The Google Chrome browser checks the SSL Security Certificate of the website that you are trying to open. However, if Chrome is not able to check the certificate then you might encounter an error related to the SSL Certificates which you might face when browsing the web. This particular error is the ERR BAD SSL CLIENT AUTH CERT error which is caused by many factors such as the computer’s Time, Cached Data is corrupt, Date is out of sync, as well as third party software installed in your computer is the one that’s blocking the site and many more.
The ERR_BAD_SSL_CLIENT_AUTH_CERT error might also be coming from the website’s end. It could be that the server is rejecting the certificate the client website is sending. The certificate might have already expired or the server may not trust its issuer – whichever the case may be, here are some options you can check out to fix the error.
Option 1 – Sync Date and Time
The first thing you can try is to sync the Date and Time of your computer as the wrong Date and Time settings are one of the most common causes of connection problems like the ERR_BAD_SSL_CLIENT_AUTH_CERT error. This is because of the incompatibility between the SSL Certificate validation date and the System Clock. Thus, you have to sync your System Clock. Refer to the steps below to do so.
- Right-click on the Taskbar and click on the Adjust Date and Time option.
- Next, click on the Sync Now button to synchronize the Date and Time with the Microsoft Servers.
- Now make sure that the Time Zone that’s set on the same page is correct.
Option 2 – Try clearing the browser data
There are times when some data in the browser is conflicting with the loading of the website and triggers errors like ERR_BAD_SSL_CLIENT_AUTH_CERT. And so you can try to clear your browser’s data. This might be a very basic solution but oftentimes it works in fixing this kind of error in Google Chrome. Follow the steps below to clear the data in your browser.
- Open your Google Chrome browser.
- After that, tap the Ctrl + H keys. Doing so will open a new panel that allows you to delete the browsing history and other data in your browser.
- Now select every checkbox that you see and click on the Clear browsing data button.
- Then restart your Chrome browser and check if you can now open any website or not.
Option 3 – Try to check and fix any possible conflicts with third-party programs
Third-party programs like internet protection software could be interrupting the connection and causing the error. For some unknown reason, your antivirus program or firewall might be detecting the webpage you are trying to open as malicious or with less credibility which is why it is blocking the browser from opening the website. To fix that, if you have third-party programs installed like VPN, security software, or any add-on, or firewall, you can disable them temporarily and see if it fixes the problem and you’re able to pull up the website. After a while, you have to enable them back and configure their settings so that the website won’t get blocked again.
Option 4 – Try enabling SSL 3 / TLS and disable QUIC Protocol
If you were using Google Chrome when you got the ERR_BAD_SSL_CLIENT_AUTH_CERT error, then you need to follow the protocol fixes for SSL3/TLS and QUIC which are usually some of the reasons that cause the SSL version / Cipher Mismatch. It also has a few fixes for Windows 10 computer where you can clear the certificates and make sure that your computer date and time is in sync with your time zone and so on.
If you were using Edge or Internet Explorer when you got the error, then you have to follow the steps below.
- Type “Internet” in the search box of your browser. After that, you should see the Internet Options from the search results.
- Next, open the Internet Properties window and switch to the Advanced tab and then scroll down to the Security section.
- From there, check the “Use TLS 1.1” checkbox as well as the “Use TLS 1.2” checkbox and then click OK to save the changes made.
- Restart the browser.
On the other hand, if you were using Firefox when you go the error, here’s what you have to do.
- Open Firefox and in the address bar, type “about:config” and hit Enter.
- If a warning appears, just click on the “I accept the risk!” button to proceed.
- Next, type in “TLS” in the search field and hit Enter.
- Then look for “security.tls.version.min” and double click on it and set its integer value to 3 to force the protocol of TLS 1.3.
- Now click OK and restart Firefox and do the same thing with SSL.
Option 5 – Try to update Google Chrome
You might also want to try updating your browser to its latest version and have it installed in your computer. After you install the update, check if you can now open the website you were trying to open earlier.
Option 6 – Get rid of any conflicting browser extensions
- Open Chrome and press Alt + F keys.
- Go to More tools and click Extensions to look for any suspicious browser extensions or toolbars.
- Click the Recycle bin and select Remove.
- Restart Chrome and press Alt + F keys again.
- Proceed to On Startup and mark Open a specific page or set of pages.
- To check if the browser hijacker is still active, click Set pages, if it is active, overwrite the URL.
Note: If removing the browser extensions or toolbars didn’t work, you can also try to reset your Google Chrome browser.
- Open Google Chrome, then tap the Alt + F keys.
- After that, click on Settings.
- Next, scroll down until you see the Advanced option, once you see it, click on it.
- After clicking the Advanced option, go to the “Restore and clean up option and click on the “Restore settings to their original defaults” option to reset Google Chrome.
- Now restart Google Chrome.