Windows 11 Find my device is not working

Question

Windows 11 Find my device is not working

Paul S 0

I have a quite new Surface laptop that I am trying to ensure I will be able to find if lost. When I use another laptop and and log into https://account.microsoft.com/devices/find--my-device and press the Find button I get the message "We can't locate your device right now, try again later". On the Surface laptop I get a notification "An administrator tried to locate this device...".

The Privacy & Security > Find my device is enabled on the Surface laptop. I am also logged into both the Surface and the other laptop that I am using to locate it. Both laptops are using the same Wi-Fi and next to each other on a table.

Any ideas what may be happening, and how to correct it?

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3 answers

Your answer

Answer 1

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.

Answer 2

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.

Answer 3

Alex-L 12,570 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi Paul S

The notification "Administrator tried to locate this device" suggests the Find My Device request is reaching the Surface, but the device is not successfully reporting its location back to Microsoft's service.

Please check:

Settings > Privacy & Security > Location → Ensure Location services is turned On.
Settings > Privacy & Security > Find my device → Turn it Off, restart the Surface, then turn it back On.
Verify the Surface is signed in with the same Microsoft account shown on the Devices page.
Install any pending Windows and Surface firmware updates and test again.

A couple of questions:

Is Location services enabled on the Surface?
Does the device appear correctly under your Microsoft Devices page with the expected device name?

Feel free to update here if anything comes up!

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Paul S 0 Reputation points

2026-08-03T02:25:13.2+00:00

I tried all the suggestions, nothing has worked. Any other suggestions on how to troubleshoot and resolve this?
Alex-L 12,570 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-08-03T14:20:50.23+00:00
Hi Paul S

If Find My Device is enabled, Location Services work, and Windows Maps can determine your location, yet the portal still shows "Can't locate device now, try again later," the issue is likely not a settings problem on your Surface.

At this point, I recommend:

Testing on a different network (such as a mobile hotspot) to rule out a network-related issue.

Running the Surface Diagnostic Toolkit or Surface Repair Tool to check for firmware or system issues.

Contacting Microsoft Surface Support with screenshots showing:

Find My Device enabled

Location Services enabled

The error message from the Devices portal

The device listed under your Microsoft account

Since the device receives the "administrator attempted to locate this device" notification, the request is reaching the Surface, but the location data is not being successfully returned to the service.