Hi all,
For the last few weeks my desktop PC has suddenly become unable to connect to several major VPN domains. I use NordVPN, but I suddenly can’t log into their service, nor can I reach their website through any browser (Firefox, Chrome, Edge) or with command-line requests.
Further, I’ve attempted and failed to visit all of the following VPN websites: expressvpn, turbovpn, surfshark, purevpn, and cyberghostvpn.
No other websites appear to be affected; I can browse just fine as long as it’s not a VPN site. There 's also a few VPN sites I can connect to: I had no issues visiting Norton VPN, Proton VPN, or Tunnelbear.
Connection attempts to the affected domains always fail by timeout. Edge’s diagnostic tool gives the following error:
resource is online but isn’t responding to connection attempts. The remote computer isn’t responding to connections on port 443, possibly due to firewall or security policy settings, or because it might be temporarily unavailable. Windows couldn’t find any problems with the firewall on your computer.
Only this PC (Windows 10 Home, version 22H2, build 19045.4529, all updates installed) is affected. All my other devices (android and ios phones and tablets, mac and linux laptops) use the same wifi connection, but connect to all VPN domains without issue, and can log into my NordVPN account also without issue.
Things I’ve tried:
- Restarted my router, and factory-reset my router (doubtfully the source of the issue since other devices would also have problems, but for the sake of thoroughness)
- Uninstalled NordVPN software (and now I can’t get it back again, since I can’t connect -_- )
- Ran a virus scan with Norton Antivirus (360 for Gamers, used to be Bullguard before it spontaneously became Norton)
- Uninstalled Norton Antivirus (since it had its fingers in my firewall settings, and as mentioned above, Norton is one of the few VPN domains I can connect to, which seems suspicious)
- Reset Windows firewall settings
- Ran
ipconfig /flushdns,ipconfig /releaseand/renew,netsh winsock resetandnetsh int ip resetin varying combinations, all as administrator - Reset my network settings
- Uninstalled and reinstalled my network drivers
- Made sure my proxy settings are set to ‘automatically detect’
- Booted up in safe mode
- Cleaned registry with CCleaner
- Ran a ‘quick’ windows virus scan (currently running a full scan, but it won’t be complete for several hours)
- Shouted every swearword in every combintion
I’m all out of ideas for what the issue might be. Would anyone have any ideas? Cheers for your help.