NOTE: The question has two parts to it. The FIRST part asks "How to COPY-PASTE FILES". THIS is an answer to that part of the question. (The SECOND part asks how to copy/paste TEXT; e.g. a clipboard operation. This answer is NOT about that.)
Also see these other answers relevant to copy/paste files, in specific situations:
For ESM-compatible VMs
For initial setup before starting your VM
Files can be copy/pasted between a MAC and a PC, or a LINUX box and a PC, and the same technique can be used between a virtual machine (even using "Version 1", to run older Windows, in my case Windows 7) and its host PC.
How? Network sharing aka "Share a folder over a network".
KEY POINT: Once you have set up a shared folder, you can then do regular file-copying in a Windows Explorer view on the host PC, even if the source is on host and the destination is on VM, or vice-versa. That is, Network sharing is not just about making a set of network files visible on the VM, it also makes it easy for you to later move individual files, or complete folders, between two different computers (here, the VM is one of the computers), as if they were on a single computer.
- Hyper-V Manager - Virtual Switch Manager.
- Create Virtual Switch / External
- Hyper-V / Your VM / Settings
- Network Adapter / Virtual Switch = the External Virtual Switch from above
- Boot your VM, login with an Administrator account.
- Do what you normally do to "Share a folder over the network". (See documentation for the OS you are running on the VM.) In my case, I shared my username/Documents folder. specify read/write privilege, if you want to copy files both to and from that folder
- Host machine / Windows Explorer / Network / your VM should appear with that shared folder.
- Select your VM (its "Network" representation), and LOGIN with your VM's administrator account.
- Copy / Paste files in this Explorer window on your host.
NOTE: I only tested with my user account / Documents folder, so I do not know whether there are limitations on what can be shared. I assume it works exactly the same as any other network sharing from the virtual OS, so it shouldn't matter that it is virtual. It is just another machine on your network, running that OS.
I also did not test with a Linux VM, however I did test with Windows 7, running "Version 1" VM - that works, so any OS that can be run under Hyper-V, and that supports network sharing with Windows, should work.