Weather gadget not working- Cannot connect to service

Hello Mitch,

you're right. The gadget's malfunction is caused by the absence of configW7.xml. If the file is still there for IE, it also is there for the gadget. It has already been there in January and kept the gadget working until now. You can find your local copy of configW7.xml under

%localappdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files

Please don't confuse configW7.xml and config.xml. As long as configW7.xml is locally present, everything is fine. Your gadget keeps working because configW7.xml gets converted into config.xml on a regular basis, at least on every startup. This way the date modified of config.xml is kept recent. All repair of the weather gadget is about keeping config.xml recent. You can do this by copying the file from another drive, which is why sting251's fix works. You can do it by opening the file and saving without changes, which renews the date modified (also feasible by creating an automatic task). Or you can do it by setting the date modified to the future. Replacing the file by a prepared one also works. What's totally irrelevant and does no further fixing to anything is setting the file to read-only. That's only Anders' favorite conspiracy theory.

Bottom line is: The file's date modified mustn't fall more than 72 hours behind present. A config.xml with a date modified older than 72 hours equals "no configuration file at all" to the gadget, meaning case 404 - "cannot connect to service".

So, take good care of your configW7.xml and don't delete Temporary Internet Files anytime soon.

Also, all of those fixes (after all, it's only one) don't have any influence on the search mode. Something is irreversibly wrong there, and not by update. You'll find the situation on every fresh installation of Windows 7. For the search to work correctly, it used to be required and sufficient that the gadget is running normally. Obviously, it is still required, but not sufficient anymore. And, as I said, the removal of configW7.xml from the web has not been announced or even mentioned by any Microsoft official. In 2013, this happed by accident and got fixed within a few days, so that many may not even have realized it. This time, it's by intention and permanent, and over time inevitable to hit each and every gadget.

Regards, VZ

 I meant you can still access the MS XML file at  http://gadgets.live.com/configW7.xml and the contents are exactly the same as the one you state are good

I've been thinking all day what you're talking about here. Now I know. When you call up that URL (with IE), you're using your working gadget user account and are presented the cache content. Using one of your other machines (= user accounts), what you'll see is this:

https://hitco.at/blog/wp-content/uploads/WetterGadget-InvalidURL.png

Regards, VZ ;)

VZ,

I think you lost me on that one? LoL  Are you saying I am loading my own cache XML file when I use IE to access the address above or  http://gadgets.live.com/configW7.xml , or is it an account setup on my machine or somewhere online? 

I tested it with the Fox Browser and you are right, as the site and file are not there anymore?  So, is this what MS took down and no longer supports, causing the Weather Gadget to not function properly?  I don't quite understand how IE still finds this file or the cache file, or why changing the Cache XML file to a future year or date and making it read only enables you to do searches with a zip code, but the workaround works?

Did MS make an anouncement or put out a recent notice that they were going to remove this site and file permanently, or was it done in 2013?  It may have been 2013 as you would never notice the problem unless you tried to change a location on a current weather gadget!  The gadgets themselves have never been deleted by MS and I can reload one if deleted from my computer files!  This was a pretty stealth action by MS in my opinion, if they in fact took such an action without User permission!  Is there anyone at MS I could ask about this via email/txt?  Noone on their normal support works in the US or has any knowledge of their action (or so they say)!

Thanks for any help VZ, and the info above!

MitchZZ

 I meant you can still access the MS XML file at  http://gadgets.live.com/configW7.xml and the contents are exactly the same as the one you state are good

I've been thinking all day what you're talking about here. Now I know. When you call up that URL (with IE), you're using your working gadget user account and are presented the cache content. Using one of your other machines (= user accounts), what you'll see is this:

https://hitco.at/blog/wp-content/uploads/WetterGadget-InvalidURL.png

Regards, VZ ;)