Security1 publisher2 min readPublished
Excel users are uninstalling KB5002914 to get copy and paste working again
Microsoft's September 9 Office update stopped copy-paste and formula dragging for some users on Office 2016 through 2024, and every workaround now circulating removes or downgrades the security patch.
The Watch · Security desk
What happened
- Affected users say copy-and-paste operations and formula dragging stop working, and that removing or rolling back the update restores normal function.
- BleepingComputer tested Excel 2019 Version 2508, Build 19127.20302 Click-to-Run, and could not reproduce either the copy-and-paste or the autofill failure.
- BleepingComputer said it asked Microsoft whether the company knew of the issue and had workarounds, and had no response at publication.
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Why it matters
- decision An administrator with a blocked finance team is choosing between a September security update and working spreadsheets, and the reporting names no CVE for the update, so the removal side of that choice cannot be priced.
- exposure Every circulating fix walks the patch back: MSI estates that uninstall lose whatever KB5002914 addressed, and the excel.exe swap leaves a nominally patched install running an older binary.
- constraint Click-to-Run shops cannot simply uninstall; rollback there means a build downgrade driven through XML or Group Policy, so it goes into release-channel change management rather than a single removal.
- contradiction A build inside the reported affected range tested clean, so version numbers alone will not tell an admin which machines are about to break, and a small pilot ring will not either.
Three removal routes are circulating and they carry different amounts of risk. On MSI-based installs, affected users say uninstalling KB5002914 restores copy and paste [6]. One Microsoft Q&A user posted an Oarpmany.exe /removereleaseinpatch command for the removal and said "This worked for me; copy-and-paste is working again" [7]. For Click-to-Run, another user said downgrading the Office build through XML or Group Policy also resolves it [8]. The third route leaves the update installed and swaps the new excel.exe for an older copy, which BleepingComputer says it does not recommend because mismatched Office files can cause stability, compatibility or security problems [9].
The reporting conflicts on scope. Users say the problem is not confined to one Office release or install method: one reported it on Office LTSC Standard 2021, another said it hits both MSI and Click-to-Run across versions 2016 through 2024 [4][5]. BleepingComputer tested Excel 2019 Version 2508, Build 19127.20302 Click-to-Run, and could not reproduce either the copy-paste or the autofill failure [10]. That tested build sits inside the range users are reporting as broken [1]. A clean result on one build says little about the next one in the estate.
The failure often shows up only after most users have already installed the update. One user said copy and paste and formula dragging no longer worked and that their entire team was blocked after most employees had already installed the update [11]. A Reddit user reported it this way: "It seems that security update kb5002914 might have bricked autofill and copy paste in Excel 2016" [3].
The other half of the tradeoff between security and functionality is undocumented. The reporting does not say which vulnerabilities KB5002914 fixes, so an administrator who pulls it from an MSI estate cannot say what exposure comes back with the working spreadsheet. Reports of the problem appeared on Reddit and the Microsoft Q&A forums soon after the update shipped in the September 2026 Patch Tuesday release [1][2]. BleepingComputer said it asked Microsoft whether the company was aware of the issue and had workarounds, and had not received a response when it published [12].
What to watch
- A Microsoft acknowledgement or known-issue entry for KB5002914, and whether it names affected builds or channels.
- A corrected Office build that keeps the September security content, which would end the uninstall-or-block choice.
- Documentation of what KB5002914 actually fixes. An administrator needs that to price the rollback.