Location Issue on my laptop with Windows 11

it is just EDGE that is having location issues. Multiple posts on reddit with the same issue that I also have. It's pointing those with the issue to the location of the MS Boydton Datacenter in VA for any attempt to have edge detect location (any site). I'm not using the secure network setting. This also started only in the past week or two

All I know is, everything was working fine with my location, for years, and a couple of weeks ago it stopped working. I didn't make any changes. Let's face it, this is a screw up on Microsoft's part.

Yea, I've already tried that. I can set my default location in the Maps app, but Edge still wants to show me in Boydton.

JB-D-M,

There's a relatively clear explanation for all of this, that though it's reasonably well documented, isn't the typical client centric situation we've all been looking for, which is why it took me so long to find it in the wrong places with the wrong searches.

Friday afternoon I did a couple more tests of my own system after again allowing Windows Privacy, Location settings and ensuring none of the various Edge Settings, Site Permissions items were potentially blocking the testing sites we'd been using. I initially got basically the same results with the 2 IP-based selections displaying my wireless ISPs Milwaukee, WI egress location and that Bellevue, WA one I thought might be Microsoft, as well as both IP testing sites more granular Where-Am-I-Now like selections displaying within a few houses of my true location.

However, though these same locations typically continued for at least a couple additional requests, if I continued to click refresh multiple times the more accurate street location results would eventually revert to Boydton, VA as a few of you had also reported.

This seemingly odd behavior that didn't appear to follow any specific pattern other than, 'the more you try the worse it gets', finally made me think that something was potentially, actively attempting to 'protect' my system from a possible 'attack' by these websites making requests to identify my precise location. This sounds suspiciously like the Edge, Privacy, 'Enhance your security on the web' setting kicking in to protect my system from a potential attack, even though I'd specifically disabled that to ensure it wasn't interfering with my testing.

That's when I began to think differently about this entire situation and think of it as raising the bar on protection in general, searching for 'Microsoft increasing location protection' instead, which led me to these general articles about Microsoft's Secure Future Initiative.

A new world of security: Microsoft’s Secure Future Initiative - Microsoft On the Issues

Prioritizing security above all else - The Official Microsoft Blog

Even though these articles were general in nature, this got me thinking about the Microsoft Secure Network specifically as part of this wider Secure Future Initiative, so I searched for the former and looked a bit further down the page beyond the Microsoft articles until I found the following from Cloudflare, while the second similar article was found by adding Cloudflare to the search.

Cloudflare is now powering Microsoft Edge Secure Network

Cloudflare Powers Privacy Enhancing Features in Microsoft Edge Secure Network | Cloudflare

One of the linked articles within these two describes how this technology works in more detail, and it's worth mentioning that Microsoft has roughly the same number of datacenters worldwide that Cloudflare mentions at over 300, and this generally fits with the symptoms we've seen from these location issues as well.

1.1.1.1 + WARP: More features, still private

If you look at Microsoft Edge's VPN Browser page in the FAQ section, the descriptions of how this is intended to work shows that it roughly matches what we're seeing, though the issue is we're being consistently routed from a single datacenter, rather than the more geographically similar location that all of these articles indicate should be displayed.

Try Microsoft Edge's VPN Browser | Microsoft Edge

Can I use Edge Secure Network to obscure my location?

Edge Secure Network obscures your specific location and IP address from third parties, to prevent tracking and protect your privacy. Instead, websites and services will see a location that is geographically similar to yours, so you can still look up local movie times, nearby restaurants, and more – without compromising your personal data. Edge Secure Network VPN does not allow you to select a specific region or location for your traffic to route from. 

What I'm guessing based on all of this, is that either we're part of a smaller test group Microsoft is using to confirm this Edge Secure Network is functioning correctly, or possibly we've simply got some sort of conflicting issue within our individual configurations that's interfering with its proper operation.

Regardless of what's actually happening to cause our specific issues, we now at least know the true source of the attempts to reroute our traffic and how they're expected to operate. Based on the fact the number of datacenters in the US used for Microsoft Personal account - Edge Secure Network egress may be limited, this may as I guessed be a smaller test group than what will eventually exist. It's appears though, that even though this Cloudflare partnership and the Edge Secure Network itself are documented in these articles, apparently few within the Microsoft Support structure for Personal - consumer accounts are currently aware of how this works or may interact with customer systems.

I haven't tried to investigate whether any of this is documented in recent updates, but at least now we know what we're looking for. It's also important for those having these issues to know whether they personally are using one of the pre-release versions of the Edge browser, since those should have shown at least somewhat similar symptoms before they hit the general population using the final release clients.

Rob

So... I'm back. I've been posting to two different boards regarding this topic. Recap: I have a Lenovo Tablet that had this location discrepancy, worked w/three different MS Support folks, tried MANY recommended solutions. Nothing worked. I'd use a different time server and/or a coincidental windows update worked. I'm no longer in Olathe, KS and back in Sacramento, CA and can go back to setting the time zone automatically and the weather widget validates this.

