ERR_BLOCKED_BY_CLIENT - 10 Ways to Fix the Error

You’re casually browsing the web, clicking a link, or trying to load a page, and suddenly, you’re greeted by a blank page with a cryptic message: ERR_BLOCKED_BY_CLIENT. It’s frustrating and confusing, and even worse—it stops you dead in your tracks.

What does it even mean? Is the website broken? Is your internet down? This error is more common than you might think, and the good news is, you can usually fix it on your own.

This guide will walk you through everything you need to know about the ERR_BLOCKED_BY_CLIENT error and how to handle it expertly. Let’s dive in!

What Does ERR_BLOCKED_BY_CLIENT Mean?

The ERR_BLOCKED_BY_CLIENT error indicates that something is preventing a client (think of your browser) from accessing a specific resource. It usually appears when certain extensions or software settings block a webpage or specific page elements from loading.

Many internet errors (a.k.a. HTTP errors) come in the form of cryptic messages from a remote server, telling you something went wrong on its end. Think of the infamous “404 Not Found” error—that’s the website’s server telling you the page doesn’t exist. But ERR_BLOCKED_BY_CLIENT is different.

Imagine your browser is a chef preparing a meal (a website). To get all the ingredients (content, images, ads), the chef sends out delivery drivers (network requests).

Before starting, you’ve given the chef a strict rule: “Don’t accept any packages from ‘SuperAds Inc’.” This rule is your ad blocker.

When a delivery driver from “SuperAds Inc.” shows up, the chef looks at your rules, blocks the delivery at the door, and makes a note in the kitchen log: ERR_BLOCKED_BY_CLIENT.

The chef continues to prepare the rest of the meal, but the final dish is served without that one blocked ingredient.

The clue is right there in the name: “by client.” In computing, the term “client” refers to a piece of software (in this case, your browser) or a device requesting information from a remote server. So, it’s like the browser is leaving a note to itself: “Hey, I tried to load resources from this website, but something on this computer or network told me ‘no way!’” This distinction is crucial because it tells us exactly where to look for the solution: not on the website, but within our own browser and computer settings.

This is how your browser would typically display the error message.

Variations of ERR_BLOCKED_BY_CLIENT

This error might not always look the same. ERR_BLOCKED_BY_CLIENT is the common error message on Google Chrome, but it can appear in different forms depending on the browser or the extension causing the issue. Common variations include:

• ERR_BLOCKED_BY_EXTENSION
• ERR_BLOCKED_BY_ADBLOCKER
• ERR_BLOCKED_BY_POLICY
• Failed to load resource: net::ERR_BLOCKED_BY_CLIENT

These variations highlight the role of specific extensions or policies in causing the block.

What Causes ERR_BLOCKED_BY_CLIENT?

Knowing the problem is on our end (the “client”), we can narrow down the list of suspects. Quite often, it’s a piece of software that has permission to monitor and interfere with your browser’s traffic. Think of your browser as a busy highway. These programs are like checkpoints or roadblocks, each one inspecting traffic for different reasons. When one of them mistakenly flags a legitimate car, traffic comes to a halt, and you see the error.

So, here are the common causes for the ERR_BLOCKED_BY_CLIENT error.

The Accidental Block: When You Don’t Mean To

This is arguably the most frequent scenario. You’ve got your ad blocker running, and it’s doing its job beautifully on 99% of the websites. But then, you land on a site, and boom!—ERR_BLOCKED_BY_CLIENT. In this case, your ad blocker likely misidentified a crucial element of the website as an ad or a tracker. The site may use a third-party script for commenting or analytics that your ad blocker extension is set to block by default. It’s an honest mistake, but a frustrating one nonetheless.

Website-Specific Blocks: Targeting Annoying Ads

Sometimes, you might actively block elements on a specific website because of a past bad experience. Maybe a site was riddled with pop-ups, and you manually added a rule to your ad blocker to stop them. Later, the site might have cleaned up its act, but your old rule is still in place, causing it to block content unnecessarily. It’s like holding a grudge against a restaurant even after they’ve gotten a new chef and a revamped menu!

