How to Fix the ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED Error in Chrome

The ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED error is sometimes caused by a server-side problem, rather than an issue with your individual attempt at connection. Yourcurrenthostcouldbecostingyoutimeandmoney—getthembackwithKinsta.Learnmore KinstaBlog HowtoFixtheERR_CONNECTION_REFUSEDErrorinChrome(9Tips) BrianJackson, June1,2021 22 Shares Inadigitalworldhookedoninstantgratification,oneofthelastthingsyouwanttoexperiencewhenbrowsingisanerrormessage,suchasERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED.Thiscanbeincrediblyfrustrating,andmayevenbeasignthatsomethingserioushasgonewrong. Tryafreedemo Foraverageusers,thereallyconfusingerrorsaretheoneswhereitcansometimeshardtodistinguishbetweenaproblemwithyourWordPresssiteandsomethingelse,suchasanetworkingorbrowserissue. The“ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED”messageisanespeciallycommonandusuallynon-WordPresssiterelatederrormessageyou’llsometimesseeinChrome.Fortunately,it’srelativelyeasytopinpointthecauseofthisproblem.Inthispost,we’llexplainwhatthemessagemeansandhowtofixit.Typicallythisinvolvesthefollowingsteps: Checktoseewhetherthepageitselfhasgonedown. Restartyourrouter. Clearyourbrowser’scache. Assessyourproxysettingsandadjustthemasneeded. Temporarilydisableantivirusandfirewallsoftware. FlushyourDNScache. ChangeyourDNSaddress. DisableanyoutdatedChromeextensions. ReinstallyourChromebrowser. Butfirst,let’stakeadeeperlookintowhatthiserroractuallymeans. Prefertowatchthevideoversion? WhatIstheERR_CONNECTION_REFUSEDError? Unfortunately,encounteringerrorscomeshand-in-handwithusingtheinternet.Therearehundredsofpossibilities,fromthewhitescreenofdeath totheclassic404error,theERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUTerrorortheERR_CACHE_MISS.Trustus,oursupportteamdealswithallsortsofWordPresserrorsonadailybasis.Sothisisnothingnewforus. GoogleChrome InGoogleChromeusersmayalsobefamiliarwiththeERR_CONNECTION_REFUSEDpage.Youwillseeamessagesaying: Thissitecan’tbereachedorThiswebpageisnotavailable. ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSEDerrorinGoogleChrome WhenyouvisitawebsiteusingGoogleChromeandencounterthismessage,itmeansthatyourattempttoconnectwasrefused.Thiserrorcodealsoappearsinotherbrowsers,albeitindifferentforms. Asimilarmessagethatmayalsoappearhereis the DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAINerror,whichisaDNSerrorwhichsignalsthattherequesteddomainnamedoesnotexist. MozillaFirefox InMozillaFirefoxitwillsimplyshowasUnabletoconnect. Firefoxcan’testablishaconnectiontotheserveratdomain.com. ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSEDerrorinMozillaFirefox MicrosoftEdge InMicrosoftEdge,itwillsimplyshowas Hmmm…can’treachthispage.Whichisn’tveryhelpful. Makesureyou’vegottherightwebaddress:domain.com. ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSEDerrorinMicrosoftEdge TheERR_CONNECTION_REFUSEDerrorissometimescausedbyaserver-sideproblem,ratherthananissuewithyourindividualattemptatconnection.It’susuallynothingserious,andcansimplybetheresultofincorrectfirewallorserversettings.However,itcanalsobeasignthatsomethingmoresignificanthasgonewrong–suchasamalwareattack,orunexpecteddowntime.Anunreliableinternetconnectioncanalsocontribute. Aswithmosterrormessages,ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSEDletsyouknowthatsomethinghasgonewrong,withoutbeingkindenoughtotellyouwhyit’shappened.Thismeansit’suptoyoutofindandresolvetherootissue(ifpossible). HowtoFixtheERR_CONNECTION_REFUSEDErrorinChrome(9PossibleSolutions) Althoughtherangeofpotentialcausescanmaketroubleshootingtricky,itispossibletofixtheERR_CONNECTION_REFUSEDerror.Let’swalkthroughninestepsyoucantake,startingwiththeonesmostlikelytoprovideananswer. 1.ChecktheStatusoftheWebsite Yourfirstportofcallshouldbetocheckthestatusofthewebsiteyou’retryingtoaccess.Aswe’vealreadymentioned,theERR_CONNECTION_REFUSEDerrorcansometimesbecausedbythesite’sserver,ratherthanyourowninternetconnection. Asimplewaytocheckwhetherthisisthecaseistovisitanotherwebpage.Iftheerrormessageoccursagain,theproblemmostlikelyoriginateswithyourconnection.Ifthesecondpageloadscorrectly,however,thefirstsitewasprobablyatfault. YoucanalsouseDownForEveryoneOrJustMe: DownforEveryoneorJustMe? Entertheaddressofthenon-functioningpage,andclickonOrjustme?.Thissitewillthenassesswhetherthepageisoffline(down),oronline(up).Unfortunately,whenapageisdown,theonlythingyoucandoiswaitforittobefixed.However,ifthepageisupandisstillnotloadingforyou,it’stimetodosomefurthertroubleshooting. 2.RestartYourRouter Asatried-and-testedmethodforfixingmanyinternet-relatedissues,yournextstepwillbetotry‘turningitoffandbackonagain’.Restartingyourhomeorofficerouterdoesn’tcomewitha100%successguarantee.However,theprocesstakesjustafewminutes,soit’smorethanworthatrywhenyou’redealingwithapotentialconnectionissue. Todothis,disconnectthepowersupplytoyourrouter.You’llthenneedtowaitforabout30seconds,beforepluggingitbackin.Oncetherouterhasbootedupagain,trytoaccessthepagethatreturnedanerror.Ifitloads,thenyou’regoodtogo.Ifnot,there’slikelyanothercauseatplay. 3.ClearYourBrowser’sCache Likeanygoodinternetbrowser,Chromewillstoreinformationinitscacheonyourcomputerordevice.Thisincludesyourbrowsinghistory,savedlogindata,andcookies–allofwhicharerecordedinordertoloadtherelevantpagesmorequicklythenexttimethey’revisited. SignUpFortheNewsletter Wanttoknowhowweincreasedourtrafficover1000%? Join20,000+otherswhogetourweeklynewsletterwithinsiderWordPresstips! SubscribeNow Althoughthey’reuseful,cachescancausenumerousissueswhentheybecomeoutdated.Thisisbecausethecachedversionofapageislikelytonolongermatchthecurrent,liveversion.Fortunately,thisproblemiseasilysolvedbyclearingyourcache. Butbeforeyoudothat,youcaneasilychecktoseeifit’sabrowsercacheissuebyfirstopeningupyourbrowserinincognitomode.Oryoucantryadifferentbrowser.Ifyou’restillseeingtheerror,thenyouwillwanttoproceedwithclearingyourcache. Todoso,beginbyopeningupChrome’sprimarymenu(inthetop-rightcornerofyourbrowserwindow).Fromthere,selectMoreTools:YoucanthenclickonClearbrowserdata. Chromeclearbrowsingdata