Weather gadget not working- Cannot connect to service

Anonymous
2013-01-14T14:07:43+00:00

original title: Weather gadget not working !!

I have Windows 7 Ultimate 64 - bit and my weather gadget is not working, it is displaying a message "Cannot connect to service .

I have also tried by turning off firewall and antivirus but it still don't works for me .

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Accessibility

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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Anonymous
2013-01-15T09:19:57+00:00

Update:

Microsoft has DISABLED the weather and currency gadgets via a recent Security Update, due to concerns over the vulnerability associated with these gadgets running on your computer. You can read more about it here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2719662 . Adjusting your computer's settings and all these other "suggestions" people are making, will NOT work. The function has been REMOVED from the operating system. It has also been removed from the Windows 8 operating system. There are "theorists" that either agree that there is a security issue within the gadgets or Microsoft just does not want to support gadgets (usually third party software) and thus, has disabled them in Windows 7 and eliminated them in Windows 8.

Thanks to DaveNYC for the Info. Spread the word because many people are facing this problem just like you.

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Anonymous
2015-05-29T15:03:04+00:00

To all having this problem, the following worked for me:

After eading all kind of solutions, I changed the config.xml file according instructions and then I got connected but only to my own location (in my case Amsterdam). Tried everything else, no results, till I only give the exact zip code for the place I like to see the weather in the search menu and guess it worked, then I did the same on my computer in Greece (via teamviewer) and there it worked as well.

I hope it will help you as good as it did for me.

Ron

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-03-08T01:27:50+00:00

    Thu Win, already tried most the fixes and "breaking" you're running sting251 through and I can confirm that sting's method did fix the issue, with all sidebar tasks closed, uninstall, reinstalled, 32bit side bar, 64bit side bar, open, closed, cache cleared, settings.ini deleted in the program folders, etc. etc. It works. It works great.

     

    Again, thanks Sting for figuring out a fix. Managed to snag some working files from a friends computer and loaded them onto mine. Irks me when things don't work. Saved me some hair pulling.

    Awesome!!! I am so glad it seems to be working for pretty much everyone so far.  I posted it on a few other Microsoft threads on here as well with people asking the same thing about their broken Weather gadget. It is amazing to see how many people really like this little thing! It's the only gadget I have ever used personally. I understand that there are some security vulnerabilities that Microsoft has identified with gadgets in general. However, if a person is somewhat knowledgable in keeping their machine and their network secure, the weather gadget is pretty harmless for home use. That said, my company does disable Sidebar.exe via group policy lol

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-03-08T01:03:28+00:00

    Although I have not tried it, my guess would be that if you delete the settings.ini and the config.xml files that yes...you could potentially break the weather gadget. Like I said in my earlier post, I am fairly certain that one or both of those files are the engine that drives the creation and updating of the weather gadget cache. They basically tell it what to do...and creating and updating the cache is part of it.

    Deleting the files (not the cache) would not be a proper test to put the gadget in the state that it was before I fixed it. Here is why: My dad's computer DID have those two files. They were not missing. However, I compared them to mine and found my dad's verisons were missing a few lines of information. Most noiceably, the settings.ini file was missing a lot of information including my city, my zipcode, and the refresh rate.

    It appears as though the link I provided works. I signed out of Windows Live and clicked on it and it let me download it. So it should work for you. Let me know if you have any trouble. I will be heading to bed shortly. Long day ahead tomorrow at work.

    https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=25F54624219FE514!137&authkey=!ACFer4v9-X8k13o

    Thanks

    -Will

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-03-08T00:58:19+00:00

    Thu Win, already tried most the fixes and "breaking" you're running sting251 through and I can confirm that sting's method did fix the issue, with all sidebar tasks closed, uninstall, reinstalled, 32bit side bar, 64bit side bar, open, closed, cache cleared, settings.ini deleted in the program folders, etc. etc. It works. It works great.

    Again, thanks Sting for figuring out a fix. Managed to snag some working files from a friends computer and loaded them onto mine. Irks me when things don't work. Saved me some hair pulling.

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