Maps business/POI search disabled by MS - FIX!

Did the native Maps app on Your Windows Phone 7 device suddenly loose the ability to find the local Starbucks? Does it keep coming back with "No Results Found" for anything other than city names or addresses? Well, apprently MS and it's partners have hacked your registry disabling such searching, hoping to finally prompt You to throw that perfectly working two-three year old device in the trash to upgrade to a WP8/10 device (if You're not pissed enough to go to Android yet).

It's fixable though; here's what they changed:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\system\SearchMaps\Configuration \Versions]
"CurrentVersion"="Default"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\system\SearchMaps\Configuration \Versions]
"CurrentEtag"=""52757f6711ded01:0"" <<<CurrentEtag added, not sure if this matters
"CurrentVersion"="VersionA" <<Version changed from "Default" to "VersionA" which has search disabled (see below)

"Default" config Version settings for en-us;
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\system\SearchMaps\Configuration \Versions\Default\Locales\en-us]
"AddressSearchCulture"="en-us"
"AudioDurationList"="3000,6000,9000,12000,1500 0"
"AudioPeriod"=dword:00000bb8
"AudioRequestType"="AudioFeatures16"
"AudioSampleCount"=dword:00000005
"AudioSearchEnabled"=dword:00000001
"AudioSearchMarketList"="US,CA,AU,GB,FR,IT,DE, ES"
"AutoSuggestEnabled"=dword:00000001
"BusinessReviewsEnabled"=dword:00000001
"EditThisPlaceUrl"="https://gazetteer.bingmobile.com/nearby/editplace.htm"
"EventCardEnabled"=dword:00000001
"FinanceInstantAnswerUrl"="http://mny.mobile.msn.com/en-us/quote.aspx?symbol={0}"
"ImagePivotEnabled"=dword:00000001
"LocalPivotEnabled"=dword:00000001
"MapCulture"="en-us"
"MovieCardEnabled"=dword:00000001
"NeighborhoodEnabled"=dword:00000001
"ProductCardEnabled"=dword:00000001
"RoutingCulture"="en-us"
"SearchEnabled"=dword:00000001
"SpeechInRoutingEnabled"=dword:00000001
"TrafficEnabled"=dword:00000001
"VisionDetectorList"="UPC, QR, MSTAG"
"VisionDisplayText"="Scan barcodes, QR Codes, Microsoft Tags, books, CDs, and DVDs."
"VisionOCRLanguagesList"="EN,ES,IT,DE,FR,NL,PT "
"VisionRecognizerList"="OCR,Product"
"VisionServicesEnabled"=dword:00000001


New "VersionA" section / settings:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\system\SearchMaps\Configuration \Versions\VersionA] <<whole new key/subkeys
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\system\SearchMaps\Configuration \Versions\VersionA\Locales\en-us]
"AddressSearchCulture"="en-us"
"AudioDurationList"="3000,6000,9000,12000,1500 0"
"AudioPeriod"=dword:00000bb8
"AudioRequestType"="AudioFeatures16"
"AudioSampleCount"=dword:00000005
"AudioSearchEnabled"=dword:00000001
"AudioSearchMarketList"="US,CA,AU,GB,FR,IT,DE, ES"
"AutoSuggestEnabled"=dword:00000001
"BusinessReviewsEnabled"=dword:00000001
"EditThisPlaceUrl"="http://www.bing.com/local/reportproblem" <<<<"EditThisPlaceURl" different
"EventCardEnabled"=dword:00000001
"FinanceInstantAnswerUrl"="http://mny.mobile.msn.com/en-us/quote.aspx?symbol={0}"
"ImagePivotEnabled"=dword:00000000 <<<<<< Image Pivot disabled (0 vs 1)
"LocalPivotEnabled"=dword:00000000 <<<<<<< LocalPivot disabled (0 vs 1)
"MapCulture"="en-us"
"MovieCardEnabled"=dword:00000001
"NeighborhoodEnabled"=dword:00000001
"ProductCardEnabled"=dword:00000001
"RoutingCulture"="en-us"
"SearchEnabled"=dword:00000000 <<<< SEARCH DISABLED (0 vs 1) WTF MICROSOFT/HTC/T-Mobile?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?
"SpeechInRoutingEnabled"=dword:00000001
"TrafficEnabled"=dword:00000001
"VisionDetectorList"="UPC, QR, MSTAG"
"VisionDisplayText"="Scan barcodes, QR Codes, Microsoft Tags, books, CDs, and DVDs."
"VisionOCRLanguagesList"="EN,ES,IT,DE,FR,NL,PT "
"VisionRecognizerList"="OCR,Product"
"VisionServicesEnabled"=dword:00000001


The "VersionA" config version has even worse settings for some other locales, disabling everything from the looks of it. Take a look at the attached reg files for details (I renamed to .txt; CARE NOT TO APPLY TO YOUR PC REG OR IT WILL BRICK YOUR PC!!!).

So, the solution; change "CurrentVersion" back to "Default" under [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\system\SearchMaps\Configuration \Versions\] and, if so inclined (I know I am), delete the [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\system\SearchMaps\Configuration \Versions\VersionA] key alltogether.

Some background:
Starting sometime in September I noticed that the search feature in the native Maps app on my Radar seemed broken; it stopped working to pull up businesses, POI, and anything other than city names or complete addresses. I did some searching and apparently I wasn't the only one; with the end of WP7 support MS and it's partners seem to have been neutering features such as the search button (now goes directly to bing, remember voice search anyone?) etc. I flashed Deepshining Radar v4.0 WP7.8 and switched to the Nokia marketplace so I could have Here Maps and Drive, that at least got me search functionality with info better than gMaps and voice navigation, but slower on these older devices, and split in to two apps :/.

Magically though, the Maps search was working again, so I was stoked, but not for long...a half a day later the search died again, and again i was only able to search for addresses. I did another factory reset, this time the search worked only for minutes until the phone finished configuring itself. The only difference was I left the SIM in. I tried it again with the SIM out, letting the phone finish doing it's thing till I got that first "5 tips for getting the most from your WP" text message before I put in the sim. This kept search working for a few hours again. This confirmed My suspicion that some setting was getting changed somewhere.

Out came wp7 root tools and reg backup. I looked around and found maps/search related settings under HKLM\System\SearchMaps, as well as some stuff under HKLM\System\OnlineServices\providers\bing\mapsloca l and some other places) so I took dumps of HKLM\system before and after, compared them, and this is what I found. See attached for complete dumps.

Took Me all weekend to figure out, Hope this helps anyone else in the same situation.

Attached Files

RADAR_REG.zip - [Click for QR Code] (114.1 KB)