- If you see an error message, "Unable to connect securely" when you visit a website, see the article What do the SSLv3 error messages mean on Firefox?.
Websites that use the Secure Sockets Layer protocol (SSL) such as banking sites and online stores will have "https" at the start of their address. If Firefox can't access a secure site, it will show an error page saying:
This article will describe how to enable SSL in Firefox if you get this message.
- If you additionally receive the message "Could not initialize the application's security component", see Fix the "Could not initialize the application's security component" error message.
- For any other errors, see Websites don't load - troubleshoot and fix error messages.
Table of Contents
Check your SSL settings
- In the Menu bar at the top of the screen, click and then select or , depending on your macOS version.Click the menu button
and select .
- Select the panel.
- Click the tab.
- Verify that Use SSL 3.0 and Use TLS 1.0 are check marked.
- If both boxes are check marked, this section does not apply. You can skip to the next section.
- If both Use SSL 3.0 and Use TLS 1.0 are not check marked, check mark both of them.
- Close the page. Any changes you've made will automatically be saved.
- Type about:config in the address bar and press EnterReturn.
A warning page may appear. Click to go to the about:config page. - Type security.enable in the Search field.
- If both security.enable_ssl3 and security.enable_tls are set to true, skip to the next section.
- If both security.enable_ssl3 and security.enable_tls are set to false, double-click each of them to set it to true.
Try to access a secure site again. If it still doesn't work, continue in the next section.
Check your proxy settings
Some computers are configured to access the Internet through a proxy.
- In the Menu bar at the top of the screen, click and then select or , depending on your macOS version.Click the menu button and select .
- Select the panel.
- Click the tab.
- Click .
- If Manual proxy configuration: is selected, you are using a manually configured proxy server. Verify that all protocols listed in the dialog box are pointing to the address of your proxy server. Contact your network administrator if you don't know this address.
- If Manual proxy configuration: is not selected, this section does not apply. You can skip to the next section.
- Make any changes, and click to close the Connection Settings window.
- Close the page. Any changes you've made will automatically be saved.
Try to access a secure site again. If it still doesn't work, continue in the next section.
Security software
To use SSL protocol, Firefox needs to make a connection to itself. Some security software can block this connection. For information on how to configure security software to allow Firefox the access it needs, see Configure firewalls so that Firefox can access the Internet.
Problem with a specific site
You can test your browser for SSL functionality. If your browser passes the test, the problem may be specific to the site you're trying to access.
Based on information from SSL is disabled (mozillaZine KB)
