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My keyboard shortcut functions are not working!
Most users use CTRL + C and CTRL + V, but if these do not work anymore, other shortcuts will no longer work either. For example, can you still use Windows + R to start Run?
These problems are often the cause of a corrupt keyboard driver.
In the tutorial below, I explain to you how you can make your keyboard functions work normally again.
Let’s make my keyboard shortcut functions work again.
In short: We’re going to the device manager to remove the keyboard driver, after a PC restart it should work again.
The longer version.
Go to Start and search for Device Manager.
Open the Device Manager and search for Keyboards.
Find the right keyboard, for me this is Razer Diamondblack.
Right click the driver and choose Uninstall Device.
After restarting your PC, keyboard functions such as CTRL + C and V should work again.
How is it possible that my keyboard works without a keyboard driver?
We just removed the driver and you would say that your keyboard is no longer working. Fortunately, this is not the case.
If you have a separate keyboard, it installs a driver when you insert the USB into your PC. When you remove it and reboot your PC, Windows recognizes that there is no keyboard driver and installs its own default keyboard driver.This way the default keys will work.
Do you have special keys on your keyboard? Then I would look at the vendor’s website for the specific driver so you can use these keys again.
It is also possible that the driver is reinstalled after you plug the USB back into the PC.
Recap
I found this question on answers.microsoft.com and I made a tutorial from that.
Click here for the original post.
I had the same problem as Tony, including that all shortcuts triggered by ctrl-C [-P, -F, -Z, -Y etc] stopped working – spontaneously, on September 12, 2020. Right-click with the mouse would work for copy, paste, etc, but the ctrl key sequence didn’t, except in CMDprompt.
I have heard that people working Windows on Apple hardware were having the same problem and the solution was to change to an English (US) keyboard, from say, English (UK) or English (Canada). But that solution did not work for me.
I tried all of the solutions suggested here: https://www.guidingtech.com/fix-copy-paste-not-working-windows-10/ and none worked.
The super weird thing is, if I open CMDprompt as user not admin, test the ctrl-A, ctrl-C, ctrl-Z, ctrl-F, ctrl-S etc. combinations, they work *in* CMD, and then they work –for a few minutes– in other Windows applications (eg: my Chrome browser). *And then they stop working, even if I’ve not shut down/restarted any apps or the laptop itself*. Explain that? I haven’t looked in the BIOS yet, but I and struggling to understand how opening CMD could make the ctrl-shortcuts active again.
My Ctrl-C combination stopped working today on all applications other than CMD Prompt. I downloaded the Passmark Keyboard Test app to help diagnose the problem. The Control key was recognised, the C key was recognised but the combination Ctrl-C was not. Ctrl-V was recognised as was all other dual key combinations. I tried everything to try to resolve this including installing different languages, reverting to a previous Windows state etc. Nothing worked. I then saw a post suggesting that the BIOS should be reset to default settings. I then recalled that earlier today my PC had booted into the BIOS for no apparent reason.
I booted into the BIOS, reset to default settings, remembering to set the disk access to AHCI before rebooting and, as if by magic, Ctrl-C now works as before. I hope this helps someone.