How to Solve the Error ‘This Site Can’t Be Reached’ on Mac?

Working, watching movies, listening to music or doing any other stuff on Safari or any other web browser looks pretty convenient. We don’t have to download each of those applications separately. Hence, most of us prefer using our web browsers for surfing the internet for various things, especially on a Mac.

We have all faced issues connecting to the website we wanted to browse at some time. It is also a prevalent problem with Mac and can result from many reasons. This article will cover all the solutions regarding the “This Site Can’t Be Reached” ERR_ACCESS_DENIED error on the MacBook.

Solution 1: Restart your Router or Internet connection

The most prevalent notion that people have when they see the error “This Site Can’t Be Reached” on the Mac is that there is some problem with the internet connection. This speculation can be true in many cases as this error primarily occurs due to network problems. Therefore, we advise you to turn off the router and restart it in a few minutes to reset the internet connection of your Mac. Once you have completed this process, try connecting to that website you have trouble browsing.

Solution 2: Turn off VPN

Some websites and links are restricted in some countries and regions due to their laws. So if you have your VPN turned ON and connected to a region where that website is restricted or banned, you will not be able to access the contents of that webpage. Hence, turning OFF the VPN and trying to reconnect to that page can help solve the problem. Get more details on How to turn off VPN on Mac.

Solution 3: USE VPN to Open Restricted Web content in your browser

As discussed in the earlier section, some sites being blocked, restricted or shut down by the admin due to some issues can result in the error of loading the website’s contents. This problem often arises when Mac users try to access an unlicensed streaming web portal or a torrent. The solution for this problem is using a VPN app or extension that builds a proxy tunnel and opens the website that was restricted. Here’s Manage VPN On Mac.

Solution 4: Restart your Mac

Another reason for the Mac showing the “This Site Can’t Be Reached” error is glitches and improper boot-up of the device. If your Mac runs into some trouble while starting up, it causes many issues like this one. Hence, restarting the MacBook is the ideal solution for this issue. Once you restart the MacBook, all the system settings and preferences are refreshed to their default values and configuration and fix the minor issues.

Solution 5: Connect Via Ethernet

A damaged WiFi card or plugin of your Mac may result in the device running into internet connectivity issues between the router and the Mac. If that is the case, it is advised to use an ethernet cable to create a stable and secure connection between your router and the MacBook. The use of ethernet cable also eliminates the possibility of having packet losses and lags.

Solution 6: Clear Browser Cache

Cache files are temporary files created, downloaded or stored by your computer to conserve time when you access the same sites in the future. Hence, a damaged or corrupt cache can spoil your internet browsing and surfing experience. It is best to delete the browser cache every once in a while as it does not affect your MacBook. Follow the process described here to delete the Safari browser cache on Mac.

Step. 1→ Launch the Safari web browser on your Mac.

Step. 2→ Then, click on “Safari” at the top left corner of the screen and tap on “Preferences” in the drop-down menu.

Step. 3→ In the preferences window, hit the “Advanced” icon.

Step. 4→ Now tick the check box in front of “Show Develop menu in menu bar” and exit from the preferences window.

Step. 5→ After that, tap in the “Develop” and select the “Empty Cache” option in the drop-down menu.

Solution 7: Remove Extension from Safari or Chrome

Having extensions enabled on your Safari or Chrome can be very helpful. The extensions allow the users to add extra features to their web browsers. However, some extensions are not correctly maintained, become incompatible with the new versions of the browsers or go out of date. Hence, the simplest way of solving this problem is by removing all the extensions from your Safari or Chrome and using only the ones you need. You can remove extensions from Chrome or Safari in the following ways.

• Remove Chrome Extensions

Step. 1→ Launch Google Chrome and tap on the three dots at the top right corner of the screen.

Step. 2→ Head over to “Extensions” by clicking on the “More Tools” option.

Step. 3→ Now, tap and remove each one of the extensions that you don’t want to use at the moment.

• Remove Safari Extensions

Step. 1→ Open the Safari browser and click on the Safari menu at the top.

Step. 2→ Now go to Preferences > Extensions.

Step. 3→ Then, deselect the checkbox in front of the extensions you are not currently using.

Solution 8: Change DNS Server

DNS is a collection of IP addresses that are stored online. Every MacBook or computer has a designated DNS that the users can change if the server cannot retrieve the data for loading a specific website. Below are the steps to change the DNS on a Mac.

Step. 1→ Click on the Apple logo and go to system preferences.

Step. 2→ In the preferences tab, double-click on “Network” to open it.

Step. 3→ Now, click on WiFi in the left tab and select the “Advanced…” option in the WiFi pane. 

Step. 4→ From the list of available menus, select DNS.

Step. 5→ Tap on the (+) icon at the bottom-left part of the screen and change the DNS servers to Cloudflare DNS 1.1.1.1 or Google DNS 8.8.8.8.

Now restart your MacBook and check if the problem is resolved.

Solution 9: Delete Chrome Data from Mac

Every MacBook and device stores the temporary data from browsers like Google Chrome locally on their system. Sometimes this data gets corrupted and affects the proper working of these apps and browsers. Hence, deleting this temporary file can help fix this problem without affecting the browser’s functionality. Delete the file given below to resolve the issue of “This Site Can’t Be Reached”, but make sure to create and save a backup of your bookmarks and preferences, as this data will be lost.

“~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome”

This post focused on providing all the solutions for fixing errors related to “This Site Can’t Be Reached” on a Mac, including Err_Access_Denied, Err_Connection_Closed, Err_Failed, and many more in detail. Feel free to try these solutions and comment on those that worked for you.

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