ERR_CON­NEC­TION_REFUSED: The best solutions when dealing with this Chrome error

Con­nec­tion errors are equally annoying for visitors and website operators. However, very few of these error messages are caused by the website itself. Usually, the problem lies on the visitor’s end and they can correct it them­selves. However, the situation can quickly become frus­trat­ing if you try to fix it without any in­for­ma­tion. One of the most per­sis­tent errors is the message “ERR_CON­NEC­TION_REFUSED”, which should be well known to most Chrome users. If the 102 error appears in Google’s browser, it is usually not enough to reload the page or access it again at a later time.

The con­nec­tion error does not nec­es­sar­i­ly affect website visitors, as the following example shows: if web de­vel­op­ers work with Google Chrome and temporary local addresses for in­di­vid­ual resources of a website, these addresses are often in­ac­ces­si­ble when their URLs end on .localhost. The ERR_CON­NEC­TION_REFUSED message in this case is due to a security feature in­tro­duced on Chrome version 43 that au­to­mat­i­cal­ly blocks these localhost sub­do­mains.

The fact that the ERR_CON­NEC­TION_REFUSED error message appears almost always due to a client-side mis­con­fig­u­ra­tion or a technical problem on the user’s side means that you have the chance to fix the problem on your own. However, the dif­fi­cul­ty is that there are many potential causes of errors that can be re­spon­si­ble for blocking the con­nec­tion. However, the browser message does not indicate what prevented the desired page from being accessed in the specific case. Therefore, you have no other choice than to try out the various solutions one by one until the error is corrected and the website can be accessed again as usual.

Which methods for cor­rect­ing the ERR_CON­NEC­TION_REFUSED error message are most likely to succeed?

One of the most common solutions to various errors on the internet is to restart the network device that connects you to the internet. Although the chance of success is rather low in most cases, you should also try this when this ERR_CON­NEC­TION_REFUSED error message appears – es­pe­cial­ly since restart­ing the router is a matter of a few minutes. Just dis­con­nect the power supply by un­plug­ging the router’s power supply and wait about 30 seconds before reconnect with the plug. When the router boots up again, try to access the target website again with your browser. If the con­nec­tion problem persists, there must be another cause.

The pro­tec­tion of privacy on the internet has been an important issue for browser man­u­fac­tur­ers and users for years. However, the in­creas­ing­ly important role security features have played in the de­vel­op­ment of websites does not prevent many users from using in­di­vid­ual solutions to protect their own data. Par­tic­u­lar­ly popular is the use of proxy servers, which act as an in­ter­me­di­ary between the browser and websites. In this way, they can filter com­mu­ni­ca­tion and cache data, as well as keep the IP address of the user secret from the contacted web server.

However, there are various scenarios in which a proxy server can cause problems like the ERR_CON­NEC­TION_REFUSED error message. For example, the web server could block the proxy or its IP address and therefore reject the con­nec­tion. Another possible source of errors is the caching function of the proxy servers – as soon as the cache contains obsolete data, con­nec­tion errors cannot be excluded. Of course, it is also possible that the proxy is offline or in­cor­rect­ly con­fig­ured, which would also cause the con­nec­tion to fail.

If you receive a message like the Chrome 102 error, it is rec­om­mend­ed to check your own proxy settings and delete reg­is­tered servers in case of doubt. For this purpose, Chrome even has its own entry in the browser options, which saves you having to search for the cor­re­spond­ing menu in your system settings. In the first step, open the Chromes settings by entering the following address in the search bar:

Windows users then click on “LAN settings” and uncheck (if necessary) “use proxy server for LAN”. Mac users im­me­di­ate­ly land in the ap­pro­pri­ate menu and only have to uncheck all se­lec­table proxy protocols.

Firewalls and programs against malware and the like also serve to protect users and systems. To this end, they filter network traffic and scan the system at regular intervals to au­to­mat­i­cal­ly block malicious and con­spic­u­ous (po­ten­tial­ly unsafe) pages or detect known malware. However, as important as this security software is, it is also prob­lem­at­ic if it unjustly blocks pages or content and therefore prevents con­nec­tions from being es­tab­lished.

