Top Three Ways for Windows 10 RDP Clipboard Not Working

Windows 10 RDP clipboard not working

Remote Desktop has greatly facilitated our work life by allowing us to remotely access files and data from anywhere. But sometimes, we may get into trouble when Windows 10 RDP clipboard not working.

A user posted on Microsoft Q&A, saying that she was unable to copy and paste to remote desktop session on Windows 10. She’s tried folder copy, text file copy, word, excel. none of those work. But none of the file types were working.

How to fix Windows 10 RDP clipboard not working issue?

When something is wrong with the program we are using, the first thing we can think of is to restart the program or even restart our computer. This may work sometimes, but not every time. Thus, in this post, we offer you three effective ways to help you fix Windows 10 RDP clipboard not working issue.

Solution 1. Change Group Policy setting on the host computer

Clipboard redirection not working may cause the user to fail to use the clipboard to copy files on the host computer in RDP. Drive redirection allows a user to get access to their local drives in an RDP session. It is also used when copying files. Thus, when your RDP clipboard is not working, you need to check whether you’ve enabled the use of the RDP clipboard on the Windows host for copy and paste operations or not.

Step 1. Press Windows key + R to invoke the Run dialog box. Type in “gpedit.msc” and press OK. This will open up the Local Group Policy Editor window.

Step 2. Navigate here: Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Remote Desktop Services > Remote Desktop Session Host > Device and Resource Redirection.

Step 3. Double click Device and Resource Redirection, you’ll see Do not allow Clipboard redirection and Do not allow drive redirection in the right pane. You need to change the state of the two settings separately.

Step 4. First, change the state of Do not allow Clipboard redirection. Right-click it, and click Edit. Then change the state of it from Not configured or Enable to Disable. Click OK to save the change.

Step 5. For Do not allow drive redirection, follow the same direction in step 4 to change the state of it. After you’ve changed both states, restart your computer to see if the problem is fixed or not.

Solution 2. Enable clipboard and drives on the client computer

We’ve discussed how to enable clipboard and drive redirection on the host computer above. The remote clipboard and drives must also be enabled in the settings of the RDP client you are using to connect to a remote computer to ensure you can transfer files easily and copy paste texts freely between the local computer and the remote computer.

Step 1. Search for Remote Desktop Connection in the Search box. And then open it.

Step 2. In the Remote Desktop Connection dialog box, click Show Options.

Step 3. Click the Local Resources tab, and then check the Clipboard. After this, you need to click More to open the Local devices and resources window. Then you need to check Drives. Click OK to finish the setting.

Solution 3 Restart rdpclip.exe on the host computer

Rdpclip.exe is the task that decides whether the clipboard function is processing well between two computers. So when there is something wrong with it, you could restart the task on your host computer to see if this method works out.  

Step 1. Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to invoke Task Manager window.

Step 2. Go into the Details tab and find the task named “rdpclip.exe”.

Step 3. Right-click “rdpclip.exe” task and then click “End task”.

Step 4. Go to File and then click Run new task. A Create new task window will pop up. Type in “rdpclip.exe” in the box and then click OK to restart Remote Desktop Clipboard.   

Generally speaking, it’s not easy to perform RDP. When something is wrong, it always takes tedious procedures to fix it. If you’re unfortunately facing the problem right now, the above-mentioned three possible causes of and respective solutions to Windows 10 RDP clipboard not working problem may give you some help.