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
    2019-01-02T02:59:08+00:00

    First, thanks to all who have tried to help with this problem - especially LarryLACa for his help here and his extensive help on the Google forums.

    I'm replying just to report - which I haven't seen before - two things.

    1. The fix must be applied separate for each user (makes sense but worth stating perhaps for some that might not realize).
    2. The registry fix (Nover's post above, also as implemented in Larry's scripts) - appear only to work for Administrator accounts.  When I tried the approach on a standard account - running RegEdt32 as an administrator (and also Task Manager as administrator), everything worked as expected (and as it had on an earlier Administrator account), but the fix did not stick and after reboot Chrome continued to get stuck.  Changing the account to Administrator and re-applying the fix did work.

    It is truly shameful that this problem - which seems to be quite widespread - does not get a fix.  I'm quite sure if it was interfering with Edge it would get fixed.  Well, if anyone used Edge.  I wonder what proportion of the tiny number of people using Edge are only using it because Windows "broke" their ability to use Chrome.

    Anyway, many thanks to those who figured out a solution to this vexing problem.

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  2. Anonymous
    2019-01-03T20:31:37+00:00
    • A simple solution that works: Right button on the google icon chrome-> Properties: In the Destination field, we add: "--proxy-server" We apply the changes. Ready.

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  3. Anonymous
    2019-01-03T21:50:45+00:00

    Cool  thx for info.  Appreciated.

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  4. Anonymous
    2019-01-04T03:55:38+00:00

    DarrelCranston:

    Cool  thx for info.  Appreciated.

    I see someone upvoted Alex's --proxy-server tip.  Did --proxy-server work for you?

    If it did, can you try this

      close chrome, check task manager> Details to verify the background processes also stopped.

      start Edge

      start Chrome without the --proxy-server.

      try opening some https sites in chrome, the usual ones that lockup for you

    If starting edge first helps, it sounds like you have the same CryptSvc problem we're trying to fix here.  If starting Edge first make no difference, you may have yet another similar problem.

    Other proxy server workarounds have helped a few people, but not everyone.  I'm trying confirm that you have the same core issue.

    The real tell is to watch the CryptSvc CPU usage (from task manager) while Chrome is stalling.  If high (>2%) then you have the CryptSvc bug.  Trying to walk through task manager to find the CryptSvc svchost launcher (and it's CPU usage) requires a couple of searches and hops.  Preloading Edge is easier..

    TIA Larry

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  5. Anonymous
    2019-01-04T04:09:37+00:00

    DonChanger:

    Starting regedit as Admin and updating Current_User, can update the admin's account and not the user account.

    If a standard user needs to run regedit as admin, they need to navigate to their own account under HKey_Users, then do the ProtectedRoots and Root cleanup.

    To see the elevation Currnet_User problem, create a 'WhoAmI' string item under Root or Credentials, then find it under HKey_Users to see which account is current.

    The scripted repair has some extra steps to make sure it's updating the correct account. 

    In general, I believe I have confirmations that the manual regedit repair works for accounts without admin privileges.  So I would be interested in trying to track down why it didn't work for your 'standard user'.

    If you're an admin in an AD environment, other caveats may apply.

    later, Larry

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