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

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  1. Anonymous
    2024-01-19T21:40:45+00:00

    I've seen similar since December. It is only on a W11 PC that is left on 24/7 and it shows up once a day. I've slowly been disabling applications one by one, disabled remote desktop, done some of the online suggestions like restarting rdpclip.exe. I've gone beyond that and disabled any application that may tangentially access the clipboard to see if there is any difference there.

    When it breaks, Snipping Tool will even show an error "couldn't copy that image" when attempting to copy screenshots to the clipboard.

    I'm suspicious of Intel ARC control, and HP Smart (which are both apps Microsoft forcibly sideloads without user choice, alert, or consent as of December), as disabling or uninstalling them tends to make this behavior stop until Windows tries to reinstall them. There's likely a deeper level interaction happening, and these are just bellwether apps that appear when the problem tends to.

    I've since modified the registry to keep Windows from attempting to sideload software, as whenever it does, the problem reappears, however Windows Updates will reset the registry keys and then the unwanted applications will reinstall within the next couple of days, along with the issue returning. (That alone should be a no-no. Don't install software on a computer without giving the user choice.)

    Restart or logout/login both resolve the clipboard issue, like what you saw, so it is something that degrades in the existing user session while the display is locked.

    If the PC is shut off at end of day and then turned on each morning, the problem is never experienced.

    It seems the computer has to be locked and left alone by the user for some time (overnight or shorter), occasionally entering/exiting modern sleep, and running background maintenance tasks to manifest this bug.

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-12-31T17:27:35+00:00

    Hi,

    Can you try a "clean boot" and see if it makes a difference:

    https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/929135

    If a clean boot does resolve the issue there is a section in the article "How to determine what is causing the problem by performing a clean boot".

    Reset the computer to start normally afterward.

    As a general precaution create a System Restore Point prior to initiating a clean boot.

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