microsoft / microsoft/PowerToys
[MWB] Entire OS hard-freezes (no BSOD) during clipboard sync - reproduced 3x, worst with clipboard images
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- C
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Description
### Area(s) with issue
Mouse Without Borders
### PowerToys version
0.99.1 (Preview), x64 — machine-wide installer, running as admin
### Summary
On a 2-PC setup paired with Mouse Without Borders (**Share clipboard enabled**), the **entire OS hard-freezes** during clipboard sync. It is not reliably reproducible on demand, but has now happened **three times** (2026-05-29, 2026-06-01, 2026-06-05), and **every** time `PowerToys.MouseWithoutBordersHelper` was the last process logging activity in the seconds before the freeze. The worst/most recent freeze occurred immediately after two clipboard **image** sync events.
### Steps to reproduce
1. Pair two PCs with Mouse Without Borders, Share clipboard enabled.
2. Use normally — copy text, and especially copy an **image** to the clipboard so MWB syncs it to the other machine.
3. Intermittently, the machine hard-freezes.
### Expected behavior
Clipboard sync (text or image) completes, or fails gracefully, without affecting OS stability.
### Actual behavior
The **whole system hard-freezes**: mouse/keyboard dead, screen frozen, nothing responds; recoverable only by a forced power-off. There is **no BSOD / bugcheck** — Windows logs Kernel-Power Event ID 41 with **BugcheckCode 0** (a pure hang, not a crash), so no crash dump is produced.
Application event log (`MouseWithoutBordersHelper`) from the most recent freeze:
```
1:29:33 PM Image from clipboard: 891179
1:29:41 PM Image from clipboard: 891179
1:30:00 PM SetForeGround.SetForegroundWindow(...) returned: True
1:30:29 PM SetForeGround.SetForegroundWindow(...) returned: True <- last log line; system frozen
```
The two prior freezes followed the same pattern but during clipboard **text** sync (`GetClipboardText: ...`). The helper logs `GetClipboardText` continuously (cf. #30581), confirming MWB is actively handling the clipboard right up to each hang.
Ruled out via Event Viewer / storage health:
- No WHEA-Logger hardware errors
- No thermal-throttle events
- No disk/NTFS controller errors; boot SSD reports Healthy
- The only unexpected shutdowns in 90 days are these MWB-correlated freezes
### Other software / environment
- Windows 11 Pro, 25H2 (build 26200.8457)
- Lenovo ThinkPad 21KS001LUS — Intel Core Ultra 7 155H, 32 GB RAM, Micron NVMe SSD
- MWB running as normal processes (not as a Windows service)
- No pen/Wacom tablet involved
### Related
Possibly the same end-state as #45471 (full system freeze) but via a different trigger — #45471 is tablet + screen-edge; this is clipboard sync, especially images.
Contributor guide
Research direction
Start with the PowerToys.MouseWithoutBordersHelper entry point and its clipboard image/text sync activity, especially the GetClipboardText and Image from clipboard log paths. Review the related clipboard logging issue #30581 and reproduce with text and image clipboard events; done means the hard freeze is explained and clipboard sync completes or fails without destabilizing Windows.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Domain
- desktop, operating-systems
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 4/5
- Estimated time
- 3-5 days
- Activity status
- Quiet
- Clarity
- Needs clarification
- Newbie friendliness
- 35/100