Suppose you are trying to access a site via the Chrome browser but the latter isn’t able to establish a successful connection or is simply refusing to do so in the first place. If that’s ever happened with you, then it could be due to that site being blocked.
Now there could be many different ways of putting this forward. It could be blocked by your ISP, or it might be falling under the restrictive IP addresses and hence the local authorities might prevent you from accessing that site.
In some instances, the system administrator in the workplace or schools and colleges might also block this site via a modification to the Host file. Likewise, Chrome might itself categorize a site as being unsafe and hence wouldn’t allow you to access it. Sometimes, Windows Firewall might also act along similar lines.
Related: How to Fix: ERR_CERT_AUTHORITY_INVALID in Chrome?
There could be a few other reasons as well, but the aforementioned are the most common ones. With that said, do exist some handy workarounds to bypass these restrictions or rather unblock these websites on your Chrome browser.
Let’s check out each one of them —
Contents
Bypass Chrome Warning
Chrome performs a check on every site and if it finds it to be an insecure or dangerous site, then it wouldn’t allow you to visit it. You might instead be greeted with messages such as Your connection is not private, The site ahead contains harmful programs, etc.
However, if you are pretty sure that this site is secure, then you may click on the button option and then select the Proceed to website-name (unsafe) option.
While this a temporary constraint put in place by Chrome and you could easily bypass it, however, it is recommended that you shouldn’t do so. This is because there is a high possibility of those sites being dangerous and could inject your PC with malware or carry out phishing activities.
Related: How to Fix: This Connection is Not Private in Safari Mac?
Disable Windows Firewall
This built-in tool from Windows is known to block harmful network connections and does an excellent job in protecting your PC from network threats. However, in some instances, it may raise a false positive as well. If that is the case with you, then you could consider temporarily disabling the Firewall.
Here are the steps to disable the windows firewall:
- Head over to the Start menu and search for Windows Defender Firewall.
- Then click on Turn Windows Defender Firewall On or Off from the left menu bar.
- Select Turn off Windows Defender Firewall under both the Public and Private network sections.
- Once that is done, see if you can visit the site on Chrome browser.
The above steps will disable the Firewall from performing its scan across the entire network, and not only your concerned site. As a result, there could be a chance of your PC getting infected with malicious network programs. So it’s better to re-enable the Firewall as soon as you can access the site.
Related: How to Fix: ERR_CERT_AUTHORITY_INVALID in Chrome?
Remove sites from Restricted List
There’s also a possibility that the site you are trying to access might have been added to the blacklist, or rather to the restricted list in Windows OS. You can verify the same and then remove it from the list.
Here are the steps to remove the site from the Restricted List in Internet options:
- Head over to the Control Panel via the Start menu.
- Change its View by a state to Large icon and go to Internet Options.
- Switch to the Security tab, select Restricted Sites and click on the button.
This will display the list of site URLs marked under Restricted sites. - Select the site, and hit the button.
- Once done, restart Chrome and check if that site stands unblocked or not.
While this is true quite a nifty workaround, however, you might not be allowed to carry out this task in an educational institution or professional workspaces, due to the restrictions being put in place by the concerned departments.
Make Changes to the Host File
In some instances, the network administrator could modify the host file and block the sites that don’t fall under their approved domains. They do so by adding the IPv4 loopback traffic (127.0.0.1) to the host file followed by the desired URL. While this may sound a little bit technical, however bypassing this is quite an easy task, granted you have the administrative rights.
- If you have the required permission, then launch the File Explorer on your PC.
- Now copy-paste the below location in its address bar and hit key.
C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc
- Here you should see the Hosts file, right-click and select Open With > Notepad.
- Now scroll to the end of the page, and if you find something along the lines of 127.0.0.1 www.example.com.
- Remove that entire line with the website URL.
As an example, the below host file is blocking Facebook, to unblock it, we have just had to delete the highlighted lines.
- Once done, use the + shortcut to save the file.
- Now restart your browser, and see if the website has been unblocked on Chrome.
If you aren’t able to access the host file, then it’s because you don’t have system-level permissions. And this is one major reason why most of the users aren’t able to carry out this tweak.
Use a VPN Service
While a VPN service majorly started as a gateway to a secure connection, however, it is now being used in equal measures to access geo-restricted contents. Upon connecting your device to a Virtual Private Network of another region, you could route your traffic via that VPN server. This will make your ISP believe that the data packets are coming from that VPN server and hence you could easily access the blocked site.
There are quite a few VPNs services that you could opt for. While most of them would require you to shell some bucks, they also offer an initial free trial.
So it’s better to check out their offerings in the trial run and then mold your purchase decision accordingly. Or you could also try out some VPN Chrome extensions as well.
Bottom Line: Chrome Unblock Websites
With this, we conclude this guide on how to unblock websites on Chrome. We have shared five different methods for the same. In my case, it turned out that the Windows Firewall was being overprotective and blocking one of the non-harmful trackers.
This resulted in the inability of the site to be properly loaded in Chrome. Upon temporarily disabling the Firewall, I was able to re-access the site.
If your site is restricted due to local government, then you can always use the VPN service to access the site from a different country or region. This will also help in protecting your data privacy.
Related: How to Enable Privacy and Security Settings in Chrome Computer?
With that said, do let us know in the comments which method spelled out success in your case.
Lastly, here are the recommended web browsers for your computer and mobile phone that you should give a try.
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