Windows 10 1809 (aka October 2018 Update) includes a new ‘clipboard experience’ that apparently allows multiple clips to be saved, up to 4MB. If you use a Microsoft Account (I don’t) it can also sync to the cloud and across devices.
If you experience problems – like I did – then you can disable this new ‘clipboard experience’ by:
1. Stopping the cbdhsvc_2fe56 service from the Services snap-in (services.msc).
2. Merging the following REG file into the Windows Registry:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 ; 1809 Clipboard History – Turn OFF ; Note: After merging, stop the cbdhsvc_2fe56 service too ; This toggles Clipboard History to OFF [HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftClipboard] “EnableClipboardHistory”=dword:00000000 ; This disables the ‘Clipboard experience’ service (but not the legacy ‘Clip’ service) [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicescbdhsvc_2fe56] “Start”=dword:00000004
Hopefully a newer Windows 10 build may fix the problems I experienced… but, for the time being, the new Clipboard ‘experience’ remains disabled (as does Windows Update).
TL;DR
Unfortunately, on the first device I installed 1809 (build 177.63.168) on – a Dell laptop – it knocked out the legacy CTRL+v functionality completely. I have no need for multi-clip functionality but I do have a great need for a fully-functioning legacy clipboard that works absolutely reliably and can be shared across TeamViewer (remote control) and Synergy (shared keyboard, mouse and clipboard).
I found the new Clipboard’s settings in Settings > System > Clipboard.
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I fired up Sysinternals/TechNet‘s Process Monitor (using ‘Run as administrator’), filtered its monitoring to just the registry then further filtered its operation so it only looked for RegSetValue changes. I started monitoring with ProcMon, flipped Clipboard’s history toggle then immediately stopped monitoring. The ProcMon result showed me that flipping the toggle resulted in value changes to 3 registry keys but only one was directly related to the clipboard.
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I created a couple of .REG files to test this single registry key and found that whilst they worked to flip the Clipboard history toggle state on and off, they didn’t restore the legacy clipboard to a working state.
ProcMon had shown me that the change of registry key value was a result of an svchost.exe process so I was obviously looking for a service. A quick check showed a new running service:
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Sure enough, when I stopped the service I found that the legacy clipboard started working… I could paste using CTRL+v again.
I did other things and later found that CTRL+v had stopped working again. The registry value hadn’t changed but the service had restarted. Maybe I accidentally hit a key combo that started the service… perhaps just using CTRL+c was enough to restart the service. Whatever it was… I didn’t want it happening so I stopped the service again but this time disabled it as well.
Unfortunately, if you try to disable the service in the Services snap-in it doesn’t work, even if you are logged in as a member of the Administrators group (e.g. the first account created during installation of Windows). Instead you get this error:
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The way round this is to disable the service from the registry, changing the Start DWORD value from 3 (Manual) to 4 (Disabled). Refreshing the Services snap-in shows the service is now disabled:
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Now the legacy clipboard is back to working reliably as I want it.
If you want to revert the changes back to 1809’s defaults then just do this:
1. Merge the following REG file into the Windows Registry:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 ; 1809 Clipboard history – Turn ON (default) ; Note: After merging, make sure the cbdhsvc_2fe56 service has been started too [HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftClipboard] “EnableClipboardHistory”=dword:00000001 ; This reverts the ‘Clipboard experience’ service back to Manual [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicescbdhsvc_2fe56] “Start”=dword:00000003
2. Start the ‘Clipboard experience’ service using the Services snap-in.
Hope this helps…
