I have a weird copy paste bug!

buzzlightweight · 2 Nov 2018 at 21:43

So I'm on windows 10, all my updates are up to date etc etc.
My issue is I cannot copy anything, anything i try to copy then paste only pastes the same thing every time.
For instance I highlight the word "hello", I paste, I get the word "goodbye"....... every time.
The only thing I can ever paste is "goodbye", even after multiple copy attempts.
This issue persists even after updates and multiple shut downs.
I have googled this but I cannot find anything, I am at a loss.
I really don't want to reinstall windows to sort this out as it would be time consuming

Many thanks

Confused Stu · 3 Nov 2018 at 11:25

That certainly sounds weird! Forgive what's probably a stupid question, but have you tried a restart? You mention you've done several shutdowns, but shutdown is more of a sleep mode in Windows 10 and so you have to specifically select restart to get a proper 'turn off everything and turn it back on'.

My father-in-law had an issue printing for two weeks despite shutting down every night. One restart later and everything was printing perfectly again.

buzzlightweight · 3 Nov 2018 at 13:40

yes, i've pulled the plug and held the power button down for 20 seconds, it still persists.

Destination · 3 Nov 2018 at 14:55

Are you right click pasting, or ctrl-c ctrl-v style?
What app or program?

medievaltw · 3 Nov 2018 at 16:06

Have you tried clearing the clipboard cache??
if not see:

https://www.sysprobs.com/simple-tip-how-to-clear-clipboard-in-windows-10-8-1-and-7

buzzlightweight · 4 Nov 2018 at 09:44

medievaltw said:
Have you tried clearing the clipboard cache??
if not see:

https://www.sysprobs.com/simple-tip-how-to-clear-clipboard-in-windows-10-8-1-and-7

I was hopeful but this didn't work

Destination said:
Are you right click pasting, or ctrl-c ctrl-v style?
What app or program?

both styles and it happen's in every application and program

medievaltw · 4 Nov 2018 at 11:22

buzzlightweight said:
I was hopeful but this didn't work

OK, does the problem persist in Safe mode, also have you tried a System file check?? (see linky)

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/faq/id-2866666/scan-windows-files-sfc-scannow.html

buzzlightweight · 5 Nov 2018 at 08:19

Thank you I’ll try that tonight

buzzlightweight · 6 Nov 2018 at 21:27

ok so i haven't had time to try your suggestion BUT i removed the ram and rebooted, still did it??
I changed out my gpu...... fixed it??
whats that all about

h4rm0ny · 6 Nov 2018 at 22:07

This is wonderfully weird.

Safe Mode is probably a good thing to try but before you do that, give this a go because it's really quick and I also want to know what happens!

Open Powershell or ISE. (Probably the latter is better). Just type ISE at the Start menu if you've not used Powershell before.

Type:
Get-Clipboard and hit Enter. Does "Goodbye" still come up?

Type:
Set-Clipboard 'My new text' and hit Enter.

Now try both Get-Clipboard above and also pasting in other applications. It SHOULD now have 'My new text' on your Clipboard. I'll be absolutely fascinated to know if it doesn't.

buzzlightweight · 7 Nov 2018 at 08:16

I will try for you but my bug has gone, swapping out my gpu has fixed my issue.
I appreciate you looking into this though

h4rm0ny · 7 Nov 2018 at 08:31

buzzlightweight said:
I will try for you but my bug has gone, swapping out my gpu has fixed my issue.
I appreciate you looking into this though

Nooooooooo! I wanted to know WHY this was happening.

buzzlightweight · 7 Nov 2018 at 11:55

Trust me I was desperate to know as well, it drove me crazy for over a week, it’s amazing how much you miss ctrl c and v when you can’t use it!

buzzlightweight · 8 Nov 2018 at 06:33

@h4m0ny the bug is still here and you suggestion didn't work!

the line of text is this.....

