Copy-paste stops working on Windows 7

Copy-paste functionality stops working after about an hour after each reboot on a Windows 7 64-bit system. Running Google Chrome (with gmail and few other tabs open like Calendar, Reader), MS Outlook (which I don't think has anything to do with the problem — I saw it when outlook was off as well), iTunes (9.1.1.12 if it matters).

Would appreciate hints where and what for to look in a registry, and ideas for possible fix.

That is not an Internet Explorer problem (I don't even run it) — it happens in all applications.

Neither Ctrl-C/Ctrl-V nor context menu right-click Copy-Paste (actually, nothing happens on Copy, so there is nothing in a clipboard to Paste) are working. Drag-and-Drop (where supported) continues working though.

earlyadopter

Posted 2010-05-25T20:07:31.170

Reputation: 393

1My personal experience with this is that it was a misbehaving application that was causing this. I don't recall now but I think even if the application was closed, the problem persisted and required a reboot. Check what tasks you have scheduled if any (eg, with "Autorun"), what processes you are running (eg, with "Process Explorer"). As drJames mentions below, run an antivirus scan. – Peon – 2010-05-25T22:26:20.970

For Windows XP see http://superuser.com/q/18814/93604, the solution is the same.

– Tomas – 2016-07-19T13:45:09.650

Resolved the issue (this and others) by disassembling Windows computer and switching to Mac Mini. :) Why the hell haven't I done that years ago? – earlyadopter – 2011-12-29T18:06:30.987

Do you guys have a RAM cleaner of some sort? Check if it has a "clean clipboard" setting, try removing it then see what happens. – None – 2012-09-02T02:30:59.073

Answers

A bit late, but hopefully this can still help someone.

I have this exact same problem as well, on Windows 7 64-bit too. For me, I just found out it was caused by Outlook 2007.

You can find out which application is keeping a lock on the clipboard by running David Candy's app: http://windowsxp.mvps.org/temp/GetOpenClipboardWindow.zip

This gives you the PID which has the lock.

Ludovic Aelbrecht

Posted 2010-05-25T20:07:31.170

Reputation: 449

It is weird that even though it said that everything is fine, it fixed the clipboard for me...I wish I knew which application caused my issue so I could file a complaint, :P. – John Odom – 2014-09-30T15:03:26.773

1Worked great for me. Turns out Notepad++ had the clipboard locked. Possibly because I tried to copy a huge amount of data into it a few minutes ago (300+MB). If the clipboard is locked, it will give you the PID of the locking process. If you can't find that in normal task manager, as per the program's suggestion, open System Information (Start->Run->msinfo32), that has a more complete list of running tasks. It pointed me to Notepad++ and when I went there, NPP was behaving a little strangely (couldn't type in all open files, etc). I closed it and the clipboard freed up. – SSilk – 2015-03-30T16:29:09.107

TeamViewer was the badass for me – Housy – 2015-11-13T13:48:17.953

Hi, the app said everything is fine, but still paste does not work. – Dingxin Xu – 2016-05-23T09:42:02.743

Every once a while my clipboard will paste some ridiculous string no matter what I copy. The only solution was log off and log back in. Very annoying when I have many windows open and lots of activities are ongoing. But this program really work. – Wayne Lo – 2016-08-22T16:47:06.773

Just another update: since posting and answering this question, I still occasionally have clipboard failures, and these days it's usually due to have a VNC client window open (i.e. I'm connected to another computer through VNC). If I leave the client open my clipboard starts misbehaving after a while, and as soon as a close it it starts working again (no need to kill anything through task manager). So that's another quick one to check. – SSilk – 2016-12-16T14:13:09.790

@Ludovic Aelbrecht I closed all office tools: Outlook,Skype,Word and using the App it did not show any program that is causing this. Please do you have any other suggestions ? Thanks – The Beast – 2017-04-09T21:28:35.383

Didn't work for me :p ! – The Beast – 2018-01-08T12:15:44.003

2Running that program helped me; it said "successfully opened and closed the clipboard", and after that, paste is working again :-) – Plutext – 2012-05-17T02:49:53.237

I have the same problem and downloaded that software but said everything is fine!!! man copy paste is not working, even if use right pop-menu ! – C graphics – 2013-07-13T19:22:42.923

Got another solution from the Microsoft Forum Thread

The solution worked for me is

Type Go to Start (Start/Run) type the following in the search box: cmd /c “echo off | clip” then hit Enter.

Ravindra Gullapalli

Posted 2010-05-25T20:07:31.170

Reputation: 171

Piggie-backing on what SSilk said in his answer, try to turn off Notepad++ if it's open. In my case too, it was interfering with the clipboard on a Windows Server 2012 R2 machine.

Worked great for me. Turns out Notepad++ had the clipboard locked. Possibly because I tried to copy a huge amount of data into it a few minutes ago (300+MB). If the clipboard is locked, it will give you the PID of the locking process. If you can't find that in normal task manager, as per the program's suggestion, open System Information (Start->Run->msinfo32), that has a more complete list of running tasks. It pointed me to Notepad++ and when I went there, NPP was behaving a little strangely (couldn't type in all open files, etc). I closed it and the clipboard freed up. – SSilk Mar 30 at 16:29

FoxDeploy

Posted 2010-05-25T20:07:31.170

Reputation: 257

I had this problem on a remote desktop connection. Even after trying @Ludovic's solution (Copy-paste stops working on Windows 7) it did not go away.

What worked for me was opening task manager and killing a process called RDP Clipboard manager

xxx374562

Posted 2010-05-25T20:07:31.170

Reputation: 141

If you have Skype installed, then you will have to disable keyboard shortcuts in Skype. To do that, open Skype > Tools > Options > Advanced > Disable Keyboard shortcuts or Just Disable Ignore call Option as it uses the key bind "Control + C" which conflicts with Windows' copy to clipboard.

Hesham

Posted 2010-05-25T20:07:31.170

Reputation: 19

2The question isn't about Skype, why do you bring it up? Also, please try to write complete English sentences, your text is hard to read. – vonbrand – 2013-02-12T13:25:24.707