Occasional copy paste failure

[crsackett]

Mac OS Mojave > Fusion 11.0.2 > Windows 10.

I am experiencing occasional copy paste failures with images from host to guest. Copy paste text works ok. After a reboot I can copy paste a small number of images (maybe up to 5 or 6) then further attempts fail. The Paste option does not appear in the right-click menu in Windows 10. I can sometimes still copy paste using drag and drop, but sometimes that fails as well. I then have to reboot, allowing a few successful copy/pastes before that fails again.

Any suggestions welcome.

Chris Sackett

[wila]

Hi,

Copy paste failures have been an issue since .... forever.

What I have done in my guests is to create a few scripts that reset the vmware tools service binaries once it happens and that seems to fix it.

There's one script that is very clean as it restarts the vmware tools service (just like using restart in the task manager), but it does not always work.

This one does.

Just create a file called fixClipboard.bat with notepad and put these lines in it:

taskkill /F /IM vmtoolsd.exe

"C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Tools\vmtoolsd.exe" -n vmusr

The taskkill command will complain that it could not kill one vmtoolsd process (which is correct), but it could kill another one.

It will stop on the last line... you can close the DOS window.

Then wait 60 seconds or so and copy & paste works again.

--

Wil

[crsackett]

Many thanks. I have made the .bat file and will run it next time there is a copy paste failure.

Chris Sackett

[crsackett]

I have used the .bat file a couple of times to clear the copy paste failure. While that works and I am then able to resume copy pasting, it seems to be doing something else to any open windows. Symptoms are that on trying to move or minimise or close open windows a gray shadow remains on the screen, the gray shadow means open windows cannot be accessed, and it is not possible to quit the open programs either from the program window itself or with right-click on the program icon in the applications menu. If I minimise a window and then reopen it, the program freezes.

Any further help gratefully received.

Chris Sackett 

[wila]

Hi,

Strange I have never seen that.

Are you using Unity view mode perchance?

--

Wil

[crsackett]

Yes, Unity.

-Chris

[wila]

Hi,

Ah OK, that explain why I haven't seen it as I haven't used Unity since it was removed as a Linux feature.

There's an alternative on the batch file I mentioned above, it is a bit cleaner as it doesn't just kill vmtoolsd, but asks it politely to stop.

I didn't mention that one as I tend to have less luck with it on getting copy&paste back to work. Sometimes it helps and sometimes not.

But as your current side effects sound like it is even worse, perhaps it is something to try as an alternative.

net stop vmtools

net start vmtools

pause "restarted vmware tools"

That should be the proper way to restart vmware tools.

--

Wil