Windows 10: Turn On or Off Find My Device in Windows 10

How to: Turn On or Off Find My Device in Windows 10

How to Turn On or Off Find My Device in Windows 10


The Find My Device feature is now included for Windows 10 PCs starting in Windows 10 build 10565.

Find My Device for Windows 10 PCs, like Find My Phone for Windows 10 Mobile phones, will allow Microsoft to save your device's GPS location periodically. This way if you lose your device, or your device gets stolen, you will be able to see it's last known location in Your devices online at Microsoft for the same Microsoft account you sign in to the device with.

If you have Find My Device turned on, your device will update its location periodically if it's connected to the internet.

Starting with Windows 10 build 17115, Windows 10 has gotten a new privacy screen settings layout.

This tutorial will show you how to turn on or off Find My Device to be able to see the last known location of your Windows 10 PC (desktop, laptop, tablet, etc...) in your Microsoft account online.

*Warning You must be signed in as an administrator account to be able to turn on or off Find My Device.


CONTENTS:

• Option One: To Turn On or Off Find My Device during Windows Setup
• Option Two: To Turn On or Off Find My Device in Settings
• Option Three: To Turn On or Off Find My Device using a REG file
• Option Four: Enable or Disable Find My Device in Local Group Policy Editor
• Option Five: Enable or Disable Find My Device using a REG file

EXAMPLE: Find My Device









OPTION ONE [/i] To Turn On or Off Find My Device during Windows Setup
1. When you get to Choose privacy settings for your device during Windows Setup while doing a clean install of Windows 10, you can turn on (default) or off the Find my device privacy setting for what you want. (see screenshots below)











OPTION TWO [/i] To Turn On or Off Find My Device in Settings
1. Open Settings, and click/tap on the Update & security icon.

2. Do step 3 (on) or step 4 (off) below for what you would like to do.


3. To Turn On Find My Device for Windows 10 PC
*note If you have not already, you will need to first turn on location for this device before you will be able to turn on Find My Device.

Your device only sends its location if it’s connected to Wi-Fi and has enough battery power.
A) Click/tap on Find My Device on the left side.

B) Click/tap on the Change button under Find my device: OFF on the right side.

C) Turn on Save my device's location periodically, and go to step 5 below.





4. To Turn Off Find My Device for Windows 10 PC
A) Click/tap on Find My Device on the left side.

B) Click/tap on the Change button under Find my device: ON on the right side.

C) Turn off Save my device's location periodically, and go to step 5 below.




5. You can now close Settings if you like.





OPTION THREE [/i] To Turn On or Off Find My Device using a REG file

*note If you have not already, you will need to first turn on location for this device before you will be able to turn on Find My Device.

The downloadable .reg files below will modify the DWORD value in the registry key below.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Settings\FindMyDevice

LocationSyncEnabled DWORD

0 = Off
1 = On


1. Do step 2 (on) or step 3 (off) below for what you would like to do.


2. To Turn On Find My Device
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 4 below.

Turn_On_Find_My_Device.reg

Download
3. To Turn Off Find My Device
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 4 below.

Turn_Off_Find_My_Device.reg

Download
4. Save the .reg file to your desktop.

5. Double click/tap on the downloaded .reg file to merge it.

6. When prompted, click/tap on Run, Yes (UAC), Yes, and OK to approve the merge.

7. If you like, you can delete the downloaded .reg file if you like.





OPTION FOUR [/i] Enable or Disable Find My Device in Local Group Policy Editor

*note If disabled, this option will override Option One, Option Two, and Option Three.

The Local Group Policy Editor is only available in the Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise, and Education editions.

All editions can use Option Five below.


1. Open the Local Group Policy Editor.

2. In the left pane of the Local Group Policy Editor, click/tap on to expand Computer Configuration, Administrative Templates, Windows Components, and Find My Device. (see screenshot below)



3. In the right pane of Find My Device, double click/tap on the Turn On/Off Find My Device policy to edit it. (see screenshot above)

4. Do step 5 (enable) or step 6 (disable) below for what you would like to do.


5. To Enable Find My Device
A) Select (dot) Not Configured or Enabled, click/tap on OK, and go to step 7 below. (see screenshot below)

*note Not Configured is the default setting.

