Clipboard problems (can not copy/paste) in Windows 11

Good question, other features also don't work in windows, we just notice copy and paste because it is used the most. Power down and restart also stops working.

I started this thread 6 months ago and still have this clipboard issue. I'm very sad that I'm not alone: all this people deserve stable basic features from OS and have ability to work.

Some updates from last months:

• I installed all Windows Updates and it doesn't help (Yes, I had hope that fix can come in some random update)
• Logout helps too, reboot is not necessary - can save a bit of time, but anyway have to open all apps and run all my services, VMs, etc.
• Most of the time clipboard stops working after idle time of my PC. When I go out for some time and just leave PC it turns into idle mode (switch off display etc.) and when I'm back there's no clipboard
• I have dual-monitor setup but not sure if it connected with this issue

I'm very very very disappointed with this bug. Planning to switch back to W10, but can't find free few days to make this transition. My PC is my working machine and I can't afford to be without it.

MICROSOFT, WAKE UP

Besides other answers, here is a related aspect if attempting to copy large amounts of data:

if you've ever tried to copy a large amount of data using the Windows clipboard and it didn't work, this may explain why...

Microsoft's Raymond Chen recounts how a customer wanted to copy over 300,000 rows of an Excel spreadsheet using the Windows clipboard, but attempting to access the data after copying it failed and returned NULL instead (meaning having no value)...

"Instead of putting the data on the clipboard, you say, 'If anybody asks, let me know, and I’ll produce the data.' This is known as clipboard delay-rendering, and it is a common optimization for data formats that are rarely used or expensive to produce."...

Windows allows 30 seconds for that data to be returned in the correct format. If it isn't, the request is abandoned and the action returns a NULL value instead. - https://www.pcmag.com/news/microsoft-explains-why-windows-clipboard-fails-to-copy-data-sometimes

I have the exact same problem, seems to have been happening since I went to dual monitors with one being run off USB. When the computer turns off the monitors (after some time idle), something breaks internally in Win11 with the two monitors and when I move the mouse to turn the monitors back on, several things happen.

1. The "folder view" in the top of the windows explorer file browser is all distorted graphically and unreadable
2. Clipboard functionality is gone, I can no longer copy/paste anything. In fact, the "paste" option is greyed out in the explorer right click menu. Cannot copy any screenshots to the clipboard.

There is no way to fix this that I am aware of without logging out or rebooting.

Restarting explorer, disabling clipboard sharing/history, restarting services, nothing works. Once the clipboard goes down, it's down like Jimmy Doyle.

Absolute shame that this sort of stuff is happening with a product like "Microsoft Windows". I guess they must have fired all the QC programmers and replaced them with ChatGPT.

I reinstalled win 11 and so far the clipboard is working for me (i reinstalled for a different issue).

I was curious if clipboard “addons” are affected by this bug. In particular, I was wondering if Ditto (on GitHub or sourceforge) works on a system that has issues with the native clipboard (there are other similar open source programs).

I don’t think it’s acceptable to rely on a 3rd party utility, but if it helps someone carry on with their work it may be an acceptable compromise for them.

Mark