I had a peculiar issue with copying and pasting files from my local computer to a Remote Desktop session. I could copy and paste locally, but the option to paste would be grayed out on the Remote Desktop computer. There are several ways to solve this problem depending on what you are trying to copy and paste.
Client Settings
- Right-click on the RDP icon that you use to connect, then select “Edit“.
- Select the “Local Resources” tab.
- Check the “Clipboard” option. To allow file copying and pasting, select “More…” and proceed to step 4. If you just need the ability to copy and paste text and not files, stop here and click “OK“.
- Select the “Drives” option. Click “OK“, then “OK” again.
Server Settings
First ensure that the Redirection settings are what you want them to be on the server.
Windows 2008
- Launch “Remote Desktop Session Host Configuration” from the server.
- Under “Connections“, right-click the connection and select “Properties“.
- Select the “Client Settings” tab, and make sure the “Clipboard” box is unchecked. If you want to allow copying and pasting of files, make sure the Drive selection is unchecked. Click OK when done.
I should also note that if you have all of these settings configured correctly and things still don’t work, you may need to restart the server or just kill the rdpclip process.
Windows 2012
- Open “Server Manager“.
- Select “Remote Desktop” Services.
- Select “Collections“.
- Select “Tasks“, then choose “Edit Properties“.
- Under the “Client Settings” tab, ensure the “Clipboard” and “Drive” is enabled.
This should be all you need to enable copying and pasting of files to your Remote Desktop session. I hope this tutorial has helped you. Please share your experience in the Comments section below.
Shilpa K R says
Very Nice ! It worked for Me :) Thanks a lot!
Paul says
I have had this issue only with external connections, all of the above seemed fine.
However, on a gateway server you can also go to the “RD Gateway Manager” application and view the different “Connection Authorization Policies”. You also have the options in here to block/allow clipboard redirection.
Again, you need to allow redirection of the Drives and Clipboard for this to work.
Hans says
Hi ive tried the above still not working. What to do next. Plz help. Thx
Nalin says
Hi,
I am not sure where you expect to find collections under remote desktop services within Server Manager. there are “Tasks” but only option there is to “refresh”. So just a pointer as to where you can find collections would be useful. Thanks.
in_A_BOX says
Figured out, thank you for the RDPCLIP process kill however, for me, on a Windows 2008 R2 server RDP target i had to run PROCESS EXPLORER , do a handle find on the RDPCLIP threads and find the right one and kill it dead.
The command provided by Jul Pod on March 28, 2017 at 7:47 am
>> Taskkill.exe /im rdpclip.exe
did not work for me, it said it killed the process but didnt really.
So using sysinternals process explorer found it running 27 times? on my computer and nuked it dead… kinda concerned, why would it run so many times ? hmmmmm