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

I will note that I have multiple monitors attached to a Lenovo desktop where I experience the issue

Not sure it's all that helpful but here are some observations:

• The paste function is typically not working when I return to my computer after a few hours or more "away". It doesn't appear to matter whether I lock the computer or not. I think if I hibernate the computer it avoids the problem but need to test further to be sure. My "fix" is to "Restart" as it's relatively quick and always works.
• "Copy" does seem to work or at least I see copied content land in the clipboard stack.
• Some other things that tell me I have to restart.
  • The task manager can't be started from the task bar. Right mouse click on the task bar shows the menu but "Task Manager" won't highlight to be selected.
  • The computer also cannot be restarted from "Windows Start" menu with the mouse. Like the task bar behavior above I can mouse click on "Start->Power" but cannot highlight and select "Restart" (nor "Hibernate" or "Shut down" for that matter). I can however use the keyboard sequence "Win+X -> u -> r" to restart the computer (my "go to" solution)
  • Outlook classic will not let me open certain e-mails and calendar entries with a message "this item is not available right now".
  • If I go to Excel and try to cut and paste in a spreadsheet Excel will report that "The clipboard is currently in use by another program".

These other observations led me to believe it's a memory problem but I have upgraded my computer's memory and task manager (when I can get it started) doesn't indicate a memory saturation. I also changed from using Edge that is typically showing high memory usage to Brave and while Brave is noticeably faster and "lighter" it didn't change the copy/paste behavior. Note that not all these symptoms are manifest every time.

I hope this is useful, any feedback highly appreciated.

Any update? I'm experiencing same/similar issues; mostly noticed on the day's first use when I leave the computer overnight. I suspected "memory leak" in EDGE as I don't think it's a problem if I shutdown EDGE before I let it idle but I haven't been thorough in looking at that. My reliable "fixes" are logout or rebot. Both these indicate the Windows environment and as I am typically authenticated to multiple Windows USERID in my sessions to me again point back to EDGE. I might try and live with Chrome for a day and see if it makes a difference.

My windows version: Windows 11 Home 23H2 OS build 22631.3227 WFEP 1000.22687.1000.0

FYI, I'm seeing the same behavior with Firefox and Windows 10 (22H2 build 19045.4170).

Cut (ctrl-x) works fine, Paste (ctrl-v) does not.

Killing explorer.exe in Task Manager, and re-launching it from the Task Manager Run... menu option worked for me.

In our case, the copy (clipboard) issue is specifically related to a custom WPF app, and may be related to a Visual Studio update in conjunction with the 23H2 build. Further, it is only happening randomly and for a small subset of the population. Maddening and we've done a wide array of troubleshooting tasks, even replacing mice/keyboard combos. The TeraCopy test did not offer a resolution, uninstalling and reinstalling the custom app did not offer a resolution, and reviewing Task Manager during a copy operation provided no clues as to other conflicts or processes involved.

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.