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
    2017-09-11T20:36:19+00:00

    Oh my goodness!! That so worked!!

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  2. Anonymous
    2017-10-01T17:08:36+00:00

    Thanks  i was suffering from this issue for a week and i was hard time

    thanks for this tips

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  3. Anonymous
    2017-11-15T19:33:17+00:00

    How do you find the "affected icon" when drag and drop stops working?  This has been occurring on and off for the last month.   The left mouse button/Esc solution doesn't always work.  Sometimes it takes me 15 minutes of fiddling around.  This time it's been a half hour... rebooting, stopping and restarting explorer.  There's got to be a solution that works 100%, or a permanent fix.  Can anyone help?

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