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Foxxen2
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Copy Paste - working in some Win7 guests but not others??

Using Workstation 10.0.1 on Windows 8 x64 (clean installs).

I've read most of the threads on copy/paste issues and tried a bunch of suggestions, none work. The odd thing I have 3 guests open:  2 Windows 7 x64 guests and a Windows 8.1 guest, and I notice that one Win7 and the Win 8.1 have copy-paste working perfectly, one of the Win7 guests it won't work at all (either way round).  I can't isolate why that one's not working.

Things tried - turning "isolation" off and on, guest reboot, uninstall tools->reboot guest->reinstall tools, full screen off, close guest leaving it running in background and reopen .vmx file, check services running and "isolation" options enabled.

It doesn't seem to be a host issue since at the same time all this is going on, other guests are having no problems at all.  I can't figure further things to try, and of course if other guests work fine it tends to limit it to a guest rather than host problem somehow?

What can I try next? I've exhausted the usual tricks I know of and searched the community pages.  It's a huge problem.

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wila
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Hello Foxxen2

Yep correct those are the basic troubleshooting steps.

As you found out during your research, the clipboard sharing is provided via vmware tools.

There are other possiblities that can interfere with your vmware tools setup.

For example some antivirus or anti malware tools might prevent a correct functionality.

Before going any further can you confirm that within task manager of the Windows 7 guest where clipboard sharing doesn't work that you have two instances of vmware tools running?

1. a task vmtoolsd running as the SYSTEM user

2. a task vmtoolsd running as your current user

Another thing to test is if other parts of vmware tools do work correctly. Like the drag and drop functionality.

Can you - when your VM is in windowed mode - drag and drop a file from your host onto the problem VM?

--

Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva

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wila
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Hello Foxxen2

Yep correct those are the basic troubleshooting steps.

As you found out during your research, the clipboard sharing is provided via vmware tools.

There are other possiblities that can interfere with your vmware tools setup.

For example some antivirus or anti malware tools might prevent a correct functionality.

Before going any further can you confirm that within task manager of the Windows 7 guest where clipboard sharing doesn't work that you have two instances of vmware tools running?

1. a task vmtoolsd running as the SYSTEM user

2. a task vmtoolsd running as your current user

Another thing to test is if other parts of vmware tools do work correctly. Like the drag and drop functionality.

Can you - when your VM is in windowed mode - drag and drop a file from your host onto the problem VM?

--

Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
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Foxxen2
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Antivirus it was.

But I am surprised since one wouldn't think antivirus would interfere with a system level function like copy-paste, or services.

But that's what it was, when I disabled A/V copy-paste immediately seems to work. I'm going to tag it as "Let's keep an eye on it...." for a while, but I'm hopeful you might have found the answer.

If anyone from VMware is watching can they add that (or all the above steps) to the KB article on copypaste/dragdrop debug tips? (And that for Task Manager you need to click "show tasks for all users" to see the SYSTEM vmtoolsd process, some users may not realise). It's not mentioned anywhere

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