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

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  1. Anonymous
    2022-05-05T19:33:37+00:00

    I've been having this issue as well on both windows 11/10 education, from what I can gather this has to do with some policy setting Microsoft thought would be a good idea as a default, and from what myself and others have tried, unchangeable. This is another annoyance with this education license I got from my school to upgrade my windows home key. You have to install windows in a dumb roundabout way because the authenticator inside of education won't let you use a non edu email, which is a problem seeing as the key is tied to my normal Microsoft account.

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  2. Anonymous
    2022-06-01T13:56:25+00:00

    Same problem. Registry hack didn't work; private window didn't work. Switched to Duck etc and that was ok until Windows update. Bing still would not search.

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  4. Anonymous
    2022-07-30T08:45:48+00:00

    Great! So much for using edge. I've never used safe searching 35 years. Never turn safe search on in any browser. Have no idea why this is even activated in edge. Only in Windows.

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  5. Anonymous
    2022-07-30T11:06:23+00:00

    If you have an education version that’s the issue that me and a lot of people noticed. The education version has a bunch of stuff locked on.

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