Unable to drag and drop / select multiple with mouse

Question

I'm running into a perplexing issue with Windows 8 Pro x64, where randomly I'm unable to drag to select multiple files (i.e. in Explorer or Directory Opus). I've also noticed that a similar issue happens when I'm running for example Photoshop or Illustrator and can't drag to select multiple layers, or drag to do some other things in them.

it happens randomly and have found no way to reliably reproduce it, but it happens VERY frequently. I have read some tips saying pressing the ESC button usually fixes the issue, but it doesn't in my case. From what I understand, it's probably due to some other process locking the drag feature somehow, but I've not found a way to tell which process is the perp; I've even tried using unlock software on files when I'm suddenly unable to drag and I'm told by it that nothing is locking it.

Anyone have any ideas?

Solution

Drag & Drop issue might occurs if you are running applications with elevated privileges, since Windows, for some security reasons, prevents lover privilege applications to interact with the ones with higher privileges

You can fix this by disabling the UAC completely In registry editor find HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SOFTWARE > Microsoft > Windows > CurrentVersion > Policies > System, open the Key EnableLUA and change the Value data from 1 to 0

Just be careful with this if you are using Metro applications, as this tweak might break these

Comments

[J. Scott Elblein]

Thanks, I have UAC turned off via Windows already (always have); I think if that's the same reg tweak I tried already, this actually disables having a login screen upon boot up as well though, right? If that's the case I can't use this fix. :)

[Nikola Dimitrijevic]

I've set this in my Windows 8 Enterprise and I don't have any login issues. As far as I know, EnableLUA "specifies whether Windows® User Account Controls (UAC) notifies the user when programs try to make changes to the computer. UAC was formerly known as Limited User Account (LUA)"