What to do if Copy & Paste Stops Working in Windows 10
There is probably nothing more useful or anything Windows users rely on more than Copy & Paste. It’s an essential part of Windows and a huge time-saver. Recently, we’ve received several emails from folks who, all of sudden can’t use Copy & Paste on Windows 10.
To make sure this was not just an isolated issue, we did some searching and found that while it’s not a huge problem with Windows 10, it happens more than it should and more than a few Windows 10 users have been affected.
Should you ever lose the ability to copy & paste in Windows 10, here are some things you should try.
1. Shutdown your computer for 5 minutes
That’s right, turn off your computer and make sure all power lights are off. Leave your computer powered-off and then turn it back on.
Try Copy & Paste now. Does it work? Great! If it does not work…
2. Clear the Windows Clipboard
Type CMD in taskbar search. When Command Prompt appears at the top press Enter. At the prompt type
Echo Off | Clip
Make sure you leave spaces as shown… then press Enter
Now try Copy & Paste. Does it work? Great! If it does not work…
3. Run System File Checker & DISM (Deployment Image Servicing and Management)
Type CMD in taskbar search. When Command Prompt appears at the top, right-click it and choose “Run as Administrator”.
a.) At the prompt type
SFC /SCANNOW
Make sure you leave a space after SFC then press Enter. It will take 10- 15 minutes to run the System File Checker. It may find errors and fix them all, fix some of them, or find no errors at all.
b.) In the Command Prompt windows at the prompt type the following exactly as shown:
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
Make sure you leave the spaces as shown and then press Enter. It will take 10-25 minutes to run. When it’s done, it will tell you it has completed successfully.
Restart your computer. After you restart, try Copy & Paste. Does it work? Great! If it still does not work, keep on reading.
4. Run System Restore
System Restore will not affect your files or folders. But there’s a good chance it can restore your computer to a time when Copy & Paste was working for you. So it’s worth a try.
Right-click on the Start button and choose Run. In the Run box type:
RSTRUI
and press Enter.
In the System Restore window choose the date nearest the current date – a date you are fairly sure that Copy & Paste was working. Start System Restore. It can take an hour or more to run System Restore. For a long time, you may see nothing but a black screen. Do not interrupt System Restore, or you’ll cause more problems. Be patient.
After System Restore finishes, try Copy & Paste. It should work. If not, you may need to reset Windows.
Note: This tip assumes the copy & paste problem happens everywhere in Windows and not just with a single program. If the problem with copy/paste happens only with a certain program try restarting the program, repairing it, or reinstalling it.