C:\Users\robma\AppData\Local\Temp\PRODUCT_NAME_UNKNOWN_CrashDumpPRODUCT_VERSION_MAJOR_UNKNOWN-PRODUCT_VERSION_MINOR_UNKNOWN-2018-11-08--06-33-05_.dmp

do you think it has something to do with it?

jpaul · 8 Nov 2018 at 10:41

Destination said:
What app or program?

was it all apps ?

I would install a clipboard manager so you can see which copies update the current selection and see if there is any pattern for when it fails.

Also maybe install lat_mon/dpcmon, or similar, to see if there are bad drivers which are monopalising the cpu and causing failure/time-out when there are notifications for copy events.

buzzlightweight · 8 Nov 2018 at 22:07

ok so i looked through the dump file and it had lots of nvidia references, i decided to use ddu to get rid of all nvida drivers and software and reinstall.
The bug was gone.... for two reboots, then it came back? same dump paste as well??

At this point im like **** it i'll just reinstall windows, at this point

buzzlightweight · 10 Nov 2018 at 20:51

ok i need help, i reinstalled windows an its still only letting me paste the same dump link.
after a reinstall??? whats happening?

h4rm0ny · 11 Nov 2018 at 09:02

buzzlightweight said:
@h4m0ny the bug is still here and you suggestion didn't work!
the line of text is this.....

C:\Users\robma\AppData\Local\Temp\PRODUCT_NAME_UNKNOWN_CrashDumpPRODUCT_VERSION_MAJOR_UNKNOWN-PRODUCT_VERSION_MINOR_UNKNOWN-2018-11-08--06-33-05_.dmp

do you think it has something to do with it?

Can you tell me EXACTLY what you get when you try the sequence of Powershell commands I gave you. Does the first one produce "Goodbye"? Does the second one give any kind of message?

EDIT: Or are you telling me that the output of Get-Clipboard is literally "C:\Users\robma\AppData\Local\Temp\PRODUCT_NAME_UNKNOWN_CrashDumpPRODUCT_VERSION_MAJOR_UNKNOWN-PRODUCT_VERSION_MINOR_UNKNOWN-2018-11-08--06-33-05_.dmp" ?

buzzlightweight · 12 Nov 2018 at 18:39

Hay h4rm0ny this is what happens

PS C:\Users\robma> Get-Clipboard
C:\Users\robma\AppData\Local\Temp\PRODUCT_NAME_UNKNOWN_CrashDumpPRODUCT_VERSION_MAJOR_UNKNOWN-PRODUCT_VERSION_MINOR_UNKNOWN-2018-11-12--18-35-03_.dmp
PS C:\Users\robma> Set-Clipboard hello

PS C:\Users\robma> Get-Clipboard
C:\Users\robma\AppData\Local\Temp\PRODUCT_NAME_UNKNOWN_CrashDumpPRODUCT_VERSION_MAJOR_UNKNOWN-PRODUCT_VERSION_MINOR_UNKNOWN-2018-11-12--18-35-38_.dmp

PS C:\Users\robma>

I started my PC in safe mode and i could copy/paste, after i rebooted I could also c/p again.
I turned off my PC and turned it back on again, the bug was back

h4rm0ny · 12 Nov 2018 at 19:17

Firstly, this is bonkers. But you probably know that.

So I suspect we're looking for something pretty low-level here. Maybe a screwed up driver or something. The fact that it works in Safe Mode and that the issue survives reboot and reinstall suggests this. It could also be malware trying to grab data from your clipboard.

Find the file referenced in that message and have a look through it. See if there are any programs, services or anything else that leaps out at you. I'd tell you to just post the file but I don't know how large it might be and it could contain sensitive information. Still, open it up and have a quick look. If it's small enough for you to read and doesn't appear sensitive, you could post it for us to have a look.

I'd also run a complete anti-virus and anti-spyware scan of the whole system. What are you using currently?