How to re-enable cut/paste in Windows 7 after accidentally deleting a key in registry?

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Update: Solved

Please see Accepted Answer, comments, updates & other wonderful answers.

original Question:

The Problem:

If I use Ctrl+C on a file/folder, that icon gets fade, (expected), but then when I press Ctrl+V, nothing gets pasted, nothing happens. it looks like the clipboard function of windows is not getting any input. The Paste & Paste Shortcut option always stay grayed out :

Paste / Paste Shortcut are grayed out

The different scenarios I have tried:

  1. Copy option from mouse-right-click menu does not work.
  2. Copy option from Organise item (Top menu Bar) does not work.
  3. Using Keyboard Shorcuts for Cut/Copy/Paste does not work.
  4. Drag & Drop a file to another folder also does not work, and even the dragged file icon stays on the display in faded colour, until I drag any other file (& that file's icon stays on screen) (screenshot below).
  5. Dragging a file into Chrome for uploading to Imgur also does not work. Nothing happens.
  6. Copy any text from any text file in Notepad/Word/Notepadd++/Chrome and pasting in similar type of location (inside the file) works.
  7. Opening an image in Paint, Selecting a portion of it & selecting Copy gives an error alert Unspecified Error.
  8. Selecting Send to > Desktop as Shortcut works from any file in context menu.
  9. Sticky Keys , Mouse Keys, Toggle Keys in Control Panel are all off.
  10. In all of above scenarios, Copy can be replaced with word Cut

enter image description here

Solutions I have tried:

This registry entry from www.tenforums.com from Google Results, to add a Copy To option in context menu works, but after clicking it, it displays a dialog to specify the folder in the whole system tree.

; Copy To folder
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\{C2FBB630-2971-11D1-A18C-00C04FD75D13}]

Everything works as expected in other windows account, so the last option for me could be to make a new Windows Account?

The Problem Source I think:

I was cleaning Registry with CC Cleaner, it said one orphan key, & asked me if I want to backup, I said no, & it deleted that key. The name of that key was almost similar to {C2FBB630-2971-11D1-A18C-00C04FD75D13} (in structure, not actual letters).

So, please help me to find that one Registry Key to get the Paste & Paste Shorcut menu options back to working.

Update: Will keep updating this as along

  1. Tried this solution %windir%\System32\cmd.exe /c "echo off | clip" as suggested at https://superuser.com/a/254347/146781, but did not work.
  2. now googling "Clipboard Service Windows 7 Not working"
  3. Its ok now, as Google & Eric suggested here & here, Windows ClipBoard Service was stuck, & running that clipboard clear command + reboot fixed all the problems.

DavChana

Posted 2016-09-16T16:00:37.923

Reputation: 249

Can you try to reload your keyboard driver? It appears from searching, it could be a problem with your keyboard driver as well.. Just want to rule that out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kOvzALIGKE

– Eric F – 2016-09-16T16:05:28.060

@Eric Ok, yes, will try that also.. & will report back.. – DavChana – 2016-09-16T16:07:53.110

Ok, tried that solution suggested in video, did not work, no effect, but will try to reboot & check. – DavChana – 2016-09-16T16:16:57.413

Copying a folder should not fade it. Cutting it should. – i did not pay the royalties – 2016-09-16T16:30:23.337

@Eric Ok, tried the solution suggested in above video, which in a nutshell is run the command cmd /c "echo off | clip" in Run box, & rebooted, windows repaired some files on its own, & now all is working. No issues Now. Please add your comment as answer & I will accept it. – DavChana – 2016-09-16T16:30:43.253

@alwayssummer yes, right, I meant fade when Cutting.. The problem was Windows ClipBoard Service was stuck or something, as suggested by @Eric, I ran the command cmd /c "echo off | clip", which cleared the clipboard, did a reboot, & its ok now.. – DavChana – 2016-09-16T16:32:16.227

1@Davinder I posted an answer which summarizes what you tried. Glad it works – Eric F – 2016-09-16T16:34:52.210

Answers

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I suggest you first try to reinstall your keyboard driver. Open Device Manager -> keyboards. Find your keyboard and uninstall the keyboard, then scan for hardware changes to enable the reinstall.

If this does not work then try running the following command in run (press windows key + R) and then type:

cmd /c "echo off | clip"

Reboot and see if that helps.

Eric F

Posted 2016-09-16T16:00:37.923

Reputation: 3 070

Thanks, did not do the keyboard driver install/uninstall thing, as google & you both suggested that ClipBoard thing at same time, so ran the above command, nothing happened, rebooted, & all is solved now. Answer accepted. – DavChana – 2016-09-16T16:36:30.207

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run System Restore, or backup hives and use former saved one for USER

Tony Stewart Sunnyskyguy EE75

Posted 2016-09-16T16:00:37.923

Reputation: 1 582

Sorry, no restore points without much of the changes in system, as it was a new system & I installed & configured quite a lot apps after last restore point. It will be my last resort, but I am trying now if it could be solved without me having to reinstall few of the things again. – DavChana – 2016-09-16T16:16:16.980

i will come back to you for more details about Hives method. – DavChana – 2016-09-16T16:17:31.517

how was that done? – Tony Stewart Sunnyskyguy EE75 – 2016-09-16T16:41:45.920

Hi, as I updated in my question, & Eric's answer, Windows Clipboard Service was stuck, so ran a command cmd /c "echo off | clip" in Windows Run box, reboot, & it was sorted.. – DavChana – 2016-09-16T16:45:13.717

Instructions on how to accomplish this should be added to this answer. You should explain how to you restore the registry from a backup in detail. – Ramhound – 2016-09-17T22:34:30.827

Yes Ramhound I understand but I expect the user to have some excel skills or at least recognize keywords and search help or WIN+F1 for System restore Hive backup. This is not a script writing service. – Tony Stewart Sunnyskyguy EE75 – 2016-09-18T15:07:10.617

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Restore from backup. Always backup at least the key, if not the hive, or the entire registry, before hacking at it. Also, you need to narrow the scope of an issue like this. If the scope is the user (i.e. it was a HKCU key that was deleted), deleting and recreating the user profile might resolve the issue. (First, backup user data for restore into new profile.) If it's a machine level issue, you'll need to restore the key somehow. One thing you can do is copy the key from a like machine. But the main thing is always plan for how to reverse any change you make. The easiest way of doing that with registry changes is a backup.

Xalorous

Posted 2016-09-16T16:00:37.923

Reputation: 459

Thank you, but as updated in question, it is already sorted, & also as mentioned in question, i made a mistake of not backing up the key before messing around. Will back up now in future.. – DavChana – 2016-09-16T16:53:10.580

1Full registry backup if you're running something like a registry cleaner. Also, Why do you need a registry cleaner after a fresh install? – Xalorous – 2016-09-16T16:54:01.253

Creating & a new user was always an option, but I had installed & configured Dropbox/Mega/Photos only for this user, & some other user specific settings, which I would have to do again, so I was looking for a way for me to not to use that last extreme resort & try to solve it as easily as possible. – DavChana – 2016-09-16T16:56:15.657

Asked: 2016-09-16T16:00:37.923

Viewed: 9 931 times

Active: 2017-07-13T09:44:55.243