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 .

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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
    2015-02-18T23:17:22+00:00

    Thanks, thanks, thanks so much. This weather gadget not working was really annoying!

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-02-18T19:36:07+00:00

    Yes, gadgets have been end-of-lifed by Microsoft due to security issues, But that has NOTHING to do with your weather or currency gadget not updating.  Gadgets are no longer supported and new ones are not available; but they still should work if you have them.

    I disagree with your statement that the gadgets should "still work if you have them".  If that is the case why is the weather gadget suddenly not updating?  Most everyone started experiencing this in the last few weeks.  And why when it is "fixed" does it again stop working?  It has to be something MS is doing.  Like has been speculated I bet it is something in a Windows Update.

    I think it would be more correct to say the weather gadget will no longer work unless you do a modification.  Again and again.

    I did the Config.xml fix and it worked for a week but then it stopped.  I was able to do it again and it is working again but no doubt it will stop working at some point.

    The solution you propose is a bit too technical for me and I am sure others so I will just remove the weather gadget.

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-02-18T17:48:20+00:00

    Yes, gadgets have been end-of-lifed by Microsoft due to security issues, But that has NOTHING to do with your weather or currency gadget not updating.  Gadgets are no longer supported and new ones are not available; but they still should work if you have them.

    Here's a fix to make all gadgets working again if they can't connect.

    First, create a batch file "fixgadgets.bat" containing the following two lines:

    chdir %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows Live\Services\Cache

    copy /b config.xml +,,

    The copy command in the batch file simply updates the last modified time on the sidebar configuration file so that it "looks" like it's been changed. It has NOT been changed...  If you prefer you can use Windows Powershell instead of the DOS copy command to update the file modification time; the batch file would look like this:

    chdir %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows Live\Services\Cache

    powershell $v = get-date; Set-ItemProperty -Path config.xml -Name LastWriteTime -Value $v

    These two batch files are IDENTICAL in function. However, the 2nd requires powershell; the first works on any Windows machine.

    Then each time sidebar gadgets stop connecting (currency and weather do this sometimes) do the following:

    1. Close ALL gadgets (or kill sidebar.exe using 'end process tree' from the task manager).
    2. Run the batch file you created above.
    3. Restart sidebar (run 'sidebar' from Start->Run) or start individual gadgets (by right-clicking on the desktop, select 'Gadgets', and dragging the gadgets you want onto the desktop).

    Voila!

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