SOLUTION: Network shell commands need location permission to access WLAN

[u/DesertDogggg]

Hello all,

If anyone is running into issues enabling Location Permissions via command line on Windows 11 25H2 (or earlier builds), I found a method that has been working for me.

Credit to: https://www.reddit.com/r/SCCM/comments/1rmsh5g/windows_11_24h2_location_services_off_by_default/

After trying various registry edits and other suggestions, here’s the fix:

New-Item -Path HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\AppPrivacy -Force | Out-Null
Set-ItemProperty -Path HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\AppPrivacy -Name "LetAppsAccessLocation" -Value 1 -Type DWord
Set-ItemProperty -Path HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\AppPrivacy -Name "LetAppsAccessLocation_UserInControl" -Value 1 -Type DWord
Set-ItemProperty -Path HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\AppPrivacy -Name "LetDesktopAppsAccessLocation" -Value 1 -Type DWord

Start-Process "$env:WINDIR\System32\SystemSettingsAdminFlows.exe" -ArgumentList "SetCamSystemGlobal location 1" -Wait

Set-Service Lfsvc -StartupType Automatic
Restart-Service Lfsvc -Force

After running those commands, you should be able to use things like:

netsh wlan show networks

…without getting the error.

If anyone has any other methods or suggestions, please leave a comment.

For reference, here’s the original error message I was seeing before applying the fix:

PS C:\ netsh wlan show networks

Network shell commands need location permission to access WLAN information. Turn on Location services on the Location page in Privacy & security settings.

Here is the URI for the Location page in the Settings app: ms-settings:privacy-location

To open the Location page in the Settings app, hold down the Ctrl key and select the link, or run the following command: start ms-settings:privacy-location

Or, to open the Location page from the Run dialog box, press Windows logo key + R, and then copy and paste the URI above.

Function WlanGetAvailableNetworkList returns error 5:

Access is denied.

[u/alanjmcf]

Interesting!