version of photoshop FIRST (very important). After you have started photoshop then start bridge.

        4) From there right click on a jpg file and open it in camera raw. This will work.

        5) Once you have done that close both applications. The 32 bit version of photoshop is the parent (or qualifying) application that bridge requiires.

        6) Re-open bridge and open a file in camera raw. When you are ready to open that picture in photoshop from camera raw it should open whatever your default version of photoshop is, either the 64 bit or 32 bit.

        If it does not open the correct version of photoshop (IE 64 bit) all you need to do is go into your control panel/default programs, select  Associate a file type or protocol with a program, and make sure the correct version of photoshop is associated to the file type you are opening (IE jpg).

        Hope this helps.

        J
        jamvan08
        New Participant
        March 15, 2013

        I found this answer while listening to lynda.com Advanced Adobe Photoshop Class Camera Raw Chapter.

        The answer is simple.

        Open Bridge

        edit

        preferences

        under behavior section in middle of options click double click edits Camera Raw settings in Bridge.

        click ok

        It must be a double click on the pictures in bridge to open pictures in camera raw.

        I just tried a single click and the same error message came up.

        The results of this modification mean in english that bridge will no longer care about it's parent Photoshop being opened or not.


        Hope this helps.

        James

          C
          c-tips
          New Participant
          March 19, 2013

          That's not the answer to this problem James.

          This bug started this morning on my Mac (10.7.5) and it's driving me nuts. I've guessed it's something to do with my Creative Cloud subscription. There was a payment error that cancelled my subscription (since fixed) and now, despite renewing the sub and reinstalling after using the uninstallers and Clean Up, and updating, I have to sign in through a dialogue screen whenever I open CS6 apps to confirm I'm actually legit. Then, in Bridge, I get the dreaded "Camera Raw blah blah blah" message when trying to open files in ACR by pressing 'cmd-R' or going to File > Open in Camera Raw. If I double click a CR2 or RAW file it opens up fine. If I try to open the same CR2 or RAW, or a jpeg or tiff using 'cmd-R', it won't.

          If anyone feels like answering with "set prefs to automatically open all jpegs and tiffs with ACR. Hey presto!" or "use minibridge" or some other workaround then please do not waste your time. I don't want it to automatically open all jpegs etc with ACR, just occasionally, when I tell it to. Similarly, I don't want to use mini bridge in PS. What I want is for Bridge to do exactly what it has always done previously before this morning. I don't think that's too much to ask of Adobe but I notice this problem has been going on since 2008 with various versions of CS and no explanation or fix. Disappointing.

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          Anonymous
          March 19, 2013

          What seems to work with fixing "Adobe Bridge Parent Application Not Active" is to go in and uninstall any expired Adobe Trials. 

          I think you are correct to assume it is related with the foul up of the Cloud subscription.  Do you have an unused version that is now considered a "trial"?

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