Clipboard No Longer Working

I am running Vista x64, installed maybe 2 years ago. It seems to be
running fine except I can no longer use the cut/copy/paste
functionality. I ran sfc /verifyonly and Vista says nothing is wrong.

To test, I open Notepad and type in a word. I highlight and
right-click on the word and select "cut" but nothing happens (no errors,
either). CTRL-X also does nothing. I can select "copy" but it's hard
to say if that's working or not (probably not, if "cut" isn't working).
With nothing in the clipboard, "paste" is grayed out and is not
selectable.

In Excel, I get the "cannot empty the clipboard" error, but forum posts
seem to indicate that is an Excel weirdness and not particularly
Windows-related.

Here's a really weird thing: I can still use cut/copy/paste without
issues in a MS Virtual PC instance. No problems there. It's running on
the same machine.

What should I try? This happened yesterday so I rebooted and it worked
again for a bit. Now it's not working again. Thanks for the help!


--
Glowball

 

"Glowball" <guest@unknown-email.com> wrote in message
news:1f166570b1e15bbed9dab03081db4760@nntp-gateway.com...<!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
>
> I am running Vista x64, installed maybe 2 years ago. It seems to be
> running fine except I can no longer use the cut/copy/paste
> functionality. I ran sfc /verifyonly and Vista says nothing is wrong.
>
> To test, I open Notepad and type in a word. I highlight and
> right-click on the word and select "cut" but nothing happens (no errors,
> either). CTRL-X also does nothing. I can select "copy" but it's hard
> to say if that's working or not (probably not, if "cut" isn't working).
> With nothing in the clipboard, "paste" is grayed out and is not
> selectable.
>
> In Excel, I get the "cannot empty the clipboard" error, but forum posts
> seem to indicate that is an Excel weirdness and not particularly
> Windows-related.
>
> Here's a really weird thing: I can still use cut/copy/paste without
> issues in a MS Virtual PC instance. No problems there. It's running on
> the same machine.
>
> What should I try? This happened yesterday so I rebooted and it worked
> again for a bit. Now it's not working again. Thanks for the help!
>
>
> --
> Glowball<!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->

Will the Ctrl+A (select all) Ctrl+C (copy) Ctrl+V (paste) sequence work?

 

"Glowball" <guest@unknown-email.com> wrote in message
news:1f166570b1e15bbed9dab03081db4760@nntp-gateway.com...<!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
>
> I am running Vista x64, installed maybe 2 years ago. It seems to be
> running fine except I can no longer use the cut/copy/paste
> functionality. I ran sfc /verifyonly and Vista says nothing is wrong.
>
> To test, I open Notepad and type in a word. I highlight and
> right-click on the word and select "cut" but nothing happens (no errors,
> either). CTRL-X also does nothing. I can select "copy" but it's hard
> to say if that's working or not (probably not, if "cut" isn't working).
> With nothing in the clipboard, "paste" is grayed out and is not
> selectable.
>
> In Excel, I get the "cannot empty the clipboard" error, but forum posts
> seem to indicate that is an Excel weirdness and not particularly
> Windows-related.
>
> Here's a really weird thing: I can still use cut/copy/paste without
> issues in a MS Virtual PC instance. No problems there. It's running on
> the same machine.
>
> What should I try? This happened yesterday so I rebooted and it worked
> again for a bit. Now it's not working again. Thanks for the help!
>
>
> --
> Glowball<!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->

Hi Gb--

When this type thing happens in Vista/Win 7, or things stick on the
clipboard, I find this does the trick:

Clear Clipboard Shortcut


Good luck,

CH

 

It just came back on its own without any more prodding from me. If it
comes back again I'll see if I can figure out what the common factor
might be. Opening and working with Excel is the only thing I can think
of. Thanks for the clear clipboard shortcut! I put that on my machine
and I'll try it if it happens again. You don't realize how much you use
copy/paste until it's gone.


--
Glowball

 

I've found the issue, finally. I finally noticed that it was tied to
running Virtual PC, and luckily I wasn't the only one having the
problem. I've been using Virtual PC for about a year on a daily basis
and this problem just started about a month ago.

'Fix: Virtual PC, clipboard stops working on Host PC « WPF Wonderland'
()


--
Glowball