Recent posts I've made now tell all that my Windows 11 desktop decided to make a change after an update and put me in again in Olathe, KS. Please understand, when you're logged in to the same MS account (and Google account) to do searches, etc. this location issue is complicating basic tasks. Now Google is providing me w/searches for Olathe, KS or asking me which location I want to use.

TODAY: The desktop wanted to install another update (2024-05 Cumulative Update Preview...W11 23H2 KB5037853). When completed and PC restarted, I'm now in Sandy Springs, GA!! A new Google search had me checking out the following:

Windows 11 Maps Shows Wrong Location: Fixed - NEXTOFWINDOWS.COM

I'd make "some" of the changes as others were already in place and I didn't feel it was necessary to uninstall/reinstall maps.

1. I disabled the Proxy Auto-Detect.
2. I did a repair / reset on the Map app.
3. Location history has been deleted a thousand times.
4. I did go into Services and turned Geolocation to "Automatic"

I stopped there, did another 'restart' and the weather widget now had my correct location! I turned Time Zone back to automatic and I'm still good?? But... now my tablet wants to install the same update. What will the outcome be...?

I have this same issue and it's super annoying. Edge, and the Maps app, in Windows 11, locates me in Boydton , VA, even though I'm in the Dallas, TX area. Chrome, however, does NOT have this issue, on the same system. Utterly ridiculous.

I had this exact same issue happen to me (and multiple other people have as well), all within the last two weeks. Doesn't seem to have anything to do with the ISP or any specific browsers. I think Windows location services are entirely failing for you and me, and the computer's default seems to be set to Boydton, since that's where the data center is.

I was able to band-aid the problem by going to Windows Settings -> Privacy & security -> Location, and changing the "Default location" setting via the "Set default" button.

This box should show up in the top-left corner with the Boydton address (I blocked out my own address which this is now set to). Click "Change" and enter your address, or alternatively you can click the "Choose location" thing under it and you can pick the exact spot you want the computer to think you are.

This allowed for everything I use to default to my address instead of defaulting to Boydton, hence "fixing" the issue since my PC isn't moving anywhere. This doesn't actually fix the issue with the location services that happened to people though, so if you bring your PC/laptop somewhere else and the issue still happens, you would have to do this again to match wherever you are.

Let me know if this doesn't work, since that would mean that the same issue appeared for multiple people at once but the band-aid solution doesn't work for every instance of it.

Yea, it is ridiculous. I've seen others post their location is also showing as Boydton, VA. Not a coincidence.

Also, I have IPv6 turned off and it still does this.

I have this same issue and it's super annoying. Edge, and the Maps app, in Windows 11, locates me in Boydton , VA, even though I'm in the Dallas, TX area. Chrome, however, < does NOT have this issue, on the same system. Utterly ridiculous.

< SNIP >

Rob

DB-D-M,

Okay, making my original post was proven wrong for at least your specific case, so I did some more research including both Windows 11 and general issues going back to at least Windows 10 and there are many different potential reasons for flaky results.

That got me interested in my own settings and as I suspected, I'd turned Off the 'Allow apps to access your location' in the Settings app, Privacy section titled Location long ago, most likely due to privacy concerns.  So, my own settings were actually controlled by either a default general setting for a nearby city or other possibly other more specific settings in various apps.

For some reason my own Microsoft Maps app was initially pointing at a location north of Toronto, which since I'd actually traveled there with this Surface Go tablet device a few years back, might actually have been near an Airbnb I stayed in, as it's also believable that I may have decided to turn location on during that trip.  This fits with some others' problems I read where old data seems to get stuck or possibly corrupts the result, possibly even being collected from data stored in your Microsoft account, though I have no way of knowing the source where this data was acquired.  That's why one of the solutions offered is typically to reset the history and mapping data related to both the Maps app and possibly others like Edge.

As soon as I turned On the Allow apps to access your location though, reopening the Maps app I'd previously closed went to, wait for it, the same Boydton, VA as yours and others you mentioned.

At this point, I decided to try the most potentially viable solution I'd read where a few had seen issues relating to time.  Looking in Windows Settings, Time & Language, I noticed though everything was set to operate automatically, and the Time zone was correct, the last successful synchronization had been over 3 hours previous.  I clicked the 'Sync now' button which brought the time current, then switched to the already open Maps app and clicked the Show my location dot in the middle of the control bar.  This instantly moved to my accurate location supposedly within 348 ft., which in fact was on the street just 2 houses away.

Now of course I should have tried that Show my location dot in the Maps app control bar before changing the time, but since the location had changed to Boydton. VA when I restarted the app, I assume that would have remained the same as it does now when I press it again.  So at least in my case, that particular Boydton, VA symptom was apparently resolved by resyncing the time manually.

My bet is that everyone here may have different issues as did those in the other threads I read through, so since this only discusses some of those, I'll also provide the link to the best thread I read in Microsoft's TechCommunity forums that provided most of what I've mentioned here in case it might aid someone else.  I'll also leave my own previous posts, since as I stated, the IP address data is what Microsoft actually uses, it still may aid someone who actually has that specific problem.

Geolocation wrong (really wrong) in Edge but correct in Chrome - Microsoft Community Hub

Rob