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The clipboard in an RDP session enables the transfer of text and files between a local computer and a remote host. However, it sometimes stops working, making copy/paste commands unavailable. This article details how to resolve clipboard issues in Windows RDP sessions.

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Causes of the Issue

The main reasons why the clipboard may not work in an RDP session are:

1. Clipboard redirection is not enabled on the RDP client.

2. Server-side restrictions on clipboard copying.

3. Failure of the rdpclip.exe process, which handles the RDP clipboard.

Solution 1: Restart the rdpclip.exe Process

The rdpclip.exe (RDP Clipboard Monitor) process manages clipboard data exchange. If it crashes, you can restart it:

1. Open Task Manager on the remote server (Ctrl+Shift+Esc).

2. Locate the rdpclip.exe process in the list.

3. Terminate it (right-click → End Task).

4. Restart the process manually:

– In Task Manager, select File → Run new task.

– Type rdpclip.exe and press Enter.

Check if the clipboard is now functional.

Automation Script

You can create a PowerShell script to automate restarting the process:

(Get-WmiObject -Query "select * from Win32_Process where name='rdpclip.exe'"|?{$_.GetOwner().User -eq $ENV:USERNAME}).Terminate()

Solution 2: Enable Clipboard in RDP Client Settings

Ensure clipboard redirection is enabled in the RDP client settings:

1. Open the RDP client (mstsc.exe).

2. Click Show Options.

3. Go to the Local Resources tab.

4. In the Devices and resources section, ensure the Clipboard option is checked.

5. For file copying, click More and select the Drives option.

If using an RDP file for connection, ensure it includes:

redirectclipboard:i:1

redirectdrives:i:1

redirectclipboard: Enables the local clipboard in the remote session.

Drivestoredirect and redirectdrives: Enable redirection of all local drives for file copying in the RDP session.

Solution 3: Configure Group Policies

You can enable or disable clipboard usage in RDP via Group Policies:

1. Open the Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc).

2. Navigate to Computer Configuration → Administrative Templates → Windows Components → Remote Desktop Services → Remote Desktop Session Host → Device and Resource Redirection.

3. Locate the policies:

Do not allow Clipboard redirection.

Do not allow Drive redirection.

4. Set them to Disabled to allow clipboard usage, or Enabled to block it.

Update the settings with:

gpupdate /force

Solution 4: Modify the Registry

For quick configuration via the registry:

1. Open the Registry Editor (regedit).

2. Navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Terminal Server

3. Modify or add the parameters:

DisableClipboardRedirection = 0

DisableDriveRedirection = 0

To disable the clipboard, set these values to 1. To allow clipboard usage, these parameters should either be absent (default) or set to 0.

4. Restart the RDP session.

Solution 5: Configure RDS Collection

If using an RDS server, you can enable/disable clipboard and drive redirection via collection settings:

1. Open Server Manager.

2. Navigate to Remote Desktop Services → Collections → Tasks → Edit Deployment Properties.

3. In the Client Settings section, enable the Clipboard and Drives options.

The Drives option enables file copying via the clipboard (using local drives in the RDS session).

Note that the RDP clipboard cannot copy files larger than 2 GB. To transfer large files between the RDS host and local computer, use the xcopy command:

xcopy \\tsclient\c\distr\my.iso c:\serverfolder

If using an RD Gateway for RDS connections, note that you can enable or disable clipboard usage in the Connection Authorization Policy (CAP) settings. By default, the Enable device redirection for all client devices option is enabled in the Device Redirection section, allowing you to disable clipboard and drive redirection.

To restrict clipboard copying in RDP sessions for users (but not administrators), modify NTFS permissions on the file c:\windows\system32\rdpclip.exe. Remove the Read/Execute permission for the built-in Users group (you may need to change the file owner from TrustedInstaller first).

Clipboard issues in RDP can stem from rdpclip.exe failures, client settings, or server restrictions. Follow these solutions to restore clipboard functionality.

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