6. To Disable Find My Device
A) Select (dot) Disabled, click/tap on OK, and go to step 7 below. (see screenshot below)




7. When finished, you can close the Local Group Policy Editor if you like.





OPTION FIVE [/i] Enable or Disable Find My Device using a REG file

*note If disabled, this option will override Option One, Option Two, and Option Three.

The downloadable .reg files below will add and modify the DWORD value in the registry key below.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\FindMyDevice

AllowFindMyDevice DWORD

(delete) = Enable
0 = Disable


1. Do step 2 (enable) or step 3 (disable) below for what you would like to do.


2. To Enable Find My Device
*note This is the default setting.
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 4 below.

Enable_Find_My_Device.reg

Download

3. To Disable Find My Device
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 4 below.

Disable_Find_My_Device.reg

Download
4. Save the .reg file to your desktop.

5. Double click/tap on the downloaded .reg file to merge it.

6. When prompted, click/tap on Run, Yes (UAC), Yes, and OK to approve the merge.

7. You can now delete the downloaded .reg file if you like.

That's it,
Shawn


Related Tutorials

• How to Use Find My Device for Windows 10 PCs
• How to Turn On or Off Location Service in Windows 10
• How to Turn On or Off Find My Phone in Windows 10 Mobile Phone
• How to Find Your Child in Microsoft Family on a Map
• How to Turn On or Off Improve Inking & Typing Recognition in Windows 10

:)

 

How to track a stolen device

If find my device was turned on it might help:

Find My Device - Turn On or Off in Windows 10

 

IP address location

Windows 10 has a find my device feature that is by default turned off though. If you have turned it ON, you can see the location of your device at
http://account.microsoft.com

 

Hello dalchina, *Smile

Only an internet connection is required. It doesn't matter how.

"Find My Device" appears to only be available for portable PC's and devices, and not for desktop PCs. My desktop PC is listed in "My Devices" at Microsoft. I tested by only having a Wi-Fi connection on the desktop with Ethernet unplugged, restarted the computer, and no "Find My Device" feature available.

It would be nice if "Find My Device" was an available option to turn on/off for desktop PCs as well.

 

Hi Brink, thanks.. When I tried Prey a long time back, an ethernet connection showed my ISP's location about 20 miles away, whilst Wifi was accurate.. so I'm wondering about this.

Just found out.. Location has to be on.
And Location was on.. before the Nov upgrade to 10586... Hmm. Still waiting for my location to be detected....

Now note that Settings allows 'Find this device' to be enabled without Location on... Oops.
Took the opportunity to mention that to an MS answer tech..

 

Is there ANY way to enable this on a desktop? Some sort of registry hack to trick it into thinking the desktop is actually a laptop?

 

Hello xtrike9999,

Not that I'm aware of. *Sad

 

Dang. It would really be a helpful feature for desktops too in case they're stolen or something.

 

I can't manually edit it can you tell me how to edit it from registry? or add registry download option like you do in all threads, thanks *Smile

 

Hello @ameeralhindi, *Smile

I have added OPTION TWO to help. Just to note, location services must be turned on first to be able to turn on Find My Device.

 

Thank you so much it was on sadly! I know location services must be turned on but i like to turn everything i don't use in windows off since i'm gaming on shitty laptop, This might be off-topic, i know there is forum for gaming but why you don't make big guide about how to otpimize windows 10 for gaming and turn everything gamer don't need of and boost FPS to the max you know... *Wink

 

You're most welcome. *Smile

If you like, the tutorial below to help optimize the performance of Windows will also help some with game performance.

Optimize Performance of Windows 10

 

Mr @Brink i just watched it that's why i asked you to make Gaming one, a already done everything but i'm sure there is more tweaks you know ... *Smile Thanks again good job