Windows – Chrome (and Chrome alone) cannot access the Internet

google-chromeinternet connectioninternet explorernetworkingwindows-vista

My neighbour rang me this morning to tell me that she couldn't access the Internet so I agreed to have a look at it for them. The machine is an aging Sony Vaio running Windows Vista (didn't note what SP)

Turns out there's no problem with the Internet per se but it only manifests it when they try to use Chrome.

What I've tried:

  • Removed McAfee, and its settings (I thought that they may have clicked on something here to prevent the Chrome process accessing the Internet)
  • Cleaned machine up using Ccleaner
  • Reset the firewall (in the process checked ability to access while it was off)
  • Removed and re-added Chrome as firewall exception
  • Uninstalled Chrome, and removed all its settings (in %APPDATA% and a few other common locations)
  • Downloaded the latest standalone version of Chrome and installed
  • Reset the network (ipconfig and netsh commands)
  • Deleted Chrome users and setup new ones
  • Reset Chrome settings
  • Verified that proxy settings weren't influencing the connection
  • Ran a Windows Update
  • Started in incognito mode
  • Started Chrome with extensions disabled

What I've not tried:

  • Added a new Windows user and tried Chrome from there
  • Broken out the heavy guns like Ethereal etc.
  • A portable version

What works:

  • Internet access using IE
  • Ping access to anywhere

State of play now:

  • Set up IE for them with all their bookmarks and favourites

They're not wedded to the idea of using Chrome, they probably just installed it on the search engine's recommendation one day and they've just grown used to it. For their needs IE will function identically but I'm just curious to know what it is it could be (more for professional curiosity than anything else at this stage)

I've seen this question but it doesn't answer my issue

Screenshot displaying the error (excuse the glare but it was taken using my phone)

Screenshot.

The error code shown is : ERR_NETWORK_ACCESS_DENIED

Best Answer

I would recommend trying turning the firewall off, and make sure she hasn't got any other non Windows firewalls installed. Then see if it works, if it doesn't you at least know it's not down to the Firewall itself. If it is then you have a new line of enquiry... You could also try doing a reboot with non-Microsoft services objects are disabled as well as a selective startup disabling startup items. This should rule out any background processes causing you grief.

Personally, if you don't want to waste too much time on it, I would consider installing Firefox on the machine for her instead of Chrome, I know it's not a solution, but it is a lot better than forcing her to use Internet Explorer.

EDIT

Thanks for clarifying that, I can suggest one more thing, but it might not be the most useful suggestion, using procmon you could check to see what Chrome is actually doing when requesting pages, because from the sounds of it is doing something it shouldn't be. But since this will show you a lot of information it could take you a while to figure anything useful out. I would at this point refer back to my previous response "replace it with Firefox"... Good luck!

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