Forum Discussion
MS Supervisor said Find my Device only works with Surface devices and not desktops
Good morning. I have been having an issue with location settings on my Microsoft account for Find my Device. I am using a Windows 11 Desktop. After a repair install of Windows my location in devices worked briefly. Now the account and devices links on my dashboard bring up a screen with empty gray boxes. When trying to switch to them from a working link I get this screen very quickly pop up:
After 4 chats with Microsoft support a Supervisor came online and said that you could not find your PC with a Desktop, only a surface device. What? Then they said I should reach out to HP and then asked if I was all set. I have never had someone with no idea what to do next just make something up and ask if they can go.
2 Replies
Thank you for responding. It is working for the moment but after the chat I had we didn't do anything different. Last night before bed I checked and it was active and again this morning. But from yesterday before and after the horrible chat nothing was adjusted or changed.
I do have my MS account on admistrator and all settings for Find my Device have been active.
I started a new chat as I was very upset at this. I explained what happened with the case number and the new representative contacted his supervisor and had him call me out of the blue. He said he read what I had happened and apologized profusely as he knows that is a feature of a desktop. He agreed that it sounded after the long chat the rep and his supervisor had no clue what was happening and just wanted to exit the call.
He was escalating it for me to his upper technical team and said I would be contacted back within 24-48 hours, so by tomorrow afternoon. Like I said it is working but after going back out the other day I do not know if it is resolved or will last.
Find My Device is not limited to Surface; Microsoft documents it for any Windows PC. The confusion may come from registration: only Surface devices can be added manually by serial number, while other Windows 11 PCs are added automatically when you sign in. Your screenshot shows the Microsoft account Devices portal returning “Sorry, something went wrong,” not that the desktop is unsupported. On the PC, confirm Settings > Accounts > Your info shows the personal Microsoft account and administrator status. Enable Settings > Privacy & security > Location and Find my device, keep the PC online, and restart. Sign out of the Microsoft account dashboard, then retry Devices in an Edge InPrivate window or after clearing its site data. Allow up to 24 hours for the device list to refresh. If the error appears in another browser, save its TraceId and UTC time and open a Microsoft account support case.
