Clipboard Global Pasting

Reached max replied on (main account) so had to recover the one I made before install Qubes.

Tried to paste from text editor Fedora-37 → Debian-11 Text editor.

No output from pasting

Doesn’t sound like it’s a pasting issue. When you ctrl+c from the text editor of any vm, does the Qubes Clipboard notification always specify “Copied 0 bytes to the clipboard” after you ctrl+shift+c (without changing the active window)?

when i control + c in a local VM I get no notification but can cntrl+v in the same vm with no issues.

If I control shift + c I do get the notification that bytes have been copied (34 bytes to global clipboard)

but pasting seems to think the clipboard is empty when using it globally.

local clipboard works as intended.

after you receive confirmation that ctrl+shift+c copied bytes to the global clipboard and you shifted focus to the new vm window, what does the Qubes Clipboard notification say when you ctrl+shift+v? It should confirm that the clipboard has been copied to the new vm and then wiped.

I get no notification when I attempt to paste into the second vm

puzzling… It’s possible to configure a vm (eg, the vault qube) to wipe the clipboard after a period of time, but this is not supposed to be the default behavior. You can check if automatic wiping is enabled in dom0:

qvm-service -l <VMNAME>

Thanks again for the help. I’ve used linux in the past but the global clipboard thing is new to me.

That line returns no data running in dom0.(replaced vmname with actual name)

at a loss, but curious about what happens if you use the global clipboard without involving a second vm. specifically:

all in the same vm (eliminating focus as the problem):
select "string1"  > ctrl+c > ctrl+shift+c
select "string2" > ctrl+c
click on a location in the text editor (of the same vm) to paste  
ctrl+shift+v > ctrl+v

the result should be that you pasted “string1”

I get the prompt that the bytes have been copied to the global clipboard.

Proceed to paste in the same vm using the

ctrl+shift+v > ctrl+v

returns string2

My VM that I am using is set as a standaloneVM if that matters.(returns string2 in fedora template VM)

If I backup my service & VM I created, and proceed to a fresh install would I be able to restore these qubes? Might have to try this if this issue cannot be resolved.

Yes, this is very easy in Qubes. Just be sure to backup any customized templates in addition to the standalones and any vms with personal data.

It definitely seems that either your global clipboard is being wiped, or ctrl+shift+v is failing to copy data from the clipboard. If this were a bug, it would have been identified quickly.

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Thanks for the help! hopefully the fresh install fixes it :crossed_fingers:

Before you reinstall, take a minute.
How did you create the stand alone?
What is it?
Do you have qubes tools installed there?

What about standard qubes based on the full templates?
Does copy/paste between them work?

What about copying text from dom0? ( You can copy in dom0 and then use
gui to “Copy dom0 clipboard”)

The test suggested does nothing - in the same qube, if ctrl+shift+v has
done nothing the local clipboard will still hold the source, and so
ctrl+v will paste it successfully.

I never presume to speak for the Qubes team. When I comment in the Forum or in the mailing lists I speak for myself.

It was basically a fresh install, with 2 VMs installed.
Copy paste didn’t work in the predefined vms.

Reinstall fixed all issues.

Well, sorry you had to do that, but glad you are working properly now.

I never presume to speak for the Qubes team. When I comment in the Forum or in the mailing lists I speak for myself.
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Great questions… Glad to hear the problem is solved. Regarding the following:

Just curious. Does the fact that ctrl+shift+v > ctrl+v pasted string2 from the local clipboard instead of string1 from the global clipboard strongly suggest that qubes tools are not installed?

It doesn’t work in the same VM, you can’t paste to the same VM you copied from.

OK, that threw me because it is possible in 4.0 (I just did it), but not in 4.1.