Persistent issue with default query location in BigQuery (US instead of EU)

[Jack.RB]

Problem Description: For the past few days, I’ve been having an issue with the BigQuery interface. My dataset and all my tables are located in the europe-central2 (Warsaw) region. However, every time I open a new, blank query tab (+), BigQuery defaults to running it in the US location. This results in the error: Not found: (PII Removed by Staff). The strangest part is that just yesterday, everything was working correctly.

What I’ve already checked and what I know:

• Data Location: All my tables (native from CSV and external from Google Sheets) and the dataset are 100% located in europe-central2 (Warsaw). This has been verified in the details of each table.

• Consistent Behavior: The error occurs consistently in every new, blank query tab.

What I’ve tried to do (without success):

• Query Settings in UI: I have repeatedly tried to permanently set the default location to europe-central2 in the “Query settings.” The setting does not save permanently and reverts to US or “Automatic selection.”

• Clearing Cache: I have completely cleared the browser’s cache and cookies (for “all time”).

• Other Browsers / Incognito: The problem also occurs in incognito mode and in a completely different browser.

• Cloud Shell: An attempt to set the location using the gcloud command resulted in a series of errors.

• Support: I am on the free plan, so I do not have the option to report this to Google’s technical support.

Question for the Community: Has anyone recently encountered a similar, persistent problem with the default location in the BigQuery UI? Do you know of any other, non-obvious place in the Google Account or project settings that could be overriding this configuration and which I might have missed? What should I do/set for this to work correctly as it did before?

[nikacalupas]

Hi Jack.RB,

You may try to manually open “Query settings” for each new query tab and explicitly select europe-central2 as the processing location before execution. Alternatively, to bypass the UI’s inconsistent behavior entirely, you may consider using the bq command-line tools that allow you to specify --location=europe-central2 directly, and the BigQuery API offers programmatic control by setting the location parameter in the job_configuration. Given you’re on the free plan and direct support isn’t available, and since this behavior is unusual and recent, I suggest filing a bug report so our engineering team can check whether this is a potential bug or project-specific issue only. Before filing, please check this documentation on what to expect after you’ve opened an issue.

[Jack.RB]

The mistake was very minor and was in the project name, and it was on my side. By accident, I was typing nazwa-projektu instead of nazwa_projektu in the project name. The problem is solved. Thank you.