Cannot paste from global clipboard into specific fields

User Support
,
1

I’ve run into an annoying issue since upgrading to R4.2 with my global clipboard. I am unable to paste contents originating from the global clipboard into specific applications. This happens for the gnome-keyring application, as well as my brokerage account software login screen.

For example, my user experience is as follows:

  1. Copy from KeePassXC in Vault VM [success]
  2. Ctrl-Shift-C in Vault VM to copy to global clipboard [success]
  3. Ctrl-Shift-V in Finance VM to paste from global clipboard [success]
  4. Ctrl-V (or right-click & paste from menu) to paste to Finance VM’s gnome-keyring [fail, nothing happens]

or

  1. Ctrl-V (or right-click & paste from menu) to paste to Finance VM’s brokerage software account password field [fail, nothing happens]

or

  1. Ctrl-V (or right-click & paste from menu) to paste to Finance VM’s brokerage software account username field [fail, nothing happens]

I can paste into other places successfully in the same Finance VM. For example, as a test:

  1. Ctrl-V (or right-click & paste from menu) to paste to Finance VM’s Thunderbird email draft [success]

Interestingly, I am able to then copy/paste from within the VM into the same field that failed before. For example:

  1. Ctrl-C from Finance VM’s Thunderbird email draft [success]

  2. Ctrl-V (or right-click & paste from menu) to paste to Finance VM’s brokerage software account password field [success]

The problem only seems to happen when I go directly from Global Clipboard to the specific applications. I can assure, I am well within the “10 second clipboard wiping” window.

I have the same experience in i3wm and xfce. I am using the default Clipboard Policy in the Qubes OS Global Config.

This did work for me in R4.1 before upgrade. I did not make any changes to the Finance VM template (other than what might have automatically happened during in-place upgrade from R4.1.

1 Like
2

Ensure that the active VM when pressing the Ctrl-Chift-V keyboard shortcut is the Finance VM.

3

What if you Ctrl-Shift-V in Finance VM’s Thunderbird window and then Ctrl-V in Finance VM’s brokerage software?

1 Like
4

The first step works, Ctrl-Shift-V into Finance VM’s Thunderbird - because I can see the notification that Global clipboard has been copied into the VM.

However, the second step does not work. Ctrl-V in Finance VM’s brokerage software still does not paste the clipboard contents as expected.

1 Like
5

I’d suggest to try and install fresh template and test this there.
Maybe something broke because of in-place upgrade.

I have gnome-keyring installed in debian-12-minimal template and global clipboard paste (Ctrl-Shift-V → Ctrl-V) works there.

1 Like
6

This does not work. I rebuilt the template from scratch, using Debian 12. I am still having the same problem. Pasting from the global clipboard into this AppVM is pretty buggy.

Is there some way I can get a trace or some logs on this issue?

1 Like
7

In fact, it seems now I cannot paste global clipboard contents anywhere in this fresh VM. Global clipboard usage is totally hosed.

1 Like
8

Be specific about how you are rebuilding the template.

I never presume to speak for the Qubes team. When I comment in the Forum I speak for myself.
1 Like
9

I downloaded Debian 12 from dom0 when it was still running 4.1, using sudo qubes-dom0-update qubes-template-debian-12.

Then I went through the upgrade process described here: How to upgrade to Qubes 4.2 | Qubes OS

I did not use the --assumeyes option, and reviewed carefully the progress throughout, including before reboot and after reboot. I did not hit any errors.

I have created a new template using the Qubes Manager by cloning debian-12 into a template named d12-workspace.

I executed the following commands on d12-workspace template:

sudo apt install emacs
sudo apt install gnucash
sudo apt install fcitx5 fcitx5-pinyin -y
sudo apt install syncthing
sudo apt install gnome-screenshot

Then I proceeded to install Signal-desktop, which requires a gpg key. I fetched that on a disposable VM using: curl https://updates.signal.org/desktop/apt/keys.asc > thisThen I copied this to d12-workspace using qvm-copy.

Then back on d12-workspace, I continued rebuilding:

mv ~/QubesIncoming/disp734/this .
cat this | gpg --dearmor > signal-desktop-keyring.gpg
rm this 
cat signal-desktop-keyring.gpg | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/signal-desktop-keyring.gpg > /dev/null
rm signal-desktop-keyring.gpg 
echo 'deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/signal-desktop-keyring.gpg] https://updates.signal.org/desktop/apt xenial main' |  sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/signal-xenial.list
sudo apt update && sudo apt install signal-desktop

Then I shutdown d12-workstation. Then from Qubes Manager, I changed the template on my AppVM to d12-workstation.

Now copying from the global clipboard to my AppVM is even less reliable than before. It does not seem to work whatsoever (not even into Thunderbird, which was my workaround prior).

1 Like
10

Can you try to install new fresh template from Qubes OS 4.2 repository and try to use it for a test instead of using template that was upgraded in-place from the Qubes OS 4.1?

1 Like
11

This is kind of disappointing. Does this suggest I need to rebuild every one of my templates since I performed an in-place upgrade? I might as well just wipe my laptop and start from scratch?

1 Like
12

It’ll help to determine the issue.
If you’ll have the same issue in new template then the issue could be somewhere else and not in template.

1 Like