Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V Not Working in Excel After Updating to 2016 Version 25H2 (OS Build 26200.9445)

Question

As subject and i've tried all different ways i can find online but none of them works!

this problem started from 9th Sep 2026.

Please help solve and don't provide those public official solutions again cuz if they work then i wont be here.

It is really annoying cuz many document work are suspending due to this catastrophe.

ps. also the ctrl+A fuction for selecting all texts while editing the cell is also broken a long time ago. it would be better if the problem could be dealt with too.

Answer 1

Two options for now.

Please type cmd in the search on the taskbar. Don't press enter key yet. Instead, choose "run as administrator" to launch Command Prompt.

Then run this command if you use Office 2016 MSI

"C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\OFFICE16\Oarpmany.exe" /removereleaseinpatch "{90160000-0012-0000-1000-0000000FF1CE}" "{27882596-A8ED-4382-9C71-6CD2DD19F732}" "1033" "0"

If you used Office 2016 Click-to-Run, use this command:

"C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\ClickToRun\OfficeC2RClient.exe" /update user updatetoversion=16.0.19127.20264

The command is to remove the latest update, which is causing this issue. Or

Use Ctrl+X (cut), then use Ctrl+Z to re-add the data, then use Ctrl+V after that. this can be a workaround.

Make sure you click on Help > Feedback in Excel to submit this as a bug to make product aware and help them gather data.

Answer 2

Hello @XYA-9477

This appears to be related to the recent Excel 2016 security update KB5002914, rather than a normal Excel clipboard or keyboard configuration issue.

Multiple reports describe the same behavior after the September 2026 updates: Ctrl+C/Ctrl+V stops working for Excel cells, while copying text from applications such as Word into Excel can still work. Some users have also reported problems with dragging/filling cells and copying worksheets.

A related Microsoft Q&A thread specifically identifies KB5002914 as the suspected update. Users there reported that rolling back/removing the patch restored Excel copy/paste functionality. The original poster also confirmed that removing the problematic update resolved the issue.

Since your issue started around September 9, first check whether KB5002914 was installed on the machine around that date.

I do not recommend replacing Excel.exe with a copy from another PC, even though that workaround has been mentioned in the other thread. For a managed/business PC, it would be safer to have the administrator test removal/rollback of KB5002914 and temporarily prevent it from being reapplied while waiting for Microsoft to address the regression.

To remove the update, open the Command Prompt as administrator and run the following command: "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\OFFICE16\Oarpmany.exe" /removereleaseinpatch "{90160000-0012-0000-1000-0000000FF1CE}" "{27882596-A8ED-4382-9C71-6CD2DD19F732}" "1033" "0"

Also, since you mentioned that Ctrl+A while editing a cell was already broken before this update, that may be a separate issue and shouldn't necessarily be attributed to KB5002914.

Related thread with users reporting the same problem:

Issue with Excel 2016 – copy and paste cells | Microsoft Q&A

At this point, reports strongly suggest a regression associated with the September Excel 2016 update, although Microsoft has not officially confirmed it as a known issue.

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Answer 3

Just to follow up -

Microsoft has released a corrective update.

For Excel 2016, KB5002665, released September 16, 2026, specifically fixes the known KB5002914 issue that caused certain paste operations to fail silently.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/servicing/office/hotfix/excel/5002665

One caveat: Microsoft says paste operations may still fail in workbooks containing conditional formatting. So this is a confirmed fix for the original issue, but not yet a complete resolution of every paste failure scenario.

Answer 4

another day, another update which broke things. and follow up with YET another update, does MS think that their customers are sitting around twiddling thumbs? Some forums recommendations include the ultimate resolution - FORMAT WINDOWS.. good grief and griefing from using Windows and OUTBAD.