Location Issue on my laptop with Windows 11

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.

Chrome browser by Google has always used their own location services that include the Wi-Fi and other location data that they've spent decades developing, which aren't available to Microsoft who instead typically use the less precise and often less accurate IP addressing scheme.

There's nothing ridiculous about this at all, it's simply the fact that Google had evolved their location services based on their Android phones that now typically require GPS devices, and also their Google Maps picture database and the comparison mapping done whenever you set up a new phone, since this allows them complete access to your personal information including your Wi-Fi SSID among other data that Google collects about everyone.

Did you read my previous post above and take the time to check whether the Microsoft Account - Activity page indicates that your device is now connecting using IPv6 addresses rather than the older IPv4? If so, it's likely that this is the change that's actually occurred that is causing the inaccurate location information, since these new IPv6 addresses often haven't been used before and thus may not be accurate in the registration information that's the responsibility of your Internet ISP to maintain.

This is a classic problem when using PC type equipment that rarely contain GPS devices, though as I stated above, it's generally been fixed long ago for the older IPv4 addresses, since those were typically assigned decades ago and since there's far less of them, it was a smaller problem to solve as well.

The entire reason that IPv6 was created was to massively expand the number of IP addresses from the relatively small, legacy IPv4 address space of roughly 4 billion, to 1,028 times as many with IPv6. However, that obviously also increases the problem of inaccurate locations exponentially as well, which is simply part of what Microsoft knew would have to be improved by both Regional Internet Registries (RIR's) and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) when they started to make the evolution to switch to the new addressing scheme on their own servers roughly a year or two ago.

Understanding IPv6 Geolocation: Challenges and Tools

Someone above asked about reverting to the old IPv4 addresses to solve this, but that's really not a good idea, since IPv6 will be the future. Instead, it's better if those of you having these issues first confirm that the addresses you're getting are either IPv4, for example something like 123.123.123.123, or instead the much longer IPv6 that looks like 3002:0bd6:0000:0000:0000:ee00:0033:6778.

If this recently changed, which you can easily see by looking back at previous login history on that same Microsoft Activity page, then go to either your ISP's Support forums or other offerings and look for others asking these same questions. If there aren't any, start a new thread there to ask whether they've properly set up the location information for the IPv6 addresses they assign to your routers or other devices within your home.

You'll also see in the article above that using things like a VPN or other similar routing issues can affect what the servers at the other end of a connection perceive as your location, so make sure you aren't using one of these before blaming the issue on anyone else including your ISP.

My assumption is that the recent Windows Updates that seem to have kicked this issue off for many PC users most likely included some improvements to the IPv6 support for the networking components in your device, resulting in your own device acquiring an IPv6 address that as long as all of the other devices (routers and switches) on the Internet between you and the Microsoft servers support IPv6 as well, will result in the initial attempt to connect using IPv6. Since most of these major Internet devices have supported IPv6 for over a decade, it's often only the client devices at home that needed an updated driver for this to work.

Rob

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.

Thanks very much Rob. Do you know if there is a way to force W11 to revert to IPV4 addresses, and thus reset my W11 location based on the more accurate, if older, IPV4 addressing by my ISP?

My ISP, by the way, is Starlink. I suspected Starlink was the problem, but then again an iPhone and IPads at my current address and none of them gets the address wrong. But as you said, that may be because those devices have GPS location components that my laptop does not.

Nick

Take a look in the Recent Activity page in the Security section of your Microsoft account to see which type of IP address is being used to identify your login location for each device.

My bet is that since Microsoft had enabled the ability for their servers to support the newer IPv6 addressing sometime last year, that more and more individual computers, especially those supporting the newer drivers and technologies provided with Windows 11, are likely ending up with IPv6 addresses, leading to those being used by devices for the first time in many cases.

What this means is that though the old IPv4 addresses have been around forever and the locations associated with them have been adjusted at least to some extent long ago, in many cases the new IPv6 addresses have been used far less often and so in some cases may not yet contain valid location information.

Since that information is the responsibly of both Regional Internet Registries and for the morre3 detailed location information, the Internet Service Providers, this isn't something that Microsoft itself has any control over. Though people have become accustomed to quite accurate information relating to their personal smartphones, they forget that these actually contain a geolocation device using the GPS satellite location services, while at worst they can typically be roughly located using the cell phone tower(s) they're using, while the typically PC or tablet doesn't usually have these abilities and is more often located using its IP address.

Here's an article discussing these issues relating to IPv6 and Geolocation.

Understanding IPv6 Geolocation: Challenges and Tools

So if you determine your device is being attached to Microsoft servers using IPv6, it's most likely IPv6 involved and even if this isn't true, it's still highly likely it's your ISP or other network provider that's responsible for the inaccurate location information, since that's not something that Microsoft would handle other than for its own server or other internet facing network locations it's directly responsible for.

Rob

Agreed. When using Google search, i.e. to shop a product, it'll use the location on the PC to direct you to nearby stores. I am not jumping in my car to drive to drive 1,746 miles. As you indirectly suggested, this creates a loss of business to many local vendors and creates physical impact when immediate local care is needed. That's when I headed back to these boards. I've made several comments on other boards. Either a fluke or using a different time server (via Control Panel) got my tablet back to an accurate functional state but again, the desktop now wants to be in Olathe, KS.

There has to be a common denominator though as both the tablet and desktop, in DIFFERENT time frames, want to identify w/Olathe, KS vs. Sacramento, CA. Regardless Microsoft - fix it. This isn't on xFinity or others providing our Wi-Fi service.