Mozilla Firefox won't connect to Google, IE can

Question

I have went on to Google search before, however today, Mozilla Firefox won't let me connect to Google's search page.

This is what I get.

You have asked Firefox to connect securely to www.google.com, but we can't confirm that your connection is secure.

Normally, when you try to connect securely, sites will present trusted identification to prove that you are going to the right place. However, this site's identity can't be verified. What Should I Do?

If you usually connect to this site without problems, this error could mean that someone is trying to impersonate the site, and you shouldn't continue.

This site uses HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) to specify that Firefox only connect to it securely. As a result, it is not possible to add an exception for this certificate.

www.google.com uses an invalid security certificate.

The certificate is not trusted because the issuer certificate is unknown. The server might not be sending the appropriate intermediate certificates. An additional root certificate may need to be imported.

(Error code: sec_error_unknown_issuer)

I tried uninstalling and resetting Firefox but I still get the same message. (Also Internet Explorer opens the page just fine.)

UPDATE: Only one user out of the three on the computer doesn't have this problem.

Solution 1

Firefox is protecting you from what it thinks is a man-in-the-middle attack, where some other program is intercepting and possibly altering your communications with Google. It's possible that your connection is actually being hacked, but another common possibility is that you (or your employer) has a firewall which inspects and possibly alters your web traffic for legitimate reasons. In that case, you would need to tell Firefox to allow that interception, by installing the firewall's certificate in Firefox's trust list.

You have a couple of options:

• Ask your system administrator or IT department, if you have one. They will be able to confirm that this should be happening, give you a copy of the certificate, and perhaps help you install it into Firefox (usually under Preferences > Advanced > Certificates but it varies by version).
• View the Google certificate in the error dialog that Firefox shows. It will have a "Subject" (which should be Google) and an "Issuer" (which, for the real Google, is GeoTrust via an intermediate Google certificate, but for a firewall will probably be named after the firewall vendor). If you recognize this issuer as legitimate, you can find the certificate in Windows' trust list, export it, and then import it into Firefox's list of trusted certificate authorities.

Firefox, for historical reasons, has its own trust list separate from Windows', but IE uses the Windows list. It sounds like the intercepting certificate is in Windows' trust list and in one user's Firefox list but not in other users' lists.

Solution 2

I had this problem after downloading a subtitles file (.srt) from internet. It must have included a malware to change my setting in Firefox. I had to uninstall the firefox and delete all my settings from profile. Please see:

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/uninstall-firefox-from-your-computer

After removing all setting and reinstalling firefox the problem was solved.

Solution 3

I had the same issue.

You can enable some feature in about:config by creating this boolean value:

security.enterprise_roots.enabled

and set it to true

For more information follow this.

Comments

[Admin]

This is because Firefox and IE use entirely separate certificate stores. Based on the error your system is configured to use an invalid certificate when it connects to Google. You should export that certificate into the Firefox certificate store.

[Admin]

How do I do that?

[Admin]

How you add a certificate to the Firefox Certificate store specifically depends on the version of Firefox you are using and the operating system you are using. In all cases how you do it is documented on in a Firefox support article.

[Admin]

Related: How do I diagnose not being able to reach a specific website as an end user?

[endolith]

I copied a Firefox profile from a working computer to a new computer, and the certificates seem to be included in the profile, but the new computer's firefox isn't working, Anything else I need to do to make it work?

[fixer1234]

Welcome to Super User. This is really just a few generic comments relating to browsers and Firefox. There's not anything here that's a solution to the problem in the question, or specific to the issue in a useful way. With a little more rep, you would be able to post a comment with helpful hints. Answers are intended to be solutions.