Hi all, and thanks in advance for any replies...

So the other day I was tidying up my desktop, and tried to copy/cut and paste some files/folders etc, but whenever I tried to "paste" something - by right clicking, using keyboard shortcuts or edit menu - nothing happens except that I get the vista error sound (a negative sounding "ting"). It makes no difference if I try to copy to a new folder or even a new HDD.

Copying and pasting within/across applications is no problem, for example I can copy text from a browser into a document, but copying files/folders within Windows Explorer has completely stopped working!

I have tried using the system restore feature but no matter how far I go back it doesn't make a difference.

The last program that I remember installing since the last time I successfully copied and pasted something was a standalone version of ie7 (for web dev testing as I have upgraded to ie8), which didn't work anyway, so I uninstalled it.

As I mentioned, system restore has failed to help me, and I would guess that maybe this is a registry issue. I have tried a couple of things I found in forum threads, but they seem to be related to the clipboard in general not working, whereas in my case it's specifically when using windows explorer to move files. I can delete/rename files fine, so it's strange not being able to cut/copy/paste.

Please help me as I can't move any files around my PC, and I have important backups to make!

Again, thanks in advance for any suggestions and ideas.

PS I'm using 64-bit Vista Ultimate.

did you check your system for any malwares? how about going to command prompt and use copy command, doesn't work also?

Thats the way I lost copy|paste by installing a standalone ie7.
Here is how to uninstall IE8

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/int...pport/faq.aspx

Any ideas?

After uninstalling and reinstalling IE8, copy|paste function in Windows Explorer turned to be fixed!