Ontheresultingpage,you’llneedtomakesurethatalllistedfilecategoriesareselected.Iftheyaren’t,Chromewon’tbeabletoemptytheentirecache.Instead,itwillsimplyremovethemostrecententries,whichwon’tresultinthedesiredeffect: Clearbrowsingdata AnalternativemethodofcompletingthisprocessistoenterthefollowingURLintoyouraddressbar: chrome://settings/clearBrowserData Theresultingscreenshouldgrantyouaccesstothesameoptionswe’veoutlinedabove.Herearesomeotherhelpfullinksforclearingcache. HowtoForceRefreshaSinglePageforAllBrowsers HowtoClearBrowserCacheforGoogleChrome HowtoClearBrowserCacheforMozillaFirefox HowtoClearBrowserCacheforSafari HowtoClearBrowserCacheforInternetExplorer HowtoClearBrowserCacheforMicrosoftEdge HowtoClearBrowserCachefor Opera 4.AssessYourProxySettingsandAdjustThemasNeeded Withsecuritythreatsconsistentlyontherise,it’snowonderthatmanypeoplearenowusingindividualsolutionstoprotecttheirsensitivedata.Apopularwayofdoingthisisthroughtheuseofproxyservers. AproxyletsyougoonlineunderadifferentIPaddress,andactsasanintermediarybetweenyourbrowserandthewebsitesyouvisit.AswellaskeepingyourIPaddressprivate,itcanalsohelptofiltercachedataandservercommunications. Justaswithcaching,aproxyservercanbeuseful,butitcanalsocausetheERR_CONNECTION_REFUSEDmessage.Forexample,awebservermightrejecttheIPaddressattachedtoaproxyserver,andthenrejecttheactualconnectionasaresult. It’salsopossiblethattheproxyisoffline,orincorrectlyconfigured.Inshort,iftheerrormessageinquestionoccurs,it’sworthcheckingoutyourproxysettings. Chromeactuallyhasitsownproxysection,whichcanmakethisstepaparticularlysimpleprocess.Afterall,youwon’tneedtospendanytimesearchingforthecorrecttoolsinyourbrowser. Togetstarted,accesstheSettingsmenuinyourChromebrowser.Thiswillopenupthecompletemenuofoptions.UndertheSystemsection(you’llneedtoclickAdvancedatthebottomtoseethis),youshouldfindanentrytitledOpenproxysettings.Byselectingit,you’llbetakentothecorrespondingmenu: OpenProxySettingsinChrome Yournextstepdependsonthesystemyou’recurrentlyusing.WindowsuserswillwanttoclickonLANSettings,andunchecktheUseproxyserverforLANoption.Ifyou’reaMacuser,youshouldimmediatelyfindyourselfintherelevantmenu.You’llthenhavetouncheckallselectableproxyprotocols,andchecktoseeiftheERR_CONNECTION_REFUSEDmessagehasbeenresolved. UncheckproxiesonMac 5.DisableFirewallandAntivirusSoftwareTemporarily Firewallsandantivirussoftwareareintendedtoprotectusersandtheirsystems.Theyscanyourdeviceregularly,andautomaticallyblockanysuspiciousactivity.Youmaystarttonoticearecurringthemehere,however,since(muchlikewithcachingandproxyservers)thistypeofadvancedsecuritycanattimesleadtoconnectionissues. Thisisbecausefirewallscanoftenblockpagestheydon’tneedto,orrejectcontentthatiscompletelysafe.Tocheckwhetherthisisthecaseforyou,trydisablingyourfirewallandantivirusprograms.Ofcourse,thisisonlyadvisedifyouknowforsurethatthesiteyou’reintendingtovisitissafe. Additionally,youshouldonlydisablethiskindofsoftwaretemporarily.Switchitbackonafteryou’vefinishedcheckingtoseewhethertheerrorhasbeenresolved,soyoudon’tbecomevulnerabletoattacks.Ifyourepeatedlyencountererrorsbecauseofyourfirewallorantivirussoftware,youmaywanttoconsiderchangingwhatyou’reusing. 