Clipboard History Cleared After Restart? That Is Normal

The PC restarts. Win+V is empty. The three links from yesterday are gone. This is the behavior Microsoft documents, not a failed update and not a virus-cleaner “feature.”

Support article, “Using the clipboard,” troubleshooting: clipboard history is cleared each time the PC restarts, except for items that were pinned.

This page explains what “restart” means in practice, what pins actually save, and how to keep text that must survive the night.

Official rules, restated

History must have been on in the first place. If it was never enabled, Win+V shows Turn on, which looks like “empty” but is a first-run prompt. How to Enable Clipboard History in Windows 11.

The 25-item cap is a separate eviction that happens during the day. Restart is the nightly one. Windows Clipboard History Limit: Why Only 25 Items.

Restart versus shutdown versus sleep

People use “restart” for every power action. Windows does not.

Restart (Start > Power > Restart) is a full reboot. This is the event Microsoft’s clipboard article names. Unpinned history goes away.

Sleep keeps memory powered. History and the live clipboard usually remain because the session never ended. A drained battery can still lose memory, which looks like a wipe.

Hibernate writes memory to disk and powers off. After resume, the user session continues. Clipboard state typically resumes with the session. Microsoft does not write a special clipboard exception for hibernate in the Support article.

Shutdown with Fast Startup on is a hybrid shutdown: the user is logged off, the kernel is hibernated. It is not the same as Restart. History can therefore look randomly present or randomly gone depending on whether the last power-off was Restart or Shutdown. That nuance is Clipboard History and Fast Startup: Odd Wipes Explained.

To test the documented wipe, use Restart, not Shutdown.

What pins do — and do not — fix

Pinning is Microsoft’s official escape hatch.

1. Press Win+V.
2. On the item, open … (See more).
3. Select Pin.
4. Restart.
5. Win+V should still show that item.

Unpin or Delete when it is no longer needed. Clear all and Settings > System > Clipboard > Clear clipboard data leave pins in place.

Pins are still not a library:

• They share the 25 slots.
• They are not grouped or tagged.
• Feature updates and some profile resets have been reported to drop them; Microsoft does not document pins as a backup.
• A pinned password is a password that survives reboot on purpose. Do not do that.

Pinned Win+V Items Are Not a Real Library.

Durable places for text that mattered

If the content must exist tomorrow, put it in a thing that is a file or a cloud document:

• A note in OneNote, Notepad, or the app where the work already lives
• A draft email
• A pinned item only for tiny, non-secret boilerplate
• A password manager for secrets, never Win+V

The clipboard is a transfer buffer. History is a short transfer buffer. Neither is storage.

Copied Explorer files were never in history. The files remain in their folders. Windows Clipboard History Does Not Store Files.

Large screenshots that never appeared in Win+V were probably over 4 MB. Restart did not steal them; they were never listed. Windows Clipboard 4 MB Cap: What Gets Dropped. Save snips with Win+PrtScn or Snipping Tool Save as if they must last.

Sync does not replace local history after reboot

Clipboard history across your devices can make text available on another signed-in PC. It is not documented as “restore this PC’s unpinned list after Restart.”

Do not turn sync on as a workaround for the restart wipe. It uploads text, including anything that looks like a password. Decision guide: Automatically Sync Text I Copy: Should You Turn It On?.

Checklist when the list is empty after boot

1. Press Win+V. If Turn on appears, history was off. Enable it.
2. Copy test in Notepad and press Win+V again. If test appears, the feature works; yesterday’s unpinned items are gone by design.
3. Look for pins. If they are gone too, this may be a new user profile, a feature update, or a repair install — not the everyday restart wipe.
4. Confirm this is the same Windows account as yesterday.
5. On a work PC, confirm IT did not disable the feature overnight.

Empty after a Windows Update can be the restart wipe plus, sometimes, lost pins. Win+V Empty After a Windows Update.

Yes/no: does history survive a reboot?

Short answer for the search query behind this page — does Windows clipboard history survive a reboot? — unpinned items do not, pinned items do until deleted.

Microsoft does not publish a clipboard-specific Fast Startup exception. Treat mixed results after Shutdown as power-state confusion and always test with Restart.

A clean experiment (two minutes)

1. Settings > System > Clipboard — history On, sync Off.
2. Copy unpinned-sample.
3. Copy pinned-sample, then pin it in Win+V.
4. Start > Restart.
5. After sign-in, Win+V.
6. Expect: unpinned-sample gone, pinned-sample present.

If both are gone, look at account, update, or policy — not the everyday rule. If both are still there, the machine probably did not do a full restart (Fast Startup shutdown, or a wake from sleep mislabeled as a boot).

Lock, sign-out, and switch-user are not reboot

Lock (Win+L). The session stays in memory. History stays — and anyone unlocking that account can open Win+V. Lock is not a privacy wipe.

Sign out. The user session ends. Expect unpinned history to go with it; pins should reload at the next sign-in of the same account.

Switch user. Each Windows user has a separate Settings toggle and a separate 25-item buffer. Account A's history is not account B's list.

Remote Desktop disconnect. A disconnect is not a restart. History on the session host usually remains until that session is reset or the host restarts.

Why Microsoft designed a wipe

The same Support article that defines the wipe also puts Clear clipboard data on the Settings page and warns, in the learning-center piece, about sensitive content on shared devices. A list that survived every reboot by default would become a quiet archive of passwords, messages, and medical text.

Off by default, 25 items, 4 MB, wipe on restart: the feature is scoped to a sitting. That is a privacy default. It is inconvenient for research stacks. Both things are true.

When a tool that survives reboot is justified

Need unpinned clips tomorrow without pinning each one by hand? That requirement is outside Windows history. A local manager with an explicit retention setting is the honest next product. Edge Drop can keep a shelf of clips and files across sessions; so can Ditto or CopyQ. Pick something that states where data lives and how to purge it. Do not chase a registry rumor that claims to cancel Microsoft's restart wipe. How that trade-off looks side by side: Win+V vs a Clipboard Manager: Honest Split.

Related reading

• Windows Clipboard 4 MB Cap: What Gets Dropped
• Win+V vs a Clipboard Manager: Honest Split
• Windows Clipboard History Limit: Why Only 25 Items
• Best Clipboard Managers for Windows in 2026

Sources

• Using the clipboard (Microsoft Support) — history cleared on restart except pins; 25 items; 4 MB; formats; clear controls.
• How to use clipboard history in Windows 11 (Microsoft) — pins remain until removed; shared-device caution.
• Keyboard shortcuts in Windows (Microsoft Support) — Win+V; history off by default.
• Distinguishing Fast Startup from wake-from-hibernation (Microsoft Learn) — Fast Startup is not a cold restart; relevant when shutdown “wipes” look inconsistent.

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