When visiting a certain website, you could see the ERR_SSL_VERSION_INTERFERENCE error.
Here is what causes this error and what you need to do about it.
Quick Overlook
What Is SSL?
SSL stands for “Secure Sockets Layer.” SSL It is a secure protocol developed for the transfer of information over the internet. Most websites make the use of SSL for securing user’s information over the internet i.e. account pages and online checkouts.
What Causes the Error?
The ‘ERR_SSL_VERSION_INTERFERENCE’ error is related to the ‘Secure Sockets layer’ which usually appears whenever a website (server) uses TLS 1.3.
TLS 1.3 has major performance and security benefits and therefore it is not recommended to disable it.
But if nothing else works you can simply disable it. Before you disable TLS, you can try these solutions without risking your security.
How to Fix ‘ERR_SSL_VERSION_INTERFERENCE’ Error
Before we start with the solutions, make sure that you meet the following requirements.
- Log on to your Windows PC as an Administrator
- You have an active internet connection
- Disable firewalls and don’t use any proxies during this session.
Switch Off Antivirus
Your antivirus might be causing the ERR_SSL_VERSION_INTERFERENCE error. Sometimes, the antivirus detects the webpages with SSL as malware harmful for your computer. As a result, it disables it from running.
You can try disabling it in order to resolve the issue. To disable your antivirus follow these steps
- Press Windows key + S to open Windows Search
- In the Search box type ‘Windows Security’ and hit the Enter key
- Go to Virus & threat protection
- Click on Manage Settings
- Turn off “Real-time protection” toggle switch.
Now check the webpage causing the ERR_SSL_VERSION_INTERFERENCE error and it should be gone. If not, keep trying the methods ahead.
Check Date and Time
Check the date and time of your computer as it might be causing this error. The SSL uses certain information provided by the computer.
In this case, the date and time of your computer are used as a timestamp. If the date and time are incorrect you might receive an
ERR_SSL_VERSION_INTERFERENCE error.
- Press Windows key + R, type “control” in the dialogue box, and press Enter.
- Once you enter the control panel, select “Date and Time” or “Clock and Region”
- Select ‘Change date and time’ now select time and region or you can also select automatically
- Restart your computer and check that the website your connecting has become accessible.
Clear Browsing Data
Before we get on with re-installing the browser, we will try clearing the browser’s data. This can clear the ‘bad’ files that could be causing this problem.
Remember to save your important browser data somewhere before you proceed with this. Once you clear browsing data, it will be gone forever.
Follow the steps below in order to clear your browsing data and other temporary files stored by the browser.
- Open Google Chrome and press Ctrl+Shift+Del
- Select the Advanced tab and select time range as All time
- Check all the boxes and click Clear data
- Restart your computer, open Google Chrome, and check if the website is now accessible.
Reinstalling Google Chrome
If nothing above has helped so far, the only solution is to reinstall Google Chrome.
Make sure you remove Chrome completely before it can be re-installed. It’s the only way to remove all Appdata follow the following steps
- Press Windows + R, to open Run utility
- Type “appwiz.cpl” in the Run utility to open the application manager.
- Right-click on Google Chrome and select uninstall
- In run utility type “%appdata%” and press Enter
- Delete the Chrome folder from the directory
- Run the executable file and reinstall Google Chrome.
Now try to access the website using it and check if you still receive the error message.
Clear DNS Cache
Sometimes ‘ERR_SSL_VERSION_INTERFERENCE’ error can also arise if your Local DNS cache is corrupted. Clearing DNS cache from your computer can solve this issue.
To clear DNS cache, follow these steps.
- Press Windows key + R to open Run Utility
- In Run Utility, type ‘cmd’ to open Command Prompt
- In Command Prompt, type ‘ipconfig /flushdns’ and hit Enter.
Once the process is complete you will see the following message
“Windows IP Configuration Successfully flushed the DNS Resolver Cache”.
Disabling TLS 1.3 (Not Recommended)
TLS or transport layer security is a cryptographic protocol used to ensure the end to end security over the internet. It has been observed that disabling this feature has fixed this problem but it imposes a security risk to the user’s data and is not recommended. In order to disable TLS follow the following steps
- Open a new window in Google Chrome
- In the address bar type ‘chrome://flags’
- Now search for TLS in the search box at the top a drop down of TLS 1.3 will appear
- Now set the option to Disabled. Save changes and exit.
- Now restart your computer and try accessing the website again which was causing the issue.