6.ClearYourDNSCache Assomewhatofanextensiontoanearliertroubleshootingstep,yournexttaskwillbetoclearyourDNScache.Althoughmostpeopleareawarethattheirbrowsercreatesacache,notasmanyknowthattheiroperatingsystemdoesthesamething. Forexample,yourDNScachecontainsallofthetemporaryentriesforpagesyou’veaccessedwithyourbrowser.Theseentriesstorekeyinformationrelatedtothedomainnamesandaddressesofthepagesyou’vevisited. Withexpertknow-howandfastfeedback,oursupportteamwillneverletanerrorstandinthewayofyourwebsiteanditsvisitors.TryKinstaforFree. Thepurposeofthisfeatureissimilartothatofothertypesofcaches.Itacceleratestheloadingprocess,asiteliminatestheneedtocontactasite’sDNSserverrepeatedly.Thiswillsaveyoutimeinthelongrun.However,youmayoccasionallyseesomeshort-termissues. Ifastoredentrynolongermatchesthecurrentversionofthewebsiteitrefersto,technicalerrorsliketheERR_CONNECTION_REFUSEDmessagearenotunusual.Fortunately,clearingyourDNScacheisaquickandeasysolution. Again,howyou’lldothiswilldependonyouroperatingsystem. Windows LaunchthestartmenubypressingtheWindowskeyandsearchfor“CMD.”Thisshouldreturnthecommandprompt. CommandPromptinWindows Inthecommandpromptrunthefollowingcommand: ipconfig/flushdns ipconfig/flushdns YouwillthenseeaconfirmationthatithassuccessfullyflushedtheDNSresolvercache. FlushedDNSresolvercache Forthepurposesofthisarticle,we’lltalkyouthroughtheprocesswhenyou’reusingaMac–althoughyou’llbeabletofindnumeroushelpfulresourcesonlineifyou’reaWindowsfan. Mac OnaMac,you’llneedtodothefollowing: Click“Go”upinthetoolbarandthen“Utilities.”(Shift-Command-U) Macutilities OpentheTerminal. Macterminal Runthefollowingcommand.Youwillneedadministratoraccesstodothis. sudokillall-HUPmDNSResponder&&echomacOSDNSCacheReset ClearDNScacheMac Whenyou’vedonethat,tryaccessingtheproblemsiteagain.Hopefully,ifyou’vefollowedallofouradvice,itshouldbeworkingbynow.Ifnot,yourDNSmayrequiresomemoreattention. 7.ChangeYourDNSAddress Aswediscussedabove,anoutdatedDNScacheentryisapotentialsourceofissuesliketheERR_CONNECTION_REFUSEDmessage.However,theDNSaddressitselfcanalsoberesponsibleforthesekindsofproblems.Thisisbecauseitcanoftenbecomeoverloaded,orevengocompletelyoffline. Inthemajorityofcases,yourDNSserveraddressisautomaticallyobtainedfromyourinternetprovider.However,youcanalsochangeitifrequired.Howyou’lldothiswillagaindependontheoperatingsystemyou’reusing. Let’sexplorehowMacuserscancompletethisprocess.First,you’llneedtoopenupSystemPreferences.Ontheresultingscreen,selecttheoptionmarkedNetwork.You’llthenneedtoclickonAdvanced: Macnetworkadvanced Fromthere,selecttheDNSoptionfoundatthetopofthescreen.ToaddanewDNSserver,clickonthe+button.ToeditanexistingDNSserverinstead,double-clickontheDNSIPaddressyouwishtoadjust: NetworkDNS YoucantrytemporarilychangingthesetoapublicDNSserver,suchasGoogleorCloudflare. Some prefertouse Google’spublicDNS (8.8.8.8and8.8.4.4)long-termduetothemsometimesbeingmorereliable. CloudflarealsooffersitssecureandblazingfastfreeDNS(1.1.1.1and1.0.0.1). Tip:Ifyou’realreadyusingafreeDNSserverandhavingissues,removingitanddefaultingbacktoyourISP’sDNSserversalsosometimesfixthings.GoogleandCloudflarearen’tperfect100%ofthetimeandtherehavebeenafewinstanceswherewe’venoticedswitchingbackhasresolvedtheissue. Youcanthenattempttoaccessthesiteagain–andcrossyourfingers. 