A solution to the ERR_CON­NEC­TION_REFUSED error message is therefore to tem­porar­i­ly de­ac­ti­vate the firewall and the like. If the project can then be called up, you know the cause of the con­nec­tion problem and can make cor­re­spond­ing changes to the programs filter lists. Al­ter­na­tive­ly, you can switch to other security tools.

While most people are probably aware of the browser cache, only a few internet users know that the operating system also collects in­for­ma­tion about browsing habits. For example, the DNS cache contains temporary entries for all pages that you have called up with your browser. In detail, these entries contain all the in­for­ma­tion required for the name res­o­lu­tion of the re­spec­tive domain addresses, which means that the DNS cache performs a similar task as the browser cache (ac­cel­er­a­tion of the loading process). This caching elim­i­nates the need to contact a DNS server again, saving a lot of time.

However, the fact that the query is answered directly from the cache is not always an advantage. If an entry no longer matches the current version of the website, technical problems and con­nec­tion errors like the ERR_CON­NEC­TION_REFUSED error message are not unusual. The simple and quick solution is to clear the DNS cache, which you can easily do from your systems command line. With Windows, the command required for this is as follows:

You can find out what the cor­re­spond­ing commands for macOS and Linux look like in our guide – including more in­for­ma­tion about the DNS cache and DNS flush.

Name res­o­lu­tion is one of the basic building blocks of computer network func­tion­al­i­ty. This means that an outdated DNS entry is not the only potential source of errors like the ERR_CON­NEC­TION_REFUSED error message on Android and iOS that orig­i­nates from the Domain Name System. The DNS server itself can also be re­spon­si­ble for these kinds of con­nec­tion errors if it does not function properly, for example, because it is over­loaded or even offline.

In most cases, the DNS server address is au­to­mat­i­cal­ly obtained from the internet provider, although selected name server can easily be entered for name res­o­lu­tion. The Google servers (8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4) and the CDN provider Cloud­flare (1.1.1.1 and 1.0.0.1) are par­tic­u­lar­ly rec­om­mend­ed.

Ex­ten­sions broaden the func­tion­al­i­ty of your Chrome in­stal­la­tion, but the majority of these are not from Google, instead they have been developed by third parties. If you use ex­ten­sions, you have no guarantee that they will work as intended, and will be updated regularly (to be com­pat­i­ble with the current Chrome version). Since incorrect or obsolete ex­ten­sions can also cause error messages like ERR_CON­NEC­TION_REFUSED, you should always consider a thorough check of the chrome add-ons you have installed. First, open the “ex­ten­sions” menu by accessing the following address:

If the target website can be executed correctly after you have switched off all ex­ten­sions, you know that at least one extension is re­spon­si­ble for the ERR_CON­NEC­TION_REFUSED error message. Activate the ex­ten­sions one after the other to find the culprit(s) and then delete them using the “REMOVE” button.

Like any other ap­pli­ca­tion, Chrome is not bug-free. Many errors can be quickly corrected thanks to regular updates, but problems between the browser and the operating system can still occur, which cannot be solved despite updates. If this even results in con­nec­tion errors like the 102 error, you will usually just have to com­plete­ly reinstall Chrome com­plete­ly. You can delete the current in­stal­la­tion from your software center and download the required file for a new in­stal­la­tion from the official Chrome Website.

While you can change DNS servers on your own and therefore replace the standard solution of your internet provider, you have no influence what­so­ev­er on the packet filtering performed by your provider. Since there is at least the pos­si­bil­i­ty that this blocks the website you are targeting through the provider’s own firewall system, you should not hesitate to contact support if these DIY solutions are not suc­cess­ful. If you are lucky, the page in question is actually blocked, so it is suf­fi­cient to order an un­block­ing to correct the ERR_CON­NEC­TION_REFUSED error.