How to find my stolen laptop location?
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How to find my stolen laptop location?
Greetings, I have a ASUS Vivobook laptop and unfortunately my laptop was stolen yesterday. I have completed some basic formalities to get back my laptop and not getting any solutions, I am here to find my laptop back.
I am trying to track the stolen location. But friends after reaching out at this point
Visit account.microsoft.com/devices and sign in to your account
when I clicked find my location tab, I could not see anything. Could anyone please suggest is there any other solutions to find my laptop back?
I am trying to track the stolen location. But friends after reaching out at this point
Visit account.microsoft.com/devices and sign in to your account
when I clicked find my location tab, I could not see anything. Could anyone please suggest is there any other solutions to find my laptop back?
Contact ASUS support, they should be able to guide you through the process. I am not au fait with the technology used in these laptops but it would not surprise me if coverage is not very good for these laptops and therefore it will not show up on a map. Or it is switched off or offline and not broadcasting a location.
Contact ASUS support, they should be able to guide you through the process. I am not au fait with the technology used in these laptops but it would not surprise me if coverage is not very good for these laptops and therefore it will not show up on a map. Or it is switched off or offline and not broadcasting a location.
If you've used the laptop with either a Microsoft or Google account then you may have a chance by logging into a different device with the same account and trying to look up your devices.
However, as Jhieminga says above, if it's not on the Internet then you'll be out of luck.
If the stolen device is not logged in because the thief does not have the Microsoft password how would Microsoft track it?
Now if I were a smart thief I would not attach the device to the Internet until I had scraped the device for data. Then I would use the reset to factory status option.
Now if I were a smart thief I would not attach the device to the Internet until I had scraped the device for data. Then I would use the reset to factory status option.
Find My Device is a feature that can help you locate your Windows 10 or Windows 11 device if it's lost or stolen. To use this feature, sign in to your device with a Microsoft account and make sure you're an administrator on it. This feature works when location is turned on for your device, even if other users on the device have turned off location settings for their apps. Any time you attempt to locate the device, users using the device will see a notification in the notification area.
- This setting works for any Windows device, such as a PC, laptop, Surface, or Surface Pen. It needs to be turned on before you can use it.
...but only if it's connected to the internet, and with a laptop it's easy to prevent it doing that until you've wiped the software off it.
When Windows says “Device”, that means anything that runs Windows, including some smartphones.
Windows “phones home” over the Internet all the time, starting with “diagnostic data” – see your Windows privacy settings.
A device with a working SIM card, and/or GPS capability – some laptops do have them – can report its location very accurately if it has a network connection.
If not … a device using a wi-fi network exposes its location, less accurately, but close, if that network has been snooped by a Google Streetview car.
If not … a device connected to the Internet by wire (Ethernet) can be located by its IP address or the IP address of the router (gateway); but IP geolocation varies from quite accurate to wildly inaccurate.
Of course, any connection – SIM, wi-fi or Ethernet – is enabled by a service provider who, if a sufficiently big stick is waved, will meekly hand over the customer’s name and address.
And of course, as mentioned above, a thief is likely to know better than to enable any connectivity at all before taking your data and reinitialising the device.
Windows “phones home” over the Internet all the time, starting with “diagnostic data” – see your Windows privacy settings.
A device with a working SIM card, and/or GPS capability – some laptops do have them – can report its location very accurately if it has a network connection.
If not … a device using a wi-fi network exposes its location, less accurately, but close, if that network has been snooped by a Google Streetview car.
If not … a device connected to the Internet by wire (Ethernet) can be located by its IP address or the IP address of the router (gateway); but IP geolocation varies from quite accurate to wildly inaccurate.
Of course, any connection – SIM, wi-fi or Ethernet – is enabled by a service provider who, if a sufficiently big stick is waved, will meekly hand over the customer’s name and address.
And of course, as mentioned above, a thief is likely to know better than to enable any connectivity at all before taking your data and reinitialising the device.
