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
    2018-12-17T23:01:23+00:00

    Siddhant:

    Your situation, that the problem started after a Windows re-install is typical.  Apparently while trying to reinstate the user data, some permissions in the CryptSvc ProtectedRoots registry area are not properly reset.

    AFAIK the registry repair is the only solution.  If you can get to HKey_Current_User...ProtectedRoots, set the permissions so you can delete it and then delete it, you should be OK.  CryptSvc will rebuild ProtectedRoots on next access and you should be OK.  Keep regedit open, do some other work that requires starting a program, like close/open Chrome or Edge, refresh the regedit page and you should see the reconstructed ProtectedRoots.

    You don't need to delete Root.  Your business app is probably enabled through Root\Certificates and since you're not deleting Root or Certificates, the business app should not be affected.

    The registry repair script here does delete Root & Certificates and then restores them, which should also be safe.  If you run the script, post the logs to the script Chrome Help Forum and I'll followup there.

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  2. Anonymous
    2018-12-17T20:52:23+00:00

    Hey. 

          I'm experiencing the same problem, but only with Google Chrome. Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge and other internet apps work perfectly.

    Stopping the CryptSvc service temporarily solves the issue, but as we all know, it does it temporarily. Also, using a registry edit won't be useful for me as I use a licensing application given to me by my employer and it doesn't work without the CryptSvc service. I can't disclose anything about that application. 

         I have a Win10 Pro x64 system and I wasn't experiencing this issue after the 1803 update until for some reason I had to reinstall Windows sometime in Autumn and that's when it started. Luckily for me, Chrome and Firefox are always synced up so it's not an obstacle for me. It is, however, very irritating as Chrome was my primary browser.

         Just this week I got the 1809 update and I hoped that this issue had been fixed. On first boot after the update, Chrome ran perfectly. But this time, that is the second boot, the error is back.

        This issue has been around for some time now. I'm waiting for it to get fixed.

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  3. Anonymous
    2018-11-22T20:48:03+00:00

    David: Yes, CryptSvc springs to life by itself (activated elsewhere). Getting more than an hour of Chrome usage after stopping it is rare (for me).  

    The problem fixed by Nover's regedit repair, is a Chrome only fix.  If Edge is broken you may have another problem.  Monitor the CryptSvc usage from TaskManager> Services> details.  If it's not >2%, then you have another problem.

    If you run the repair script here, and it doesn't help, post the logs to script forum and I'll followup.

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  4. Anonymous
    2018-11-22T07:16:50+00:00

    thank you it works

    Didn't work for me. I have tried both suggestions and couldn't do a update to windows pro. Aslo Edge did the same thing.

    The only thing that 1/2 way worked was disabling the "Cryptographic Services" but I am sure there is a tradeoff here somewhere.

    But then it somehow restarts itself like magic. I am about to switch to Linux Mint and trash Windows Pro.

    This has to be a Microsoft problem because it don't happen with Linux and Chrome.

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  5. Anonymous
    2018-11-22T02:51:41+00:00

    thank you it works

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