Enable Windows Location Services

Enable Windows Location Services

This document explains the execution, parameters, operations, changes, and troubleshooting for the PowerShell script enable-location-services.ps1.

• Requires: Run PowerShell as Administrator
• OS: Windows
• Output: Console messages (optional), transcript file in C:\Temp when -Silent is used

Purpose

Enable Windows Location Services system-wide and for the current user:

• Start and set Geolocation Service (lfsvc) to Automatic
• Clear any policy that disables location
• Set system flag to turn Location Services ON
• Enable user-level app capability for location
• Optional reboot and optional silent transcript logging

Parameters

• -ForceReboot: Reboots the machine after changes are applied
• -Silent: Suppresses console output and writes a transcript to C:\Temp\location-enable.log

Exit codes:

• 0: Success (may include non-fatal warnings)
• 10: Service configuration failure (lfsvc)
• 20: Policy update failure (HKLM policy)
• 30: Registry configuration status failure (system toggle)
• 40: User consent failure (HKCU capability)

Execution Flow

1. Admin Rights Check

• Verifies the process is elevated using WindowsPrincipal
• If not administrator, script terminates with error guidance

2. Optional Silent Transcript

• If -Silent:
  • Ensures C:\Temp exists
  • Starts transcript C:\Temp\location-enable.log (append mode)
  • Suppresses Write-Host messages; warnings/errors still recorded

3. Geolocation Service (lfsvc)

• Get-Service lfsvc
• If StartupType != Automatic:
  • Set-Service -StartupType Automatic
• If Status != Running:
  • Start-Service lfsvc
• On failure:
  • Warn and set exit code 10 (continues processing)

4. Clear Group Policy that disables location

• Path: HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Location
• Value: DisableLocation (DWORD)
• If present, set DisableLocation=0 (enables location)
• On failure:
  • Warn and set exit code 20 (continues processing)

5. Enable system Location Services flag

• Path: HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\lfsvc\Service\Configuration
• Value: Status (DWORD, 1=On, 0=Off)
• Ensures key exists, sets Status=1
• On failure:
  • Warn and set exit code 30 (continues processing)

6. Allow user-level location capability

• Path: HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\CapabilityAccessManager\ConsentStore\location
• Value: Value (String, 'Allow')
• Ensures path exists, sets Value='Allow'
• On failure:
  • Warn and set exit code 40 (continues processing)

7. Final Output and Reboot

• If not -Silent: prints success guidance and suggests sign-out/in or reboot if the toggle remains Off
• If -ForceReboot:
  • Optional countdown, stops transcript, Restart-Computer -Force
• Else:
  • Stops transcript (if any), exits with accumulated exit code

What Gets Changed

• Service lfsvc (Geolocation Service)

  • StartupType: Automatic
  • Status: Running

• Policy override (HKLM)

  • HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Location\DisableLocation = 0 (if present)

• System configuration (HKLM)

  • HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\lfsvc\Service\Configuration\Status = 1

• User capability (HKCU)

  • HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\CapabilityAccessManager\ConsentStore\location\Value = 'Allow'

Usage

Run PowerShell as Administrator.