Are you currently using Internet Explorer 11 (IE11) and have been randomly getting slow responses that arrive at an error message:
“This page can’t be displayed – Turn on TLS 1.0, TLS 1.1, and TLS 1.2 in Advanced settings and try connecting to https://www.google.com again. If this error persists, it is possible that this site uses an unsupported protocol or cipher suite such as RC4 (link for the details), which is not considered secure. Please contact your site administrator.”
The above error message is informative, and it appears that the error is related to IE using deprecated cipher suites.
But checking the ciphers in Tools > Internet Options > Advanced, in the Settings scrollbox, looking under Security, we see that we are already using updated cipher suites TLS 1.0, 1.1, and 1.2 (at present, SSL 3.0 is the only deprecated cipher) that should be selected by default in IE11.
So it appears that this is not cipher suite issue.
Solution: Reset Internet Explorer 11’s settings
* Note: The solution will involve resetting IE11’s settings – restoring its default settings, removing previous search providers and accelerators. It is recommended you try and remember, or preferably write down the search engines / accelerators, as well as any custom settings before performing the fix.
1 Going back to Tools > Internet Options > Advanced, under Reset Internet Explorer settings, click on Reset. In the Reset Internet Explorer settings window, check the box ‘Delete personal settings’, and click on Reset
2 Once done, simply restart IE11 and try browsing again. Things should work now :)
Conclusion
As usual, bugs occur in any software, and as you’d expect – it’s IE again. But this one is definitely uncommon – We’ve never seen it before:
- it’s random nature made it seem, on first glance, like a network issue (or specifically a dns issue – because that error message familiarly appears when there’s a lack of connectivity), or a caching issue
- and the fact that the cipher settings were not incorrect made it harder to fix.
We did not track down whether it was a problem with IE occasionally not applying those cipher settings correctly when browsing sites, or whether it was due to the cipher suites themselves – but one thing is clear: resetting the browser to its default usually resolves most browser-related problems pertaining to the http protocol.
It would be unfair to add more hate on IE that it already suffers regarding its performance and HTML compliance. But one thing we know about IE that great: it’s security – there’s no denying this one. And while we (Joe and I) might have taken quite a while to have found a fix for this error (a fix that’s not directly related to the error message), at least IE has once again done what it does best – protecting our privacy and security.
Thankyou for this solution, it’s work. when i have problem opened internet Explorer to connect school network.
So. I transfered my data to a new computer. Old one froze up. New computer has Windows 10
And the internet explorer is doing exactly the same thing here.
Browser loads. msn.com works.
login
tls error
facebook tab
tls error
new browser window. Immediately type in facebook/netflix/ hulu/amazon
TLS ERROR
add on shut off does not work.
resetting securty does not work
turning on and off the tls 1.0 1.1 1.2 3.0 does not work.
Hi Sean, sorry it didn’t work out for you. At present Internet Explorer is considered deprecated and soon microsoft will be dropping support for it. I suggest using another browser, like Firefox.
The article wording is misleading, SSL/TLS is the protocol, not the cipher suite. Different protocols can support different cipher suites, for the SSL/TLS handshake to complete the client and server need to negotiate both a protocol and a cipher suite within it.
It’s more common (at least in my experience) to get IE errors when a common protocol fails to negotiate but I have seen it where a common protocols can be negotiated but not a common cipher suite within it.
Tyler: Never did get this resolved except by using a different browser. I am fairly good with technology (e.g., can apply wild-card SSL certificates to servers) which is not to brag but to say whatever the issue may be it’s fairly subtle. Sorry I couldn’t be of more direct help.
it did work for me.. super thanks
Try running with no Add-ons (fixed it for me.) From there you can narrow down to offending add-ons. I disabled two XML-related add-ons from Microsoft and that fixed the issue.
Thanks for the alternative solution. Never knew about addons on IE causing this too because I don’t use any. Hope it helps others out there!
Did not work, what now?
I’m sorry the solution didn’t work for you. Which version of Windows are you using? At the time i had this error the PC that was affected was using Windows 10 with the anniversary update. I suppose there might be more than one cause for this error than just simply resetting IE’s settings, but it would help if you could share what you’ve tried to see how I could help.
Is that for all sites or just some?
FWIW same here (i.e., did not work). Other https sites come up fine so something funky on the site? The site comes up fine on other computers with (apparently) same settings so a head scratcher.
That’s mysterious. As i suspected there’s probably cases where my solution wouldn’t work. But do post back if you happen to find a solution, so we’re all know!
Todd, did you ever get this resolved? We’ve run into the same issue.