Why Does Windows 10/11 Copy and Paste Stop Working After A While?

Anonymous
2023-12-31T13:30:36+00:00

For the last few months my Copy/Paste will stop working after I've been logged-on for awhile. If I log off and back on (no Restart, though), it will start working again... for awhile, that is. It was happening on Windows 10, so I went ahead and upgraded to Windows 11, hoping it would fix the problem, but it didn't.

I've looked through other postings, but most of them involve a Restart, which certainly works but so does a simple log off/log on. I generally don't log out at the end of the day, just lock it. Does anyone have a solution other than creating a whole new profile?

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Performance and system failures

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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  1. Anonymous
    2024-05-09T13:11:47+00:00

    I have been fighting this problem for a couple of months. I've tried everything that can be found on the net and user groups up to and including a reinstall.

    I have found a solution that others may find helpful.

    This is to completely kill explorer. Then perform a copy paste.

    Once this has been proven to work, restarting explorer gives access to all files again. Copy paste continues to function, at least until the computer goes into sleep mode.

    Hope this works for all when you need to copy paste but cannot shut down the computer.

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  2. Anonymous
    2024-05-04T15:03:16+00:00

    I don't see anyway to turn this off globally, only on an app by app basis (mosely EDGE).

    Efficiency Mode is not meant to be applied globally. There are processes that could be harmed by Efficiency Mode, In addition, many core Windows processes should not be put into Efficiency Mode (which is why it's grayed). For these reasons, Efficiency Mode is applied on a process-by-process basis.

    Yes, Chien and that's the point. For example, I have disabled (or more correctly not enabled) "Efficiency Mode" in Microsoft Edge and yet certain Edge processes are showing up in Efficiency Mode after time (along with other processes in other programs). It suggests the questions as to whether some "service" that interacts with the CUT/PASTE function is entering "Efficiency Mode" which could be a root cause for the behavior reported by users on this thread. If there were a way to globally disable "efficiency mode" it could eliminate that possibility.

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  3. Anonymous
    2024-05-04T14:35:28+00:00

    I don't see anyway to turn this off globally, only on an app by app basis (mosely EDGE).

    Efficiency Mode is not meant to be applied globally. There are processes that could be harmed by Efficiency Mode, In addition, many core Windows processes should not be put into Efficiency Mode (which is why it's grayed). For these reasons, Efficiency Mode is applied on a process-by-process basis.

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  4. Anonymous
    2024-05-04T14:32:30+00:00

    BTW, it doesn't see to work "as advertised". Supposedly Efficiency mode is not enabled by default and can only be enabled by the user. That said, I have efficiency mode disabled in EDGE but I find some of the EDGE process running in "efficiency mode" after some period of idle time.

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  5. Anonymous
    2024-05-04T14:28:36+00:00

    Anybody look into the effect of the relatively new feature of "efficiency mode" ... The one thing I note is processes go into efficiency mode after some period of use. I don't see anyway to turn this off globally, only on an app by app basis (mosely EDGE).

    How to turn on or off the Efficiency Mode in Windows 11 for an App or Process (nerdschalk.com)

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