After Windows 10 updates Google Chrome is slow to load pages or fails to load them at all Chrome will hang on Establishing Secure Connection or ERR_TIME_OUT. Other browsers such as Edge, Firefox, Internet Explorer work fine.
The issue is caused by the ‘Cryptographic Services’ service. If you open Task Manager you can see the Service Host: Cryptographic Services using >10% CPU usage. Stopping the service will fix the issue temporarily.
To resolve the issue permanently by deleting the following registry key – HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\SystemCertificates\Root\ProtectedRoots
- Press the Windows Key + R key to open the Run Command
- Type ‘Regedit‘ and click Ok to open the Registry Editor
- Navigate to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\SystemCertificates\Root\ProtectedRoots - Right Click on Root and select Delete
- If a Windows Security windows is shown click on Reorder and then click Ok
- Try and delete the Root Key again and it should now delete
- Reboot the machine which will recreate the Root folder and Chrome will be functioning correctly again
There can be other permission conflicts. Keep trying and delete Root which will rebuild automatically. The reboot is optional, but works. Stop/Start Chrome is usually sufficient.
For details and other AD workarounds see Chrome bug report
https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=838707
Worked for me, since this addresses the cause of the issue.
Note that the ‘Cryptographic Services’ needs to be stopped before and that the Windows security reorder dialog shows only after selecting Permissions… and trying to allow full permissions to the current user for the ProtectedRoots folder.
To allow delete you may need to add Full Control permission to your account at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\SystemCertificates\Root\ProtectedRoots