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Fix – Unable to Copy and Paste to Remote Desktop Session

Fix – Unable to Copy and Paste to Remote Desktop Session

by 32 Comments

I had a peculiar issue with copying and pasting files from my local computer to a Microsoft Windows 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

  1. Right-click on the RDP icon that you use to connect, then select “Edit“.
  2. Select the “Local Resources” tab.
  3. 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“.
    RDP Clipboard option and More button
  4. Select the “Drives” option. Click “OK“, then “OK” again.
    RDP Drives option

Server Settings

Windows 2022, 2018, and 2016

In these versions of Windows, these settings are controlled within Group Policy.

  1. Launch “gpedit.msc“.
  2. Navigate to “Computer Configuration” > “Administrative Templates” > “Windows Components” > “Remote Desktop Services” > “Remote Desktop Session Host“.
  3. Ensure “Do not allow Clipboard redirection” is set to “Not Configured” or “Disabled“.

Windows 2012

  1. Open “Server Manager“.
  2. Select “Remote Desktop” Services.
  3. Select “Collections“.
  4. Select “Tasks“, then choose “Edit Properties“.
  5. Under the “Client Settings” tab, ensure the “Clipboard” and “Drive” is enabled.

Windows 2008

  1. Launch “Remote Desktop Session Host Configuration” from the server.
  2. Under “Connections“, right-click the connection and select “Properties“.
  3. 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.
    Server Side RDP Settings

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.

This should be all you need to enable copying and pasting of files to your Microsoft Windows Remote Desktop session. I hope this tutorial has helped you. Please share your experience in the Comments section below.

FAQ

I cannot copy and paste a large file over 2GB is size. What is the problem?

Copying files larger than 2GB to a Windows Remote Desktop session is not supported. For an alternative solution, see this post.

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Comments

  1. John says

    I still have a server running 2016 and ran into this problem. I had to use a combination of the above solutions, as well as the comments to resolve my issue. My group policy was alread set to disabled and I was unable to paste anything from a remote desktop connection. i tried killing the rdpclip but this did nothing. My solution was the 2012 server solution but with a catch. I kept getting an error that i could not save my changes becuase everything was setup in group policy. I had to go back into group policy (the 2016 solution) and change it to not configured. Then I could go into the 2012 solution, make changes, and save them. The first time I did this, it did not work but I read someone suggested logging out and back in. i did this and my paste is now working.

  7. Raj says

    I have a weird issue.. I can copy/paste various types of docs but not ooutlook files. I can not paste an email from outlook into RDP session, though I was able to do it in the past. any suggestion will be appreciated..
    Thanks,

  8. Gilbert says

    Go to Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Terminal Services and make fDisableCdm = 0.

  9. umer says

    ( Moky says

    May 11, 2020 at 6:41 pm

    Kill rdpclip.exe worked for me. But you have to do it on both computers (i.e. local and remote computers))

    thanx man it helped

  10. phil says

    It did not help… But reducing the size of the RDC from full screen to 1366×768 (second tab) did the trick ! I then had my local desktop and applications visible, and I could click on Notepad text area : the text was actually in the clipboard and bridge-Paste worked !!
    Hope it can help some of you !!!

  13. Moky says

    Kill rdpclip.exe worked for me. But you have to do it on both computers (i.e. local and remote computers)

  14. Donna says

    YAY thank you so much!!!! I couldn’t believe a quick google search and picking the first link I found would actually solve my problem!!!!-

  15. Aurelio Silvestroni says

    I did edit the RDC (indeed DRIVE was not selected) but still doesn’t work. Do you think the problem is in the other end, that the administrator have to give permission? It worked a few days ago and suddenly stop working.
    Please help

  18. debabrata Mandal says

    For Me the solution provided for Windows 2012 worked on Windows 2016

    Thanks for sharing this article.

    **************Working *************

    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.

  19. christine says

    Thank you very much for sharing. This is very insightful.
    I know about the killing the rdpclip clip process but somehow I keep forgetting “rdclip”.
    I have to google it all the time with “i can’t copy from remote access”

  29. Arun C says

    You are awesome Mitch, saved me in the nick of the time. I did exactly what is mentioned here and it did exactly what it was mentioned, problem solved!!

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