diff --git a/api/api.go b/api/api.go
index 94b11c0..94fc10c 100644
--- a/api/api.go
+++ b/api/api.go
@@ -740,8 +740,15 @@ func (h *Handler) handleGetBucket(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 	query := r.URL.Query()
 
 	if query.Has("location") {
-		xmlResponse := `<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
-						<LocationConstraint xmlns="http://s3.amazonaws.com/doc/2006-03-01/">us-east-1</LocationConstraint>`
+		region := "us-east-1"
+		if h.authSvc != nil {
+			candidate := strings.TrimSpace(h.authSvc.Config().Region)
+			if candidate != "" {
+				region = candidate
+			}
+		}
+		xmlResponse := fmt.Sprintf(`<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<LocationConstraint xmlns="http://s3.amazonaws.com/doc/2006-03-01/">%s</LocationConstraint>`, region)
 
 		w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/xml; charset=utf-8")
 		w.Header().Set("Content-Length", strconv.Itoa(len(xmlResponse)))
diff --git a/utils/config.go b/utils/config.go
index 0191668..88c38ee 100644
--- a/utils/config.go
+++ b/utils/config.go
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ func NewConfig() *Config {
 		MultipartCleanupRetention: time.Duration(
 			envIntRange("MULTIPART_RETENTION_HOURS", 24, 1, 24*30),
 		) * time.Hour,
-		AuthEnabled:            envBool("AUTH_ENABLED", true),
+		AuthEnabled:            envBool("AUTH_ENABLED", false),
 		AuthRegion:             firstNonEmpty(strings.TrimSpace(os.Getenv("AUTH_REGION")), "us-east-1"),
 		AuthSkew:               time.Duration(envIntRange("AUTH_SKEW_SECONDS", 300, 30, 3600)) * time.Second,
 		AuthMaxPresign:         time.Duration(envIntRange("AUTH_MAX_PRESIGN_SECONDS", 86400, 60, 86400)) * time.Second,