"Microsoft doesn't support a secure connection with HTTPS"

Question

Every single website I visit in Microsoft Edge displays the message: "(WEBSITE) doesn't support a secure connection with HTTPS: You are seeing this warning because this website does not support HTTPS and you are in InPrivate mode." Please help me.

Answer 1

That message is misleading. It doesn’t mean every site you visit suddenly doesn’t support HTTPS. What it actually means is that Edge, specifically in InPrivate mode, is refusing to fall back to plain HTTP, and something on your system or network is preventing HTTPS from working correctly in the first place.

Start with the simplest possibility: your system clock. HTTPS depends on certificate validation, and if your date, time, or time zone is wrong, every secure connection can fail. On Windows 11, go to Settings, then Time & Language, then Date & Time. Turn on automatic time and time zone and click Sync now.

Next, figure out whether this is just Edge or your whole system. Open the same websites in another browser like Chrome or Firefox. If they work there, the issue is isolated to Edge. If they fail in the same way, then something at the system or network level is interfering with secure connections.

If it’s happening across all browsers, the most common cause is software intercepting HTTPS traffic. Antivirus programs, “web protection” features, parental control apps, or security tools often scan encrypted traffic and can break it. If you have something like Avast, Bitdefender, Kaspersky, or similar, temporarily disable its web or HTTPS scanning feature and test again.

You should also check whether a proxy is enabled. Go to Settings, then Network & Internet, then Proxy. Make sure “Use a proxy server” is turned off unless you knowingly set one. An unexpected proxy can cause every HTTPS request to fail.

VPNs are another frequent cause. Even when you’re not actively connected, some VPN clients leave background services running that interfere with TLS connections. Fully exit or temporarily uninstall the VPN and test again.

If the problem only happens in Edge, reset the browser. Open Edge settings, go to “Reset settings,” and choose “Restore settings to their default values.” This clears any broken configuration that might affect secure connections.

You can also reset the Windows networking stack. Open Command Prompt as administrator and run:

ipconfig /flushdns
netsh winsock reset

Then restart your computer.

If none of that fixes it, try switching networks. Connect to a different Wi-Fi network or use a mobile hotspot. If it suddenly works, your original network is likely intercepting or filtering HTTPS traffic.

In more stubborn cases, the issue can come from a custom or corrupted certificate installed on your system, which breaks trust validation. That’s more common on work or school devices, or after installing certain security tools.

The key point is that Edge InPrivate mode is stricter and won’t allow insecure fallback, so it exposes a problem that already exists. Once HTTPS works normally again, that warning disappears everywhere.

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hth

Marcin