8.DisableAnyChromeExtensions There’snodenyingthatinstallingextensionsoftencontributestoamorewell-roundedGoogleChromeexperience.Themanyextensionsonoffercanaddkeyfeatures,andevenhelptoautomatecomplexprocesses. However,alargenumberoftheextensionsavailableforGoogleChromearenotdevelopedbythebrowser’sdevelopers.Instead,they’reusuallycreatedbythirdparties.Thiscanmeanthere’snorealguaranteethey’llworkasyouintended,orthattheywillbecorrectlyupdatedovertime. Incorrectoroutdatedextensionsarelikelytocausenumerousissues–includingtheERR_CONNECTION_REFUSEDerrormessage.Forthisreason,it’simportanttoregularlyaudittheextensionsthatareattachedtoyourbrowser. Todothat,firstopentheExtensionsmenuinyourChromebrowser.Youcanthenbegintoassesseachofyourinstalledextensionsinturn.Startbyquestioningwhetheryouactuallyneedeachone.Ifanextensionisnolongernecessary,youcansimplyremoveit. Next,findoutwheneachextensionthatyouwanttokeepwaslastupdated.Ideally,itshouldhavebeenupdatedwithinthelastthreemonths.Anythinglongerthanthatcouldbeasignthattheextensionisbeingneglectedbyitsdevelopers.Ifpossible,you’llwanttoremovethoseextensionsandreplacethemwithneweralternatives. Ofcourse,new(andfullyupdated)extensionscanstillsometimescauseproblems.Ifyoususpectthatthisisthecase,beginbydisablingallofyourattachedextensions.Ifthesiteyou’vebeentryingtoaccessloadsafterdoingthis,you’llknowthatatleastoneofthemisatfault.Youcanthenreactivateoneextensionatatime,untilyou’vehonedinontheproblemsoftware. 9.ReinstalltheChromeBrowser Aswithanyotherapplication,Chromeitselfisnevergoingtobecompletelybug-free.Yourinstallationofthebrowsercancontainvariousissues,especiallyifithasn’tbeenupdatedinawhile.What’smore,problemsbetweenyourbrowserandoperatingsystemaresurprisinglycommon. Asaresult,sometimestheonlysolutionistocompletelyreinstallChrome.Youcandothisbyremovingthecurrentinstallationfromyourdevice.YoucanthendownloadthemostrecentversionofthebrowserbyvisitingtheofficialChromewebsite. WhattoDoIfNoneofTheseSolutionsWork Ifnoneofthesolutionswe’vewalkedyouthroughfixestheERR_CONNECTION_REFUSEDmessage,it’susuallyasignthatsomethingmoreserioushasgonewrongontheserver-side(inotherwords,withthewebsiteitself). Unfortunately,inthisscenario,theonlythingyoucandoisbepatient.It’slikelythatthewebsite’sownersareworkinghardtoresolveanyissues,anditwillresumebusinessasusualbeforetoolong. Withexpertknow-howandfastfeedback,oursupportteamwillneverletanerrorstandinthewayofyourwebsiteanditsvisitors.TryKinstaforFree. Ifaccessingthesiteisamatterofurgency,youcouldtryreachingouttoitsownersdirectly.Therearenumerouswaystodothis,althoughsocialmediaandemailareparticularlyeffective–andunlikelytobeaffectedbyanywebsitedowntime. Explaintheproblemyou’refacing,andmentionthatyou’vetriedseveralsolutionstonoavail.Hopefully,theteambehindthewebsiteshouldgetbacktoyouanddiscussthebestcourseofaction.Youmayevenbedoingthemafavor,ifyouhappentomakethemawareofanissuetheydidn’tknowwaspreventingaccesstotheirsite. Ifyou’reaKinstaclientandit’syourownWordPresssitethatishavingtheissues,feelfreetoreachouttooursupportteam.Weareheretohelp24/7. Browsererrorsareneverfun.