How to Completely Disable ‘Location Access’ (Geolocation) via Group Policy in Microsoft Edge

Modern web applications frequently utilize the HTML5 Geolocation API to request the user’s physical location. This data is used to provide localized search results, targeted advertising, or region-specific functionality. In Microsoft Edge, the browser brokers these requests, either estimating the location via Wi-Fi triangulation and IP address mapping or polling the host Windows operating system’s location services. While convenient for consumer applications, exposing geographic coordinates is a severe operational security (OPSEC) and privacy liability in enterprise, military, or highly secure remote-work environments. Allowing untrusted websites to arbitrarily query the physical location of a corporate endpoint can compromise user safety, reveal the geographic topology of distributed workforces, and violate strict data sovereignty regulations.

This guide explains how to completely disable ‘Location Access’ (Geolocation) via Group Policy in Microsoft Edge, enforcing a strict zero-trust boundary that prevents any website from utilizing the HTML5 Geolocation API.

Disable Location Access via Group Policy

To enforce a strict configuration that explicitly strips the Chromium engine of its ability to process geolocation requests, thereby overriding any user-defined site settings, we must deploy an administrative template.

1. Log into Windows with an Administrator account.
2. Press the Windows Key + R to open the Run dialogue box.
3. Type gpedit.msc and press Enter to launch the Local Group Policy Editor.
4. In the left-hand navigation pane, strictly follow this exact path:

   Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Microsoft Edge

5. In the right-hand pane, locate the policy named Default geolocation setting (internally known as DefaultGeolocationSetting).
6. Double-click the policy to open its configuration window.
7. Select the radio button next to Enabled.
8. Under the Options section, locate the dropdown menu labeled “Default geolocation setting”.
9. Explicitly select Do not allow any site to track the users physical location (Value: 2). (By explicitly setting this to ‘Block’, we instruct the browser’s permission broker to instantly and silently deny all geolocation requests via the API, guaranteeing that no coordinates are ever passed to the DOM layer).
10. Click Apply, then click OK.

Verify the Configuration Lockdown

Group Policy changes modifying the Chromium permissions broker require the browser to restart to apply the new security baseline.

Close all active instances of Microsoft Edge. To force the policy update immediately across the OS, open Command Prompt as Administrator and run gpupdate /force. To verify the restriction is active, launch Microsoft Edge and navigate to edge://settings/content/location. You will find that the global toggle for “Ask before accessing” is completely greyed out and locked in the “Blocked” state. At the top of the settings page, a briefcase icon will state, “Your browser is managed by your organization.” If you navigate to a website that attempts to use the HTML5 Geolocation API (such as Google Maps or a location-testing tool), the request will be automatically denied without any prompt appearing to the user, ensuring total OPSEC compliance.