Corrupted Browser Cache

As with many other errors, your browser might not be able to produce the desired page due to a very familiar culprit —cached files or cookies. Undoubtedly, browser cache is highly beneficial in cutting short loading times by saving critical files to your device so they can be readily available in subsequent visits to familiar websites.

However, cached data may occasionally become corrupted or expired, putting a stop to your connections indicated by the ERR_BLOCKED_BY_CLIENT error.

Software Conflicts

Another common scenario involves conflicts between different pieces of software on your computer. A website’s content might be triggering your antivirus program’s security policies, or two extensions might be fighting over who gets to control a certain aspect of the page. These conflicts can lead to unexpected blocking, as each piece of software tries to assert its dominance, leaving your browser in the crossfire.

Experimental Browser Settings

Advanced users often test experimental browser settings (like the ones for Google Chrome found in chrome://flags) to try and squeeze out more performance. However, these unstable features can change the way your browser handles network requests and lead to the ERR_BLOCKED_BY_CLIENT error.

Missing or Corrupted Files and Other Website Misconfigurations

A website won’t display its content correctly if its files are misplaced or corrupted—images won’t load, and other HTML elements won’t appear properly. In that case, your browser could perceive it as blocked content and display the ERR_BLOCKED_BY_CLIENT error even though the files are simply missing.

10 Ways to Fix ERR_BLOCKED_BY_CLIENT

Now that we’ve pinpointed the causes, let’s explore how to fix them. Here are a few ways to tackle the ERR_BLOCKED_BY_CLIENT error.

1. Temporarily Disable Your Ad Blocker for a Quick Fix

Since ad blockers are the most common cause, this is always our first stop. The quickest way to test if your ad blocker is the issue is to simply disable it for a short time. Most ad blockers have an “on/off” toggle or a pause button right in your browser’s toolbar.

1. Locate your ad blocker tab. It’s usually a small shield, hand, or similar icon in your browser’s extension bar (typically at the top right corner).
2. Click on the icon. This will usually bring up a small menu.
3. Find the disable/pause option. Look for something like “Pause on this site,” “Disable for this website,” or a general “Enable/Disable” toggle.
4. Refresh the page that was giving you trouble. If it loads correctly, congratulations! You’ve found your culprit.

2. Whitelisting Specific Websites

Temporarily disabling your ad blocker for every problematic site isn’t ideal. A better solution is to “whitelist” the specific website and add it to the list of trusted sites. This tells your ad blocker, “Hey, I trust this site, let everything through here.”

1. Navigate to the problematic website.
2. Click on your ad blocker icon.
3. Look for a “Whitelist site,” “Don’t run on this domain,” or “Allowed websites” option and select it.
4. This should prevent future blocking of the website by your ad blocker, allowing it to load normally without disabling the browser safety plugin or extension for all other sites.

3. Clear Browser Cache and Cookies

Sometimes, the simplest solutions are the most effective. Clearing your browser’s cache and cookies can resolve conflicts caused by outdated or corrupted data that might have been disrupting the connection to your chosen website.

The exact way to clear that data depends on your browser of choice. Let’s take Google Chrome as an example, since the ERR_BLOCKED_BY_CLIENT message code is typical for this particular browser. So, here are the steps.

1. Open the three-dot (kebab) menu in the top right corner of your Chrome browser.
2. Choose Delete Browsing Data. If you are looking for a faster way to clear the cache, use the keyboard shortcut Command + Shift + Delete on Mac, or Control + Shift + Del on Windows.
3. In the following window, choose the time range and type of data to be deleted. Make sure to select the options Cached images and files, and Cookies and other site data. Then, press Delete data.

Once you’ve followed the steps, visit the website that was giving you trouble to see if the error has disappeared.

