Total Commander vs. WhatsApp Drag & Drop: The Mystery Bug

[omdawe]

Today, I tried to drag and drop a PNG into a WhatsApp chat, but instead of working, my cursor turned into a prohibitory sign, no go sign. I figured it had to be a bug, so I restarted Total Commander and WhatsApp, but the issue persisted.

Since I keep a lot of programs open, I rarely restart my computer, but this action is part of my daily workflow, I do it at least 30 times a day, so I needed it fixed. I gave in and restarted my PC. But after restart still no drag and drop to WA.

Then, I tested my older Total Commander version, and it worked flawlessly. So, I turned to ChatGPT for ideas. Honestly, most of the suggestions weren’t helpful, but one stood out:

> "If the newer TC is running without admin privileges, Windows might block drag-and-drop. Right-click the Total Commander EXE and choose 'Run as Administrator' to test."

Thing is, my TC shortcut was already set to run as admin, so I decided to turn that setting off instead. And voilà it worked again.

Curious, I put the admin setting back and the issue returned. So now, I’m stuck with TC not running as admin just to keep drag-and-drop working. Weird bug, but at least I’ve got a workaround!

Only me or?

[ghisler(Author)]

It's not a bug, it's a security feature: Apps which run as normal user and apps which run as admin can't communicate with each other, otherwise a malicious app could direct Total Commander to copy or delete files for it. Drag&Drop requires two way communication, so it doesn't work.

Moderator message from: ghisler(Author) » 2025-06-18, 10:10 UTC

Moved to English forum

[omdawe]

ok, so it been working for a bit more then 2 weeks before windows figured out this "security feature"? Sounds safe!

[omdawe]

This reminds me of the first time someone runs TC or another program that access internet and you try to connect to a FTP or just the internet and when you are connected windows asks do you want this program to access internet? But instead of seconds its two weeks later.

[white]

Often drag and drop from elevated to non-elevated works. If it worked before and now no longer works, I suspect an update of the WhatsApp app.
You can check if other programs running as Administrator also cannot drag and drop to WhatsApp. For example, run Notepad++ as Administrator, open the Open dialog, and in that dialog drag a file to WhatsApp.