Cannot access https sites through any browser on Win XP?

This isnt a firewall issue, I can telnet to gmail with no problems, but all browsers (chrome, IE, firefox) return a This web page is not available. error when tring to access it through the browser. I can access the same pages, using the same browsers, on the same machine, but through a different user account with no problem. What is going on?

Help appreciated.

Edit: This is definitely a windows setup issue - I have just created a new admin account and can access https with problems. This is seriously infuriating.

3

7 Answers

I had same problem a month ago but don't remember exactly the solution. Try these:

  • Check your date time settings
  • Uninstall & reinstall your network card
  • Check your PC for malware
  • Reset you internet options
  • Reinstall your PC
4

Do you go through a proxy? Maybe the proxy settings haven't been set correctly for HTTPS.

If you don't, maybe some accidentally set a HTTPS proxy setting.

2

Check and double check that there are no virus/Malware installed.

Not sure whether it can affect other browsers, but check IE's about screen to make sure your cipher strength is working and not showing as 0-bit

Also WinsockXpFix is a little program for repairing your registry entries which sometimes can fix problems like this.

It might be out-dated now, but it is working checking out this article.

I just had the exact same problem on an old XP Laptop using a standard user. I logged on as an administrator and could get to https sites.

I then tried to download an https resource on the command line and got a message that somethings wrong with the certificate. So I opened the Windows Certificate store, I got an error there:

Unable to open Root certificate store. Cannot find object or property. 

This error may occur when the 'Cryptographic Services' windows service is not running. And in fact I had turned it off sometime in the past. Starting it and setting the startup to 'Automatic' fixed the problem.

I am not sure why it works for an admin user even without the service running.

If it works for one user and not another(as you say), then delete the directory of the problem user account, and let it recreate itself when windows restarts, and see how that is, see how it works with a freshly created user account.

alright so I just had the same problem and after reading thru this article i was able to fix it...

what did i do? i checked and double checked my proxy settings... deleted all my cookies... restarted my machine... checked my time setting... then i saw that it was 2004 instead of 2014... that fixed it!! restarted the computer to validate it (dont have to do it if you dont want) and done.

I was able to get some websites working on IE by enabling stuff to run even if signature isn't valid

It's on Internet Options Advanced

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