Why my Microsoft Services have locked in China mainland region?

Question

Last month I had a travel to China and I kept using apps on my phone.

Then I noticed lots of Microsoft apps showed the Chinese version to me....although I didn't mind at first.

But when I came back, I realized that the situation is far worse than I thought. Bing Search (www.bing.com) always redirects search results to China Bing Search (cn.bing.com) I also can't properly purchase phone numbers on Skype, or use Copilot (it keeps telling me that I've used up all my calls for the day, even though I've only just started a conversation).

How can I remove my region restrictions from Microsoft? I would also like to know if Microsoft has made such a restriction for mainland China users in order to provide the service?

Most importantly, how do I remove it? (My account's region setting is not China)

Answer 1

Dear Hakase SanSO，

Thank you for your reply.

Sorry for the delay in responding to your question.

We see that you have indicated that you have restarted the device and reconfirmed the information via the web site but there is still a problem with a particular service. We have made further inquiries and confirmed this.

We need to explain this to you:

As we can only help you to check whether the problem can be alleviated by checking the settings and the corresponding program information.

You can try to clear the cookies and browsing information in your browser:

Before doing so, please backup or save your favorite information and personal information in your browser to avoid losing your data.

If you are using Microsoft Edge, you can try to clear the cache information by clicking Settings - Personal Information - Clear Cache - “clear now”, and then log in again to see if the problem can be alleviated.

Also, you can try to reset your browser information, and after resetting it, log in to the corresponding Microsoft website and your account again to see if the region error is still displayed.

Disclaimer: Your browser automatically saves temporary internet files to help pages load faster. Clearing this cache will sometimes fix website issues. Please back up all your personal files first, such as Favorites, to ensure you do not lose data.

Clearing your browser information will also help us to ensure that your browser does not have any cookies from mainland China websites, so that no such information is detected.

In the meantime, since Microsoft Community is unable to directly view and confirm your account details, we still recommend that you try contacting our Account and Billing Support to help you get a better understanding of the status of your account, and to see if there are any errors in the display of your account that may be preventing you from switching regions:

<--Contact Microsoft Chat Support-->

1.Go to the following Web site: Contact - Microsoft Support

2.Select MSA (sign in to your personal Microsoft account).

3.Under Products and services, select options related to your product.

4.Under Category, select Account sign-in questions.

5.Go to Confirm.

6.Select Chat with a support representative or request a callback.

Please note that chat support has fixed working hours, if the last window prompt is not available, please try to open it again tomorrow

Hope it helps! If any update, welcome to share with us.

Thanks for your patience and understanding.

Best Regards,

Zenobia-MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

Answer 2

I have tried rebooting my device but this has had no effect, and trying to use Microsoft services on the web page does the same thing.

I used a SIM card provided by China Telecom while traveling.

However, I have noticed that it seems that my region restriction is not present with all Microsoft services...such as Xbox or Microsoft office 365. it is only with some specific services that the problem occurs!(Copilot, Skype,MSN and Bing have been specified.)

Answer 3

Dear Hakase SanSO，

Thank you for your reply.

Seeing that you indicated that the issue occurs on both your tablet and phone, do you have the information about using the appropriate SIM card in your tablet?

Also to confirm with you that you are not using your SIM card right now, did you reboot your phone or tablet when you pulled it out?

As Microsoft will not directly change your account regional settings information, but the concern is due to your cell phone settings information after you left mainland China, but still did not continue to detect the correct information to re-determine.

Meanwhile, seeing that you indicated that the country and region settings are not mainland China, are you confirming in Microsoft Dashboard that your account region settings show that it is no longer mainland China? Or have the settings in your phone or tablet also been changed to a region that is not Mainland China?

We suggest that you try to restart your phone or tablet and change the corresponding region setting through the setting information in your phone or tablet to see if it is effective.

We hope this will help you to further investigate whether the regional settings on your account and your device are related to the detection information of the web pages you open.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Best Regards,

Zenobia-MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

Answer 4

Well...I did insert the SIM card provided by China Telecom in my phone when I was traveling. But now I don't use that card anymore. And no matter if I use it on my tablet or my phone, I have similar problems: some of the services always redirect to mainland China websites (e.g. buying a number on Skype goes to skype.gmw.cn), and some don't work at all (e.g. Copilot, as mentioned above).

And by the way,my country & region setting is NOT CHINA MAINLAND.

Answer 5

Dear Hakase SanSO，

Welcome to Microsoft Community.

We understand that your are using the application on your phone, but your program is displayed in Chinese and you need to change the account area.

According to your description, the regional setting of account information needs to be explained to you:

Microsoft does not target users in mainland China to do targeted regional restrictions, in general, after you change the region of the pipe, your phone settings information if you also changed back to your own region of the information, your display will also be changed.

When you see that you are using the application on your cell phone, we need to confirm with you, what is your cell phone model? Are you using an Android or iPhone?

In order to better help you confirm the problem, you can use the following to help check the detailed configuration information of your phone and account:

1. Confirm whether you have inserted a Chinese SM card into your phone：

Since mainland China requires the insertion of an SM card to ensure the normal use of your phone, you can try to confirm whether you have inserted the appropriate card, and if so, you can try to remove the SM card and then re-login to your Microsoft account to confirm your display information.

2. Confirm the regional settings of your account:

You can login to Microsoft Dashboard: Microsoft account | Sign in now or Create your account - Microsoft Under “Your Information”, you can check your country and region as well as determine your language display.

If it says China, you can try to change your region by clicking on the country or region information. After you change it, you will need to log out of your Microsoft account in other programs on your phone and log back in to see if the change is successful.

If you are still unable to change your account region information after trying to change it, we will need to explain this to you:

Due to the account area and setting information need to involve your personal privacy information, the community forum is mainly for families and individuals for the system or office software basic technical support, Microsoft community tools limitations, we can not directly help you directly view and change the account personal information information.

This process may include confirming your Microsoft account and other personal information. In order to avoid disclosure of this information in a public forum, I can not state that you investigate this situation, but I will direct you to the appropriate place.

<--Contact Microsoft Chat Support-->

1.Go to the following Web site: Contact - Microsoft Support.

2.Select MSA (sign in to your personal Microsoft account).

3.Under Products and services, select options related to your product.

4.Under Category, select Manage profile information.

5.Go to Confirm.

6.Select Chat with a support representative or request a callback.

Please note that chat support has fixed working hours, if the last window prompt is not available, please try to open it again tomorrow

Hope it helps! If any update, welcome to share with us.

Thanks for your patience and understanding.

Best Regards,

Zenobia-MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist