April 2018 update broke Chrome browser (Cryptographic Services bug)

Anonymous
2018-08-13T22:50:55+00:00

I updated to the April 2018 version of Win10 a couple months ago. It caused several issues and broke my Chrome browser completely, so I reverted back to the old version. But Microsoft forced another update on me, so I need this issue fixed somehow.

All the googling I've done says Microsoft has "fixed" this issue with the April update breaking Chrome, but I've installed all patches and they clearly haven't, not in my case. Pages simply refuse to load and time out.

I've narrowed the issue down to the "Cryptographic Services" service. If I stop the service, all of the Chrome pages instantly load and I have no issues for about an hour. It seems to be some sort of issue with certificates/SSL.

The problem is the service keeps restarting itself. I've tried setting it to "disabled," tried unchecking the service in System Configuration, nothing works. It always comes back and Chrome breaks. I'm sure there's good reason to keep it running but I'm not going to let Microsoft force me out of my favorite browser/bookmarks/extensions/etc. like this, and I can't keep stopping a service every hour just to browse the web.

So I need a solution please. And something specifically related to fixing the issue with Cryptographic Services preventing SSL on Chrome. I've done all the basic stuff like reinstalling Chrome, checking firewall settings, etc..

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Internet and connectivity

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  1. Anonymous
    2019-02-04T18:57:33+00:00

    Unfortunately if you have more than one user the solution will have to be held in each of the users independently. The Criptsvc error also affects Windows Update itself, preventing it from connecting to Microsoft servers. But the fact is that by performing the following procedure the problem is solved.

    1. Open Run and type in regedit
    2. Go here: HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ SystemCertificates \ Root \
    3. Right-click ProtectedRoots> Permissions and pick your account. Tick ​​Allow Full Control
    4. Right-click Root and Export
    5. Open Task Manager> Stop Cryptographic Service and Delete Root (HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ SystemCertificates ) key in Regedit.
    6. Restart your Windows.

    Thanks but I have already tried this and it fails to be adequate within my domain. Firstly we use mandatory profiles which would mean editing the registry for each individual user. I have tried both scripted and manual registry of the root key with limited success. Thank you for your input though.

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  2. Anonymous
    2019-02-04T18:12:15+00:00

    Christopher - Nice summary - same as posted here earlier and works!

    If you have an AD environment, meet me in the Chrome Help Forum - Won't Navigate - I have more questions..

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  3. Anonymous
    2019-02-04T17:52:19+00:00

    All - If you see other Microsoft threads with the 'Chrome stalls in Establishing secure connection / CryptSvc' problem, please

    a) redirect them here and

    b) leave a post a comment here with a link to the other thread.

    The most active user forum thread is here

      Chrome Forum - Chrome Won't Navigate - CryptSvc

    Leave a comment there to get the latest news.

    Chrome technical bug report: CR838707 Windows 1803 cause error timeout - CryptSvc

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  4. Anonymous
    2019-02-04T17:44:42+00:00

    Unfortunately if you have more than one user the solution will have to be held in each of the users independently. The Criptsvc error also affects Windows Update itself, preventing it from connecting to Microsoft servers. But the fact is that by performing the following procedure the problem is solved.

    1. Open Run and type in regedit
    2. Go here: HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ SystemCertificates \ Root \
    3. Right-click ProtectedRoots> Permissions and pick your account. Tick ​​Allow Full Control
    4. Right-click Root and Export
    5. Open Task Manager> Stop Cryptographic Service and Delete Root (HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ SystemCertificates ) key in Regedit.
    6. Restart your Windows.

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  5. Anonymous
    2019-02-04T17:40:04+00:00

    Matthew - The problem is in the user hive, not in the Windows image itself. 

    There is a GPO option to dis-allow user level Certificate Authorities (CAs) that avoids the bad section in HKCU.  See Jason's 1/31 post here for details on

     dis- "Allow user trusted root CAs to be used to validate certificates" 

    Chrome Help Forum - DisAllow User Trusted CAs

    If you need more help, please reply to the Chrome Help Forum with details about your AD and what you've tried.

    If you have a Chrome Enterprise support, you can contact them.

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