Microsoft Edge detects the wrong location

Question

When I open Edge it shows me weather from the wrong location not where I actually live. How do I change this?

Answer 1

Hello SandyMasia,

I'm John an Independent Advisor and a Microsoft user like you. I want to apologize if you encountered this issue. I understand you have a problem with Microsoft Edge detects the wrong location.

Close Microsoft Edge

Press Start then search Settings

Select Privacy then Location on the left side

Under Default location, select Set default.

On the search bar, Please look for the specific location that you want to set.

Open Microsoft Edge then check again

I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any further concerns.

Sincerely

John DeV

Independent Advisor

Answer 2

I did more research into this.

Microsoft Edge determines your location using MAPS, an app within Windows 10.

Go to windows-button and type in "Maps" to open.

MAPS will use your location from your GPS chip on your device but if you have a PC without a GPS chip like me, MAPS will geolocate your location based on your ISP IP address.  In my case, it's using a location that might have once been affiliated with my IP address 250 miles away in NJ.  This is the exact same wrong location (down to the street address) that Microsoft Edge is using.

If I do a "whois lookup" for my IP address I see it's currently referencing 3 neighboring towns to my town in MA.  So, I don't know why MAPS cannot properly geolocate my IP address.  In any event, Windows 10 gives you a way to change the "default location" in MAPS:

Click the elipse in the upper right, go to settings, and click "change default location."

This can also be accessed by going into Windows 10 settings/location/privacy/location and click "default location."

Both methods above (MAPS and W10 settings) do the same thing which is change your default location.

One would think that would fix this problem but it doesn't.

When I go into MAPS it still uses my wrong geolocation.

Furthermore, when I go into Edge (then Google and type in "my location" in the search bar) is still uses that same erroneous location.

I tried disabling MAPS permission to use my location so that the correct entered default location would be the only location associated with my PC.

When I go into MAPS it shows no location and when I click the location button it says it can't locate my location.  When I go into Edge it still shows me the old, incorrect NJ location.

When I re-enable the ability for MAPS to access my location then upon going into MAPS I go to that same incorrect NJ location.

So, it seems the Windows 10 bugs are twofold:

(1) the MAPS geolocation is not correct (for me off by 250 miles)

(2) when you enter a "default location" in MAPS it does not over-ride the existing geolocation as it should to fix this problem

There is a link to a fix along the lines of above that will explain this in more detail but, like I said, the fix doesn't work as I tried to describe.  But here it is:

https://www.howtogeek.com/264809/how-to-set-your-default-location-for-windows-10-apps/

If anyone knows how to override MAPS "location" with an entered "default location" please let us know.

Otherwise, Microsoft should fix this.

Chrome does not have this problem because they are not using Windows MAPS to determine the geolocation.  In fact, they are not doing a geolocation because when I go into Chrome and within google type in "my location" it shows my exact city not the neighboring towns that my IP address is associated with.  So, Chrome has the intelligence to associate my location with my profile either as part of my Google account or as a cookie in my Chrome browser.  All I know is it works in Chrome but not Edge and that doesn't make Edge look very good.

I submitted a problem-report about this to Microsoft Feedback Hub which you can comment-on to get Microsoft to notice this issue.  Go to:

https://aka.ms/AAbx35c

Answer 3

This did not solve my problem!

I am in NE Scotland but when searching for something near me, Microsoft edge keeps showing Belfast in Ireland!

I followed the instructions, which I have already done previously, but it made no difference, it still thinks I am in Belfast!

Answer 4

Edge detects the wrong location while Chrome detects the correct location on the same computer at the same time with the same settings.

I have the latest version of Windows 10 Pro (version 20H2  with Edge Version 89.0.774.75 (Official build) (64-bit). I also have the latest version of Google Chrome Version 89.0.4389.114 (Official Build) (64-bit)

This problem has persisted for as long as I've owned the PC which is for the last 9 months.

Browser location settings are enabled (location allowed) for the site www.google.com and maps.google.com on both browsers.

When I type "my location" in google.com in Edge it shows NJ (250 miles away from me) and when I type "my location" in Chrome it shows MA 

(and my correct precise location with MA). Same thing happens if I go into Google Maps site and type in my location.

If I do a whois location lookup on my IP address it shows a few MA locations show I thought maybe Edge was not using my precise location but the location for the ISP IP address but that isn't the case.

This is very annoying because anytime I open google in Edge and look for a local store I have to manually key-in my actual location.

Any suggestions on how to fix this?

Answer 5

This didn't work for me. :/