😩HereareafewtipsonhowtofixthestubbornERR_CONNECTION_REFUSEDerror.ClicktoTweet Summary Althoughconnectionerrorsareendlesslyfrustrating,it’simportanttorememberthattheycanoftenbefixed.Yourfirstportofcallshouldalwaysbetocheckwhethertheissuelieswiththewebpageitself.Iftheproblemiswithyourownconnection,ontheotherhand,you’llneedtoputinalittleworktogetthingsbackupandrunning. TotryandresolvetheERR_CONNECTION_REFUSEDmessage,youcan: Checktoseewhetherthepageitselfhasgonedown. Restartyourrouter. Clearyourbrowser’scache. Assessyourproxysettingsandadjustthemasneeded. Temporarilydisableantivirusandfirewallsoftware. FlushyourDNScache. ChangeyourDNSaddress. DisableanyoutdatedChromeextensions. ReinstallyourChromebrowser. Doyouhaveanymorequestionsaboutthisparticularerrormessage,oristhereanothercommonly-encounteredproblemthatyou’dlikeustoexplore?Letusknowinthecommentssectionbelow! Savetime,costsandmaximizesiteperformancewith: InstanthelpfromWordPresshostingexperts,24/7. CloudflareEnterpriseintegration. Globalaudiencereachwith28datacentersworldwide. Optimizationwithourbuilt-inApplicationPerformanceMonitoring. Allofthatandmuchmore,inoneplanwithnolong-termcontracts,assistedmigrations,anda30-day-money-back-guarantee.Checkoutourplansortalktosalestofindtheplanthat’srightforyou. Hand-pickedrelatedarticles Ebook 10WaystoBoostYourWooCommerceProductPageConversions DrivingtraffictoyourWooCommercestoreisimportant,butit'snotmuchuseifitdoesn'tconvert.Learnhowtoturntrafficintosalesinourfr… Blog HowtoFixYourConnectionisNotPrivateErrorinChrome(18Tips) The“yourconnectionisnotprivate”erroroccursonsitesrunningHTTPS.Ifthesite'scertificateisn’tvalid,thebrowserinterveneswiththism… Comments LeaveAComment RobinH. April22,2019at2:14am Reply Thanksforsharingthispost.HelpfulandInformative. silviahoyamena June20,2020at4:47am Reply FixedmyDNSanditallworkedagain!Thanksdomuchforyourtutorial!Bestoneintheinternet(Itriedafewothersandnoneofthemworked,probablybecausetheirexplanationswereterrible,yourissupereasytofollow) BrianLi June23,2020at11:14am Reply ThankyouforreadingSilvia!Gladyouwereabletogeteverythingworking. RohitKrishna March10,2021at12:14pm Reply Thiswasawesome.Isearchedothersitesanditwouldgivesomecomplicatedstuff.Itwasacacheproblem. Thanksalot! Austin August10,2021at8:20pm Reply DNSflushfixedit!hadtroubleconnectingmyEX6110,didtheDNSflushandchromewasabletogetmewhereIneededtosetupmywifi.Thanks! Jawad August17,2021at3:41am Reply TheproblemseemstobewithchromeDNSorsomething. LeaveaReplyCancelreplyCommentpolicy:Welovecommentsandappreciatethetimethatreadersspendtoshareideasandgivefeedback.However,allcommentsaremanuallymoderatedandthosedeemedtobespamorsolelypromotionalwillbedeleted. CommentName Email Bysubmittingthisform:YouagreetotheprocessingofthesubmittedpersonaldatainaccordancewithKinsta'sPrivacyPolicy,includingthetransferofdatatotheUnitedStates. YoualsoagreetoreceiveinformationfromKinstarelatedtoourservices,events,andpromotions.Youmayunsubscribeatanytimebyfollowingtheinstructionsinthecommunicationsreceived.