Find my device issue with laptop that had Windows 11 reinstalled on it

Question

Find my device issue with laptop that had Windows 11 reinstalled on it

EliB 0

Hi Recently Microsoft updated its accounts page and finally my reformatted laptop is showing up in the find my device tab. This is new as for more than 6 months the find my device/windows account page was not showing my reformatted laptop. Seems like Microsoft figured out that bug.

There is a new problem. Most of the time when I click find I get the response "we can't locate your device right now, try again later." This is despite being on Wi-Fi and having my location and find my device turned on. Sometimes it give me a correct location. Any ideas as to why this is happening?

Of note, on my laptop I get nonfictions that an administrator tried to locate the device on account.microsoft.com so clearly servers and laptop are communicating. Its almost as if something is wrong with the location settings on the laptop although find my device, location services and let apps access your location are all turned on.

thank you in advance

E

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3 answers

Your answer

Answer 1

Find my device relies on two key things working reliably on the laptop:

A successful connection to Microsoft’s service using the signed‑in Microsoft account (as an administrator).
Windows location services being able to determine the device’s location at the moment the request is made.

From the context:

Find my device only works if the device is signed in with a Microsoft account that is an administrator and the device’s location setting is turned on.
The Microsoft location service uses GPS (if available), nearby wireless access points/routers, cell towers, IP address, or a default location to determine where the device is.

The notifications on the laptop that an administrator tried to locate the device show that the account and service connection are working. The intermittent “we can’t locate your device right now” message usually indicates that, at that moment, Windows location services cannot get a usable position fix from any of its sources (for example, weak Wi‑Fi environment, no GPS, or temporary issues resolving location from network data).

Because location is derived from multiple signals and can vary in accuracy, it is expected that sometimes the service can show a correct location and other times it cannot locate the device at all, even though the device is online and the settings are enabled.

References:

Answer 2

Anonymous

Hi there,

Thank you for posting your question here!

This is a common behavior with Find my device on Windows 11, especially after a reinstall. The administrator notification confirms the laptop is communicating correctly with your Microsoft account. The issue is that most laptops do not have GPS and just rely on Wi Fi and network data for location, which can fail at times. If Windows cannot get a location at the exact moment you click Find, it shows the “can’t locate your device right now” message even though all settings are enabled. Because location depends on changing network signals, getting inconsistent results is normal and is a limitation of Find my device.

To help the Community and guide others with the same concern please let us know if this reply solved your problem by clicking Yes or No below.

Best Regards,

Angelique P.

EliB 0 Reputation points

2026-04-30T18:06:24.9166667+00:00

The thing that I don't understand is that this does not seem to be an issue at all on my other PC laptop that does not have a reinstall. It seems to update the location on occasion on its own and when I click find it usually will say "we can't locate your device right now, try again later." Also, the Battery level is reported as unknown. The laptop is running Windows for ARM

Again this is not the case with my other laptop whose location and battery level are consistently reported (and again no reinstall). The laptop is running regular Windows (Ryzen chip)

Why the issues only with the reformatted ARM laptop?

thank you

E
Anonymous

2026-04-30T19:07:13.54+00:00

Your Ryzen laptop works because it has a long continuous history with Microsoft services, so location and battery reporting are stable. The reformatted Windows on ARM laptop was treated as a brand-new device, and Windows on ARM has less mature background telemetry. The battery showing as unknown is a key sign that hardware data is not being reliably reported, which also impacts Find my device. Because of that, location updates are inconsistent and manual Find requests often fail. This is normal for a reinstalled ARM device and not an issue with your account or settings.
EliB 0 Reputation points

2026-05-11T15:58:59.61+00:00

Hi. the Microsoft cloud must have been updated: both laptops are now showing up accurately, with find my device updating in real time and showing battery percentage!

Answer 3

I had this problem on two Windows 11 PCs. Simply turning Find My Device off and back on did not fix it.

What worked on both machines was deleting the stale ChannelUrlExpiration registry value and then toggling Find My Device.

Open Command Prompt or PowerShell as Administrator and run:

reg delete "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MdmCommon\SettingValues" /v ChannelUrlExpiration /f

Then go to Settings → Privacy & security → Find my device, turn Find My Device Off, then turn it On again.

Windows will recreate the registry value automatically. Find My Device then worked immediately on both PCs.

If the usual Off/On fix isn't working, this may be worth trying.

As always when modifying the registry, make a backup first.