Suddenly can't drag or drop files anymore in windows 7 (64 bit)

Anonymous
2011-12-16T23:40:49+00:00

Hi Everyone,

I have a new Windows 7 Home Premium (64 bit) laptop. I've not installed any new programs (auto-updates either) or what I know changed any settings, but suddenly today I can no longer drag and drop files on my laptop... this is everywhere, but most noticeably on the desktop, where I usually put files and group then where I want. If I want to move files from the desktop to My Documents I have to now cut and paste them!!!

What is going on?

Have I inadvertently changed a setting? How do I get this function back as it is vital!!

Sincerely, and with thanks,

Judd

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Files, folders, and storage

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Anonymous
2012-07-01T19:10:19+00:00

This sounds too simple to work, but it worked for me:

1)  Find an affected icon.

2)  Click and HOLD the icon with the Left mouse button.

3)  Press Esc while holding the Left mouse button.

That's it!  This was driving me crazy.  It had nothing to do with registry entries or anything else.  Simply a failed Drag & Drop operation that hadn't exited.  Even restarting had only worked temporarily, so I suspect my Esc key may have been stuck down or at least the system thought it was!

My particular variant of this problem seems to stem from either a Virtual Machine taking mouse focus, or a browser window (I was running a VM inside a browser window) then being interrupted during mouse action.

Thanks to @_Nige for the quick fix.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-performance/drag-and-drop-not-working-in-windows-7/f6dcfa11-8c51-e011-8dfc-68b599b31bf5?tm=1341168619214

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  1. Anonymous
    2016-01-07T06:46:54+00:00

    Bless you Zarquon ! I thought I was virused or what not !!  fixedit !!!

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-09-06T23:19:27+00:00

    wow thanks a billion it worked for me

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-08-13T19:13:08+00:00

    This sounds too simple to work, but it worked for me:

    1)  Find an affected icon.

    2)  Click and HOLD the icon with the Left mouse button.

    3)  Press Esc while holding the Left mouse button.

    That's it!  This was driving me crazy.  It had nothing to do with registry entries or anything else.  Simply a failed Drag & Drop operation that hadn't exited.  Even restarting had only worked temporarily, so I suspect my Esc key may have been stuck down or at least the system thought it was!

    My particular variant of this problem seems to stem from either a Virtual Machine taking mouse focus, or a browser window (I was running a VM inside a browser window) then being interrupted during mouse action.

    Thanks to @_Nige for the quick fix.

    http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-performance/drag-and-drop-not-working-in-windows-7/f6dcfa11-8c51-e011-8dfc-68b599b31bf5?tm=1341168619214

    These three steps fixed my problem. Thank you for posting such a simple fix.

    I too am running VM on my Windows 8 machine (VM Workstation 10.x). Perhaps that is how my problem stemmed too. Either way, this simple fix got my drag and drop working again just fine in all my applications.

    Thanks again!

    just had the same issue on my 2-week old Win10Pro install and this trick worked for me.  Never seen anything like it. 

    Thanks.

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  4. Anonymous
    2015-07-17T23:49:49+00:00

    OMG, this was it.  The answer is too darn simple!

    Thanks for reporting and documenting both, the problem and resolution!

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