Pop up: Location is turned off in system settings reappear again, this is on word version 2605 (monthly enterprise channel)

James 35 Reputation points
2026-06-16T00:41:59.1766667+00:00

Pop up: Location is turned off in system settings reappear again, this is on word version 2605 (monthly enterprise channel)

There was a patch which fixed the issue, it has reappear on our environment again.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For business | Windows
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Answer accepted by question author
Sophie N 18,175 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
2026-06-16T04:46:33.71+00:00

Dear @James,

I understand how frustrating it is when a previously patched issue resurfaces in your environment, especially on a stable track like the Monthly Enterprise Channel.

This prompt occurs when the embedded WebView2 runtime component which powers cloud-integrated UI elements like Microsoft Copilot or cloud storage handshakes within Word attempts to call the Windows Geolocation API. If your organization group policy blocks Windows Location Services at the OS level, WebView2 flags it and pushes this notification to the top corner of the application interface.

While Microsoft previously addressed this in an earlier build (such as Build 19530.20220), recent backend updates in Version 2605 have triggered a regression in how WebView2 inherits these permissions.

To bypass the operating system's location block and permanently suppress the popup across your fleet, you can enforce a WebView2 policy via Registry or Group Policy. This explicitly tells the embedded browser engine to automatically deny the request rather than prompting the user.  

You can push the following configuration via Intune, GPO, or a local administrative script:

  • Registry Path: HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge\WebView2
  • Value Name: DefaultGeolocationSetting
  • Value Type: REG_DWORD
  • Value Data: 2 (Setting this value to 2 completely suppresses the warning by enforcing a global "Block" state for the API call).

For immediate testing on an affected machine, open Command Prompt as an Administrator and execute:User's image

reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge\WebView2" /v DefaultGeolocationSetting /t REG_DWORD /d 2 /f

(Note: Ensure all active instances of Microsoft Word and background Office processes are closed before applying so the WebView2 container re-initializes with the new policy).

Please refer to this document: Microsoft Edge WebView2 Policy Documentation | Microsoft Learn

If you have individual users seeking an immediate UI-based fix while you deploy the registry key, disabling the "Optional connected experiences" layer inside the client stops the underlying background process from querying the API:

  • Open Word and navigate to File > Account.
  • Under Account Privacy, select Manage Settings.
  • Scroll down to Optional connected experiences and uncheck the box, then click OK and restart Word. User's image

For your reference, you can track structural updates or historical patch notes regarding this behavior on the official Users get the message "Location is turned off in system settings" when working with Word files in W…

Please let me know if applying the WebView2 registry policy successfully silences the banner in your environment.

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