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

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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  1. Anonymous
    2019-07-18T19:03:59+00:00

    Request for comment votes:

    Please use your votes for 'Help me, Did not help me' to help rate the good & bad solutions.  Maybe if enough of us do this, people will stop using the bad solutions.

    Definitely bad: 

    -Change CryptSvc logon account to Local System - breaks future updates

    Good:

    -apply registry change to disable private authentication certificates

    Best: 

    -Registry cleanup to delete HKEY_CURRENT_USER...Protected roots

    First mentioned (here) by Peter Nover 1-Oct-18

    Thanks

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  2. Anonymous
    2019-07-05T22:15:48+00:00

    This issue was driving me insane! Thanks to your simple well put directions I can now use Chrome again without that blasted "Establishing a secure connection"

    Thank you!

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  3. Anonymous
    2019-06-19T02:06:19+00:00

    I am having the same issue.

    That's my way i fixed:

    1. Open Run and type in regedit
    2. Go here: *HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\SystemCertificates\Root*
    3. Right-click ProtectedRoots > Permissionsand pick your account .

        Tick Allow Full Control

    1. Right-click Rootand Export 
    2. Open Task Manager > stop Cryptographic Serviceand Delete Root(HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\SystemCertificates**)** key in Regedit.
    3. Restart your Windows.

    Enjoy.

    SOLVED THANK YOU SO MUCH

    hi!! what are the pros and cons of doing that? i dont know if i should be touching the registry area..

    thanx

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  4. Anonymous
    2018-09-03T23:12:37+00:00

    Yea that doesn't help.

    One thing I'm pointing out is that this is not limited to chrome, it seems that other apps that need to make HTTPS requests also are experiencing this.

    I was trying to use the Microsoft Store app to install iTunes, and I had to kill crypto services so that it would load the app page in the store. Once I installed iTunes and tried to sign in, I had to kill crypto services again for itunes to work.

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  5. Anonymous
    2018-09-03T23:08:49+00:00

    Some How-To Geek information on Chrome crashes ---

    https://www.howtogeek.com/363826/why-is-chrome-telling-me-to-update-or-remove-incompatible-applications/

    I don't know if this will help you or not.

    It's still worth reading.🙂

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