To find out how to clear data on your particular device, read these guides:

• How to clear the cache on desktop browsers
• How to clear the cache on Android
• How to clear the cache on iPhone

4. Disable Extensions

Extensions are like spices in a dish; too much can spoil the flavor. Beyond dedicated ad blockers, many other browser extensions can interfere with website loading. Consider extensions that enhance security, privacy protection, or optimize browsing experience. They often utilize filters and scripts that could inadvertently block legitimate content.

Temporarily disabling the extensions installed on your browser can help identify if they are the source of the problem. Here are the steps for Google Chrome:

1. Open Google Chrome and find the three-dot (kebab) menu in the top-right corner.
2. Select Extensions > Manage Extensions.
   

   

3. Turn off the extensions one by one by switching their ON/OFF buttons. Try reloading the website after each one is deactivated to find the culprit.
   

   

5. Disable Your Antivirus Software

While antivirus software is crucial for security, it can sometimes be overprotective. Exceedingly strict security rules may block harmless content on some web pages and prevent them from loading correctly. Temporarily disabling it can help determine if it’s the cause.

Then, load the problematic website to check if the error is gone. If that’s the case, whitelist the website so your security software doesn’t block it anymore, or consider another antivirus program.

6. Use Incognito Mode (Private Browsing Mode)

Incognito mode is like a fresh start, free from extensions and cache. Browsing in this mode will eliminate these potential causes and bypass the error.

To open an incognito window on Google Chrome, press on the kebab menu in the upper right corner, and select New Incognito Window. You can also access this mode with the keyboard shortcut Command + Shift + N (on Mac) or Ctrl + Shift + N (on Windows). Then, visit the problematic website to check if it’s displaying correctly.

7. Reset Your Browser Settings

If all else fails, consider resetting your browser. This will restore it to its default settings and remove any problematic configurations that could be messing up your network connections.

To reset settings for Google Chrome, follow these steps.

1. Open the kebab menu in the upper right corner.
2. Select Settings.
   

   

   
   

3. Go to the Reset settings section, press Restore settings to their original defaults.
   

   

8. Debug the Error with Ad Blocker (for Website Owners)

If you own the website, you might need to delve deeper into your ad blocker’s settings to identify what’s being blocked. It might be a pop-up ad, an image, or specific problematic files that your ad blocker flags as intrusive.

If you are using Adblock Plus, the debugging process is done in the browser’s developer console. For Chrome, right-click on the problematic page and select Inspect to access Chrome Developer Tools.

Then, open the Adblock tab and reload the page. All requests for the page elements will be listed on the right. Blocked ones are marked in red. Examine these resources, and if you find them harmless, you can add an exception so they are not subjected to ad blocking.

9. Disable Experimental Browser Settings

Playing around too much with experimental settings can inadvertently disturb your network connection and produce the ERR_BLOCKED_BY_CLIENT error. Thus, you might want to disable them to determine if they are blocking some websites’ content.

Let’s take Google Chrome for example. Type chrome://flags/ in the address bar to access the experimental flags page. Most flags are disabled by default, but some of them might be currently active. Use the corresponding drop down menu next to each flag, and choose Disabled, or simply hit the Reset all button to revert all flags to default settings.

10. Confirm Website Files Are in the Right Place (for Website Owners)

Ensuring all files are correctly placed can prevent access issues and the ERR_BLOCKED_BY_CLIENT error.

After finding out what files or resources are blocked from your browser’s developer tools, examine your server files through File Manager or FTP. Verify the file paths on your server to ensure all resources are where they should be. As an extra tip, check the .htaccess file for any rules that might be disallowing certain resources from loading.

Final Takeaways on the ERR_BLOCKED_BY_CLIENT Error

Errors like ERR_BLOCKED_BY_CLIENT are just bumps in the road. With the right approach and tools, they can be swiftly resolved. Whether you’re a user or a website owner, understanding the cause and applying the right fix can turn a frustrating experience into a learning opportunity.