Bing safesearch stuck at "strict" on Edge

Anonymous
2022-02-16T09:34:31+00:00

Recently, I discovered that when I browse Bing using Edge on my desktop, SafeSearch appears to be fixed on "strict" when it was "off" previously.

When I attempt to change this setting, I see the following message with no options to change SafeSearch permissions:

"Your country or region requires a strict Bing SafeSearch setting, which filters out results that might return adult content."

I live in the US, so this is definitely incorrect. Using a VPN to switch countries does not allow me to change the setting.

I am able to change SafeSearch settings when using a different browser and/or using a different device and Edge, so the issue appears to be specific to my desktop and Edge. I am using a Windows 10 Education key that I bought almost 5 years ago.

How do I turn off SafeSearch when using Edge on my desktop?

Edit: Only solution was to move to a different Windows 10 version. Seems to be an issue with Windows 10 Education and usergroup policy. I'm not IT savvy enough to find out how to change that, so the nuclear option of downgrading to a different version of Windows 10 was my only option. Hope this helps others that have this issue.

Bing | Safety and privacy | Adult content and SafeSearch

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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  1. Anonymous
    2023-12-12T00:57:21+00:00

    this worked

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-12-12T15:04:00+00:00

    Not for me. There is no "safesearch off" in the settings.

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  3. Don Varnau 19,930 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2023-12-12T22:36:57+00:00

    Not for me. There is no "safesearch off" in the settings.

    Do you have the problem with multiple browsers- Edge, Chrome, Firefox?

    - - - -

    1. Are you running an education version of Windows?
    2. Are you in the UK?
    3. Are you in a country where the government may have mandated Safe Search?
    4. Is Family Safety setup and running with someone else being the Administrator?

    These are the most common reasons that Safe Search cannot be turned off.

    Don

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-12-12T23:17:09+00:00

    I've tried all those other browsers. Didn't make a difference.

    No to all the questions.

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  5. Anonymous
    2023-12-22T14:58:55+00:00

    I finally found the problem. My Synology Router had a Safe Access application that allowed specifying which search engines would be blocked. I turned it off for all search engines and now safesearch isn't strict blocking. The odd thing was that the option to turn those on and off was somewhat hidden. You could get to the place that should have shown the blockage 2 different ways. One seemed to not show it (that was where I was looking originally) and another way that I stumbled into and DID show the blockage. I'm still experimenting with the router settings, but at least I managed to figure out what was going on.

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