Fixing PBK File Type Association Damaged by Adobe Pixel Bender Installation

This is the opening of a fairytale software engineers tell to amuse children: “Once upon a time in San Jose, there was this software company that has historically focused upon the creation of bloated software…”

Adobe, oh, bloated Adobe… They came up with the idea of a programming language for the description of image processing algorithms. Codenamed Hydra, the final product was given a spiffy name: Adobe Pixel Bender; and the IDE for scripting with the Pixel Bender was called Adobe Pixel Bender Toolkit. Recognizable with its PBK extension, Pixel Bender Kernel File is one of the file types associated with Adobe Pixel Bender Toolkit.

They are so arrogant they haven’t bothered to check Windows to see whether PBK extension has been previously registered to some other software. Originally called Dial-Up Phonebook, PBK extension belongs to Remote Access Phonebook, a Windows’ own application. PBK files were primitively designed to store RAS connection configurations in INI file format, but they’re in a wider use today to store VPN connections as well. So, if you have a VPN subscription, or you’re simply required to connect to a VPN, then odds are you’re diverted to Adobe Pixel Bender!

Adobe’s software bloat strikes again. If you install Adobe software packed with Pixel Bender—that includes Adobe Photoshop CS5—you’re going to lose PBK’s original file type association to rasphone.exe.

Back in Windows XP days, PBK files were originally stored in %AllUsersProfile%\Application Data\Microsoft\Network\Connections\Pbk, which is not mandatory for today’s Windows 7’s (or Windows Vista’s) %AppData%\Microsoft\Network\Connections\Pbk.

After installing Adobe Pixel Bender (Toolkit) on Windows XP, even if you go to the aforementioned folder, you see rasphone file is opened by Adobe Pixel Bender and has the icon of the Adobe program rather than a phone. There’s a similar case with Windows Vista / Windows 7, meaning PBK files, stored regardless of folder position or hierarchy, have their icons changed and are opened by Adobe Pixel Bender rather than “Network Connections.”

Searching for a solution to the problem across the Internet, I was convinced no one has fixed the problem with PBK file type association so far. So, comparing Windows Registry keys on a corrupted Windows and an undamaged Windows, I came up with the idea of a fix, or as I prefer, a “patch.”

Registry keys harmed by Adobe Pixel Bender are as follows:

  • [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.pbk] @=”pbkfile”
  • [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\.pbk] @=”pbkfile”
  • [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.pbk\OpenWithProgids] “pbkfile”=hex(0):
Chortkeh Windows Registry Fix for PBK File Type Association

If you feel sympathy for Ivan Goncharov’s Oblomov, don’t worry, because I also prepared a command-line script to do the job effortlessly.

Please note the patch will restart the system without further confirmation. Therefore, save any unsaved work and close any opened applications before proceeding with the repair. Also please note because as part of the process, the current user’s Registry Hive needs to be modified, do NOT run as administrator.

Download Link
  • Download Chortkeh Windows Registry Fix for PBK File Type Association
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17 thoughts on “Fixing PBK File Type Association Damaged by Adobe Pixel Bender Installation

  1. Windows did not recognize the *.pbk (VPN) file type ever since I installed Adobe Pixel Bender Toolkit and the *.pbk file get open in Adobe program. I downloaded chortkeh-fix-pbk.cmd (Chortkeh Windows Registry Fix for PBK File Type Association) and it helped me restore PBK extension functionality. Thanks a million.

  2. THANK YOU SO MUCH AND GOD BLESS DUDE !!!

    THAT WAS A BIG HELP , I BELIEVE YOU WILL BECOME A GREAT MASTER IN COMPUTER , HOPE TO SEE YOU AT THE TOP LEVELS OF YOUR JOB….

    I USED THE “PATCH” AND IT ‘S DONE A MAGIC ON MY COMP AFTER LONG TIME SUFFERING…..

    ALL THE BEST

    VAHAB

  3. dumbass, if you can’t even make a working batch then i don’t know where you’re headed mate.

    ______________________________________________________________________________________
    Cleaning corrupted Registry entries…

    ‘reg’ is not recognized as an internal or external command,
    operable program or batch file.
    ‘reg’ is not recognized as an internal or external command,
    operable program or batch file.
    ‘reg’ is not recognized as an internal or external command,
    operable program or batch file.
    Adding appropriate Registry entries…

    ‘reg’ is not recognized as an internal or external command,
    operable program or batch file.
    ‘reg’ is not recognized as an internal or external command,
    operable program or batch file.
    ‘reg’ is not recognized as an internal or external command,
    operable program or batch file.

    System will now restart…
    ‘shutdown’ is not recognized as an internal or external command,
    operable program or batch file.

    • @The rudest of all who has insulted me here in my own website:

      1. Biting people won’t necessarily get you through your whole life. Someday, someone will bite back, and if you get lucky, you might just lose a chunk of your dumb ass.

      2. Your Windows should get axed as it doesn’t recognize—at least—two of Windows NT external commands (reg & shutdown). If you would’ve been just a bit more polite, I might have told you about the probable causes and suggested remedies.

  4. Hey there,
    unfortunately this isn’t working for me. When I open the fix and tell it to proceed mz Windows 7 shuts down but my computer doesn’t restart. It just goes dark on the screen but is still running so I have to manually shut it down after a while. When I start it again nothing has changed.

  5. Thanks, worked like a charm. First three commands failed however, but then everything was fine after restart.

  6. I followed your instruction but Nothing happened after file exucution.
    Could u pls help me with that? Is there any way to change it manually?
    Thanks

    • Make sure

      1. you are logged in as the same user you had Adobe Pixel Bender installed with;
      2. that same user has administrative privileges;
      3. not to run as administrator.

      To manually fix the PBK problem, login with the same user you had Adobe software installed with, run Registry Editor (regedit.exe), modify the Registry keys I mentioned earlier in the post:

      HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.pbk—the default value should be set to pbkfile, which will also set the default value for HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\.pbk to pbkfile, since these two keys and their parents (HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes) are mutually linked.

      Under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.pbk\OpenWithProgids set the value for the pbkfile key to zero (a zero-length binary value of REG_NONE type, actually).

      As a precaution, any possible Adobe keys in those areas should also be cleared.

  7. The patch didn’t work for me, but I modified the registry files and it finally works. You actually saved me from a no-internet week. And this week I need it more than ever for work.
    Thanks a lot, really!

    Eleonora

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