The first thing you want to do if you encounter the “ERR_CONNECTION_RESET” error is to determine whether your internet connection is working properly.
To get started, try accessing a few other websites to see if they’re loading correctly.
Even if they do load, though, we recommend that you go ahead and reset your router by disconnecting the power cable, waiting a minute, and reconnecting it. Your connection should be available again in a matter of minutes.
Once it’s up, you can check if the error persists. If that doesn’t solve the problem, it’s time to start executing the following troubleshooting steps.
1. Check Your VPN
If you use a VPN for work or privacy reasons, it’s important to know that your connection to it can drop. When that happens, you might be unable to establish a connection with some websites until it’s restored.
Depending on what VPN software you use, it might try to reconnect automatically, or you may have to do so manually. Some software also gives you the option to block navigation while it tries to reconnect to the network:
If you use a VPN for work, the website you’re trying to access may block or reset the connection if you use an IP address it doesn’t recognize. Reconnecting to the VPN should solve the problem if that’s the case.
2. Reset Your TCP/IP Settings
When resetting your browser manually doesn’t do the trick, you can force your operating system (OS) to renew your TCP and IP protocol settings. That will return your internet connection to its default settings, and in the process, it can fix the “ERR_CONNECTION_RESET” error.
How to Reset TCP/IP Settings in Windows
If you’re using Windows, you can reset and renew your TCP/IP settings through the command line.
To do so, click on the Start button, type in “cmd” (without the quotes), and hit Enter. You’ll see a window like this one:
Now go ahead and enter the following commands one by one. Each line is a different command — so type one in, hit Enter, and move on to the next one:
Netsh winsock resetNetsh int ip resetIpconfig /releaseip/config /renewIpconfig /flushdns
Along with resetting your internet connection, the last command will also flush your local Domain Name System (DNS) cache. An outdated cache can lead to connection errors, so this additional command can come in handy.
How to Reset TCP/IP Settings in macOS
Resetting your TCP/IP settings on macOS is remarkably simple — you can do it in just a handful of steps:
- Go to System Preferences and select the Network option.
- Choose your active internet connection and open its Advanced settings.
- Go to the TCP/IP tab.
- Click on Renew DHCP Lease.
Once you reset your TCP/IP settings, try accessing the website that showed the “ERR_CONNECTION_RESET” error before. If your internet connection was the problem, the error should be gone.
3. Disable Your Antivirus Software and Firewall
Antiviruses and firewalls can be quite aggressive when it comes to protecting you on the web. In some cases, your antivirus software might prevent you from downloading and opening files, or block you from visiting websites altogether.
The same applies to your firewall, which may reset your connection when you’re trying to access a specific site.
The best way to rule out your firewall is to temporarily disable it and then check to see if the “ERR_CONNECTION_RESET” error persists. Here’s how to do this in either OS:
If your antivirus software is blocking the connection to a remote server, you’ll have to disable it manually as well. That process will vary depending on what program you’re using, so you’ll need to check its documentation.
In our experience, it’s relatively rare for your firewall or antivirus software to reset the connection. If you’re trying to access a website that’s not safe, it’s much more likely that your browser will show you a warning. However, if you’ve tried every other fix so far, it’s worth disabling both sets of software to rule them out as a cause.
4. Clear Your Browser Cache
Your browser stores data from most of the websites you visit, so it doesn’t need to reload them from scratch when you return. In some cases, outdated cache files can lead to errors when loading a website, such as “ERR_CONNECTION_RESET.”
If that’s the case, you can solve the problem by emptying your browser cache. That process works much the same regardless of what browser you’re using.
For example, if you use Chrome, you can go to Settings > Privacy and security > Clear browsing data, and tick the Cached images and files option:
Click on Clear data and wait for Chrome to delete the cached files.
The process shouldn’t take long, and once it’s done, you can try to reload the page that gave you the “ERR_CONNECTION_RESET” error.
This process will work with non-Chrome browsers as well.
5. Disable Your Proxy Server
If you’re routing your connection through a proxy server, it can lead to errors such as “ERR_CONNECTION_RESET” when you try to load a website. That can be because the proxy server fails to establish a connection to the website, or because you can’t connect to the proxy server in the first place.
In any case, unless you’re using a proxy server for a specific reason, you can go ahead and disable it.
If you’re using Windows, you can do that by opening the Start menu, typing in “Internet Options” (without quotes), and selecting the option that comes up.
A window called Internet Properties will open up. Go to the Connections tab and select the LAN settings option:
In the next window, look for the option: Use a proxy server for your LAN. If that setting is enabled, turn it off and check the option that says Automatically detect settings:
Click on OK, and that’s it. You can go ahead and try to access the website that returned the “ERR_CONNECTION_RESET” error. If you’ve already tried everything else, this should fix the problem.
Thank you!